By Masatoshi Matsumoto. Physicians predominantly cluster in urban areas, often leaving rural populations underserved. This phenomenon is observed worldwide. Consequently, the question arises: is it both necessary and justifiable for governments to allocate physicians to rural regions? In addressing this issue, the Japanese government has adopted an approach involving the establishment of Jichi Medical University […]
Latest articles
Genetic research and the collective good: participants as leaders
By Ilaria Galasso and Susi Geiger. Medical ethics has long centered around the question of how to balance the public or common good with individual rights. Different approaches to ethics would prioritize different values in the context of medical research participation. Well-established moral principles provide solid arguments both for an obligation to participate in medical […]
Living kidney donors in England should have the option to be paid
By Daniel Rodger and Bonnie Venter. The problem The demand for kidneys required for transplant cannot be satisfied by the existing supply and this deficit continues to increase annually. This is a worldwide phenomenon that is being driven by steady increases in kidney disease and the comorbidities that can cause it. Globally, more than 850 […]
Who should give away their uterus?
By J. Y. Lee. Uterus transplantation (UTx) is an experimental surgery which can enable women with absolute uterine factor infertility (AUFI) to receive a healthy uterus and experience a pregnancy. Since the first successful live birth via UTx in 2014 (Gothenburg, Sweden), more than 40 live births via UTx have taken place. While UTx is […]
Consensual lethal organ harvesting: dissecting ‘double effect donation’
By Anthony McCarthy and Helen Watt. Imagine I am an altruistic person in good health who is struck by how many people my organs (heart, lungs etc) could save if I became a live donor. Perhaps my life is not going well, and I want to make a greater contribution to society than I have […]
The moral vulnerability of clinician teams
By Bernadette Wren. The authority of clinicians is underpinned by a responsibility to ensure that all treatment decisions are made at the intersection of evidence, law and ethics. We hear a lot in the public square about the science and practice of evidence-gathering, much of it unrealisable. And occasionally the law gets a look-in. But […]
Different emergency departments, different triage systems: when is it an ethical problem that two patients with the same condition are triaged with different criteria? And should the public know about it?
By Davide Battisti and Silvia Camporesi. It is likely that, like us, you will have had an experience in Emergency Departments (EDs), or that you can recall an experience of accompanying a relative or friend there. Let’s consider the scenario where the reason for you, your relative, or friend going to the ED was the […]
What place does kindness have in medicine?
By Katherine Cheung. Asking whether kindness should play a role in medicine, and if our physicians should be asked to be kind, looks like a redundant question – it seems as though any person should answer yes. However, Dr. Edwin Jesudason interestingly points out that in choosing to be kind, we might also have to […]
AI in healthcare: promise, peril, and professional responsibility
By Helen Smith, John Downer and Jonathan Ives. Everyone is excited about the idea of AI being brought to the bedside, and who wouldn’t be? We’re short of all staffing groups, daily stories of how everyone is overloaded, overworked, struggling; all help is heartily welcomed, no? But, at risk of being called a killjoy here, […]
Reflections on the misrepresentation of one’s work
By Richard B. Gibson. In 2020, I published an article called No Harm, No Foul? Body Integrity Identity Disorder and the Metaphysics of Grievous Bodily Harm. The piece highlights the lack of definitional clarity within English and Welsh criminal law regarding what harm is, arguing that the concept’s open to varying interpretations. It uses metaphysics […]