By Jose Luis Guerrero Quiñones and Anna Puzio. What if we could avoid (at least to some extent) doctors’ appointments? No more waiting times, no more moving around hospital floors. Who wouldn’t be happy to send someone else in their place for certain medical examinations? In the future, instead of undergoing a thorough physical examination, […]
Latest articles
Exploring the ethical controversy of ‘live tissue training’
By Cara Swain ‘Live tissue training’ (or LTT) is a term used to describe the use of living anaesthetised animals for medical education purposes. Within surgical specialties, live animals are used for skill acquisition and practice in a variety of surgical techniques, including laparoscopic, endoscopic, robotic, microsurgery as well as traditional ‘open’ surgery. Examples range […]
Beyond ‘do no harm’: The ethics of maximizing benefit from psychedelics in healthcare
By Jason Luoma and Brian Pilecki. The use of psychedelics in the USA has rapidly increased over the last decade, not only for recreational purposes but also for therapeutic purposes. For example, rates of Google searches on microdosing have skyrocketed since 2015 demonstrating strong interest in using psychedelics for improving personal well-being among the public. […]
Confucian-inspired global bioethics
By Nancy S. Jecker and Roger Yat-Nork Chung. Bioethics faces challenges with respect to equity, diversity, and inclusion. As a group, we bioethicists are unrepresentative of the global population we increasingly serve. Leading bioethics scholars and institutions are situated mostly in the politically and economically dominant countries of the Global North. Within countries, bioethicists are […]
Jannik Sinner: The world’s best male tennis player has been banned for doping – but the real sinner is not Jannik, it’s WADA
By Thomas Søbirk Petersen. The tennis world is in shock. Jannik Sinner, the men’s Number 1-ranked tennis player and winner of the two recent grand slams in tennis (the US Open 2024 and the Australian Open 2025), has received a three-month doping ban from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The ban was initiated on February […]
Redefining non-maleficence: what is the role of harm in end-of-life choices?
By David Geddes. Since Beauchamp and Childress introduced the four pillars of medical ethics in their 1979 book Principles on Biomedical Ethics, there has been a discourse on which of the pillars, if any, accurately upholds the principles and values of contemporary medicine. Each pillar can be considered fundamental in some contexts, yet in others […]
Should virtual assistants be used to help people in vulnerable positions access care?
By Steven R. Kraaijeveld, Hanneke van Heijster, Nadine Bol, and Kris E. Bevelander. The rising costs of health care in Europe and many countries around the world have led to calls to use technology and digitalization to “drive more equitable and sustainable outcome for all”. Digitalizing parts of health care may not only reduce costs, […]
Why Administration Of Lethal Drugs Should Not Be The Role Of The Doctor
By Sally Barker and Zoë Fritz The Westminster Parliament is currently considering Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would make doctors both gatekeepers and facilitators of an assisted death for eligible terminally ill adults. The legislation proposes that doctors are involved at several stages of the process. Firstly, they must listen […]
The New Gatekeepers: the role of the UK High Court in the oversight of medical assistance in dying
By Sean R. Riley After decades of unsuccessful attempts by advocates, in November 2024, the United Kingdom House of Commons passed a second reading of a bill permitting medical assistance-in-dying (MAiD). The bill still faces a long legislative road before royal assent, but MAiD may very well be a reality for English and Welsh terminally […]
‘Assisted dying’ is assisted suicide and/or euthanasia
By David Albert Jones ‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ ‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ My article in the Journal of Medical Ethics is […]