By Jonathan Pugh and Dominic Wilkinson. The emergence of the Omicron variant has prompted a great deal of uncertainty. One significant area of uncertainty is the the extent to which the variant can escape the protection afforded by current vaccines. One early South African pre-print suggests that Omicron has more extensive Pfizer vaccine escape than […]
Latest articles
I see no ships – ethical blindness in mandated vaccination of care home and NHS staff
By Fr Giles Pinnock. As of November 11th 2021, vaccination of care home staff in England against COVID-19 became mandatory. Responses to the Government’s own consultation did not support it, and the negative impact on the care of residents, and the inevitable upstream impact on discharges from hospitals has barely registered in the media, which […]
A world without us
By Walter Glannon. At some point in the future, the human species may cease to exist. Extinction could result from an asteroid striking Earth, a pathogen overwhelming the immune system, the effects of climate change, or other events. We currently have no control over the first cause, some control over the second, and more control […]
Ethically inconsistent marketing of communication and resolution programs
By Doug Wojcieszak The movement to encourage physicians to disclose, apologize, and make amends (financial and otherwise) following medical errors is gaining momentum, especially in the United States. Many people are supporting this movement, including a large and growing collection of healthcare, insurance, and legal professionals and patient advocates who call themselves the “Collaborative for […]
Does zero-COVID worsen health disparities?
By Nancy S. Jecker. Since its inception, the novel coronavirus pandemic has prompted two distinct societal responses. Zero-Covid dominates Pacific Rim societies, such as New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It targets zero deaths as a goal and forcefully contains disease transmission to reach it. Mitigation dominates […]
Wealthier nations should stump up for COVID-19 jab tax to drive vaccine equity
Fairer than donation model as it better reflects ability to pay, argues political scientist Wealthier nations should pay a COVID-19 vaccine tax as part of the price they pay to manufacturers, to ensure a fairer distribution of the jab to poorer nations, argues a political scientist in the Journal of Medical Ethics. Taxation is fairer […]
Healthcare professionals and disruptive climate protest – unjustified, or a professional responsibility?
By Ellen Tullo. The coordinated actions of Extinction Rebellion (XR) in 2019 and 2021 raised public consciousness about global failures to act on the climate emergency. Some of the methods employed by XR – road obstruction, non-permanent marking of private property and the breaking of windows – prompted a divergence of opinion on what degree […]
Patients reading their medical notes: the end of deceptive placebos?
By Charlotte Blease Martha* – not her real name – is 40 years old. For ten years – throughout her thirties – Martha experienced health changes: “excessive fatigue, tingling in my feet, and muscle tightness in my hands.” These symptoms were serious enough for Martha to visit her GP. Various things were prescribed but no […]
Backstreet abortion deaths: not as common or preventable as thought
By Calum Miller. One of the foremost arguments for legalising abortion in developing countries attempts to bypass fetal moral status by appealing to practical considerations: 1) banning abortion doesn’t prevent abortions, but 2) it does put women at risk of dangerous backstreet abortions, killing women in large numbers. Since 3) legalising abortion significantly reduces unsafe […]
The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) and revised ventilator triage guidance: since we are still implementing outdated and more inequitable frameworks now, will we learn any lessons longer term?
By Harald Schmidt, Dorothy E Roberts, Amaka D Eneanya Ventilator triage guidance can reduce, maintain, or exacerbate existing social, racial and ethnic health inequities, raising non-trivial legal issues. Over the last 18 months, there has been an intense reckoning with the fact that traditional rationing frameworks focused on maximizing overall benefits tend to worsen Covid-19’s disparate impact on disadvantaged communities of color. Yet, as ICUs […]