In May 2023, academic and policy experts in social protection, economics, public health, history, and ethics gathered at the Brocher Foundation in Geneva to consider the potential for Universal Basic Income (UBI) to contribute to health equity. Health inequities have long been a recognised global problem. In 2013, a review of countries covering 74% of […]
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Mindless consent
By Edwin Jesudason. How could consent be mindless, if it’s about our choosing to give permission? We could suggest at least two ways, the first familiar, the second – and the topic of this blog – perhaps less so. The first is habitual: the mindless ‘consent’ many of us give, with a passing click or […]
Negligence by experts in the early response to COVID-19
By Hideki Kakeya. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health authorities failed to convey correct information on the newly emerging virus. On January 14, 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) posted on its official twitter (currently X) account “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission […]
Could a potential cure for morning sickness actually lead to more discrimination for pregnant women?
By Frances Hand. Scientific research has recently been published which explains why almost 80% of women experience morning sickness during pregnancy. This study revealed a causal link between foetal production of the hormone GDF15 and nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. It is therefore hoped that, given this new information, more precise mechanisms can now be […]
‘When the risk of harm is unavoidable…’
By Helen Lynne Turnham, Sarah-Jane Bowen, Sitara Ramdas, Andrew Smith, Dominic Wilkinson, Emily Harrop. Children with medical complexity and technology dependence are at constant risk of sudden death or catastrophic complication. In some cases, their diagnoses may mean that their lives are likely to be short regardless of treatments offered, and remaining in hospital, particularly […]
“Ethics first” reform for medical research in China: from reactive to proactive
By Jingyi Xu, Zhongxuan Liu, Jiayou Shi, Yue Wang. The 2018 CRISPR-babies incident, involving the controversial editing of human genomes, significantly impacted China’s approach to the ethics governance in medical research. The event underscored the need for a shift from a reactive, post hoc framework to a more proactive and anticipatory model. As a global […]
Martha’s Rule and trust in healthcare: Beyond the ‘right’ to a second opinion
By Isabel Hanson. After the tragic death of thirteen-year-old Martha Mills in the UK, Martha’s mother Merope Mills said that she was told to “’Trust the doctors’… It turned out to be the worst advice I will receive in my whole life”. Martha had developed sepsis from an abdominal injury. Her mother knew that something […]
Beyond the call of duty: NHS doctors and industrial action
By Darren Mann and Doug McConnell. The year-long industrial action by National Health Service (NHS) doctors in England has been divisive, with the unedifying spectacle of government using a strategy of undermining public trust in medical professionals as policy to avoid a negotiated settlement with the British Medical Association (BMA). While the headline demand of […]
Advance directives in dementia care: Moving from the philosophical debate to practical guidelines
By Wayne Shelton and Cynthia Geppert. The case of Margo, introduced by Ronald Dworkin in 1993, described an individual with advanced dementia who would spend hours happily gazing at the same magazines, interacting in discrete experiential moments with those around her, and eating heartily. By all accounts, Margo was a happy individual. However, years earlier […]
Should the public health response to Nipah virus disease be like that of COVID-19?
By Tara Hurst, Tess Johnson, Euzebiusz Jamrozik, Phaikyeong Cheah and Michael Parker. Nipah virus made the international news recently for an outbreak in Kerala, India. This bat-borne virus has occurred seasonally in Bangladesh since the first outbreaks were identified in Malaysia and Singapore in 1998-1999 (Figure 1). The course of Nipah virus disease may be […]