By Mike Stone I repeatedly come across, in guidance and protocols written by clinicians and clinical bodies, the claim or implication that 999 paramedics make ‘THE decision’ about CPR. And that relatives and family-carers, merely contribute to the decision-making of paramedics. I must ask: where does that belief, come from? Imagine a relative and a […]
Latest articles
In defence of social egg freezing
By Thomas Søbirk Petersen. In my latest JME article I defend social egg-freezing. Social egg freezing (or ‘non-medical egg freezing’) is, roughly speaking, the process whereby healthy women freeze their eggs to preserve their future fertility for reasons that have nothing directly to do with medical issues. However, some feminist bioethicists worry that women’s legal […]
How to ethically conduct research with Black populations at the intersection of COVID-19 and Black lives matter
By Natasha Crooks, Geri Donenberg, Alicia Matthews. For months now, we have been asking ourselves if it is appropriate to engage populations in research who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and continuously being murdered by institutions (i.e., government, police, hospitals) that are supposed to be protecting them. The current societal context suggests Black lives are […]
Who’s responsible for informing relatives about genetic risk?
By Kalle Grill and Anna Rosén. It is established practice in many countries that healthcare professionals encourage patients to share relevant risk information with genetic relatives. We mostly endorse this practice but question a normative assumption that typically underpins it. Both practitioners and academics in the field are in general agreement that: It is desirable […]
Dialyzing the discourse: a response to Rohrig and Manheim
By Hayden P. Nix and Charles Weijer In a recent blog post, we sought to answer the narrow question: is altruistic kidney donation sufficiently analogous to participation in a SARS-CoV-2 challenge study to justify the risks of SARS-CoV-2 challenge studies? We argued that three morally relevant differences (the risk of adverse effects, the availability of […]
COVID-19: The duty to take reasonable precautions against infection
By Tina Rulli & David Wendler There is a shortage of resources needed to fight the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, including ICU beds and ventilators. As a result, many hospitals must prioritize who is offered care first, and inevitably some patients will be denied needed care. At the same time, with a more transmissible variant of SARS-CoV-2 […]
Clinical ethics support: Addressing legal uncertainties
By Joe Brierley, David Archard and Emma Cave. Clinical ethics support has adapted to embrace patient-centred care, to help clarify ethical matters in patient care and to occasionally help resolve disputes without recourse to the courts. The pace of change and, indeed, the sheer number of clinical ethics committees accelerated during the first wave of […]
The ethics of age-selective restrictions for COVID-19 control
By Bridget Williams, James Cameron, James Trauer, Ben Marais, Romain Ragonnet and Julian Savulescu. One of the major controversies of the COVID-19 pandemic has been disagreement about whether age-selective measures should be introduced, with greater focus on preventing infection in older people but tolerance of some transmission amongst younger people. Some have advocated a path […]
Altered vaccination schedules and informed consent
By Jennifer O’Neill. According to the General Medical Council (GMC) publication Good Medical Practice, medical treatments should be provided “…based on the best available evidence” with a favourable balance between benefit and risk. Legal principles of informed consent and shared decision-making recognise the patient’s right to be informed of the risk-benefit profile of a treatment […]
Research on COVID-19’s long term effects: Ensuring Black, Indigenous and Latinx communities are not left behind
By Michelle Medeiros, Hillary Edwards and Claudia Baquet. Possible long-term effects of COVID-19: As we continue to learn more about SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), there is emerging evidence on long-term impacts. Recent publications identified long-term effects including, but not limited to, fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, headache, chest, muscle and joint pain, fast or pounding heartbeat, loss […]