By Ezio Di Nucci The COVID-19 pandemic is of our own making – but maybe not in the way you think. Let me explain why, taking Italy as case study. COVID-19 overwhelmingly kills vulnerable people, older or chronic multi-morbidity patients: the mean age of COVID-19 fatalities in Italy according to the most recent data was […]
Latest articles
Can Welfare Powers of Attorney in Scotland refuse medical treatment on the granter’s behalf?
By Amanda Ward There is ambiguity to what extent Welfare Powers of Attorney (WPA) in Scotland can refuse or withhold consent to medical treatment. The primary legislation to be consulted is the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 (AWIA). A welfare power of attorney relates to decision making in relation to the granter’s personal and […]
COVID-19 and beyond: how to pay for new pharmaceuticals
By Felicitas Holzer, Thomas Pogge and Aidan Hollis. While many commentators point to the shortcomings of public health services, less attention has been paid to the chronic defects in our current pharmaceutical research system, which is similarly implicated in the disastrous effects of COVID-19. One problem is that patents, the current research rewards, do not […]
Co-producing ethics: thinking about trust
By Mark Sheehan. Our paper, ‘Trust, trustworthiness, and sharing patient data for research’ represents the outcome of a distinctive co-production method for doing applied philosophical work in bioethics. The paper is jointly authored by eight members of the public and two academic bioethicists (both with a background in philosophy) and emerges from a novel approach […]
Is it wrong to prioritise health workers or public figures during Covid-19?
Alaa Daoud and Ezio Di Nucci. Over 100 health workers have died because of Covid-19 in the UK alone. Sixty-one and counting medical doctors (not including other health workers) have died in Italy in March 2020 alone from Covid-19, and 1 in 6 hospitalized Covid-19 patients was a health worker. Health workers are justifiably concerned […]
Sharing Patient Data for Research – a Matter Of Trust
By Rob Lawrence. Through a unique deliberative process involving public participation, we arrive at some conclusions which initially I found surprising (even counter-intuitive) about how best to foster trust in a large organisation such as the NHS, especially where use of patient data plays a key role in research. Using formal guidelines, ethics committees and […]
We need a framework for the ethics of secondary epidemic vaccine trials
By Joshua Teperowski Monrad Introduction In the 21st century, few medical innovations have been as intensely anticipated as an effective vaccine for COVID-19. The pipeline of candidates now includes more than a hundred potential products, as governments, pharmaceutical companies, and researchers engage in an unprecedented effort to combat the worst pandemic of a century. This […]
The UK government is encouraging people outside England to break lockdown rules
By David Shaw On Wednesday the 13th of May coronavirus lockdown restrictions were slightly eased in England. People living there can now drive anywhere in that country to get to a chosen place of exercise, can meet people from outside their households in parks, and can start playing tennis and golf again. They are also […]
What are Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson talking about when they talk about protecting the NHS? And why does it matter?
By Piyush Pushkar What is the NHS? “Stay home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.” The UK government’s public health messaging from 20 March to 10 May was short and direct. The brevity suggests clarity of meaning, but that clarity begins to dissipate when one asks, “What is the NHS?” The short answer is that the […]
‘How to successfully deal with a pandemic and get away with it’ – the Chinese lesson
By Vera Lúcia Raposo When COVID-19 swept through the rest of the world, everyone looked to China as a role model for how to deal with a pandemic. As a Westerner living in China, only 900 km from Wuhan, the outbreak’s epicentre, I can’t but be amazed by how China has managed to cope with […]