By Harriet Rosanne Etheredge, June Fabian, Mary Duncan, Francesca Conradie, Caroline Tiemessen, Jean Botha Waiting for legislative change in organ transplantation in South Africa feels like “Waiting for Godot”, especially considering the extreme shortage of donor organs in our country. Anyone who has seen Samuel Beckett’s iconic play by that name will appreciate that as […]
Latest articles
Making a pig’s breakfast of research reporting
By David Shaw On the morning of April 17th, 2019, fear of bacon filled the media: “Even moderate intake of red meat raises cancer risk, study finds” (Guardian); “A rasher of bacon a day ‘ups cancer risk’” (BBC) “Two rashers of bacon a day raises bowel cancer risk by a fifth” (Sky); “ANY amount of […]
Charging migrant women for pregnancy care is a worrying sign of the times
By Arianne Shahvisi and Fionnuala Finnerty Precious is a 26-year-old Eritrean woman who has recently arrived in the UK. She wishes to apply for asylum but is yet to do so. Precious is destitute and is living in a church and relying on the kindness of the Eritrean community. She sees a GP at an […]
How should crisis sedation be presented to dying patients at risk of a catastrophic event?
By Dr Nathan Emmerich and Prof Bert Gordijn When we consider the end of our life and the actual circumstances of our death the vast majority of us would prefer to go peacefully, perhaps dying of simple old age at the end of a life well lived. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. Whilst the […]
When is it ethical to pay clinical trial participants different amounts?
By Govind Persad, Holly Fernandez Lynch, and Emily Largent. This collaboration grew out of our shared experience as scholars studying research ethics and (for some of us) as institutional review board members. We witnessed debates over when, if ever, it can be fair to pay different participants in the same study different amounts of money. […]
Sacrificing The Career Of An Otherwise Competent And Useful Doctor: Nurse/Doctor Differences After Gross Negligence Manslaughter
By Nathan Hodson. Last week Hadiza Bawa-Garba was told that she would be able to return to clinical practice having been suspended since her conviction for gross negligence manslaughter in 2015. Whether or not the decision is good for public confidence in the medical profession, it is probably good news for patients that, from February […]
Doctors, stop asking your trans patients for referral letters before giving them hormones
By Florence Ashley. A few days ago, I sent off an email to someone I know at my university’s student health clinic to inquire about their ability to prescribe hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to trans students. A friend of mine had recently contacted me for recommendations of providers, but I knew that most of the […]
Is changing legal age denying of facts?
By Joona Räsänen. In my article ‘Moral case for legal age change’, I argue that sometimes people should be allowed to change their legal age. I claim that age change should be allowed when a person is at risk of being discriminated against because of their age, and they are in better condition than people of […]
Changing the defaults in organ donation: Moving the goalposts or pitch invasion?
By David Shaw Following a wide consultation and debate, the Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Bill was recently approved by parliament and will come into effect next year. The new legislation resembles the deemed consent regime introduced in Wales in 2013, and a similar scheme is under consideration in Scotland. Currently, people in England who want […]
Well That’s Something Worth Dissecting
By Natalie Cohen It was my first day of anatomy class. Dressed in hand-me-down scrubs covered by a blue smock that still smelled of its packaging, I opened the laboratory double doors and began my long walk towards table one, with each step I passed by lab tables with white plastic sheets covering what I […]