The court case between Charlie Gard’s parents and his Great Ormond Street Hospital medical team attracted international media attention, public protest, and comments from the Pope and US President Trump. Charlie was born with a rare genetic disease, for which there is currently no cure. Charlie’s parents found and crowdfunded for experimental treatment in the US. But […]
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Using Best Interests Meetings for People in a Prolonged Disorder of Consciousness to Improve Clinical and Ethical Management
Guest Post: Derick T Wade Article: Using best interests meetings for people in a prolonged disorder of consciousness to improve clinical and ethical management One year ago I wrote the first of two articles on improving the management of people with a prolonged disorder of consciousness. That article was the result of about 18 months […]
Organ Donation: Presumed Consent and Focusing on What Matters
Guest Post by Rebecca Brown Recent newspaper reports covered the story of Jemima Layzell, a 13 year old who died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in 2012. According to reports, shortly before Jemima died, the subject of organ donation had come up in discussions with her family, prompted by the death of a family friend […]
Ethical Issues when Modelling Brain Disorders in Non-human Primates
Guest Post: Carolyn Neuhaus, Ph.D. Paper: Ethical issues when modelling brain disorders in non-human primates In early 2016, Nature published a letter from a group of Chinese researchers reporting that they had created rhesus macaques with “autism-like” behaviours. The macaque was bred with a mutation in the MeCP2 gene. Overexpression of MeCP2 occurs in MeCP2 Duplication Syndrome, a […]
Revealing Recipient Details to Families of Potential Organ Donors
Guest Post: David Shaw & Dale Gardiner Paper: Increasing organ donation rates by revealing recipient details to families of potential donors Families often don’t allow their deceased relatives to donate organs, even when the patient was a registered organ donor. Even when the donation process is explained sensitively by specialist nurses, families can focus much more […]
Does the Doctrine of Double Effect Apply to the Prescription of Barbiturates? Syme vs the Medical Board of Australia
Guest Post: Xavier Symons Paper: Does the doctrine of double effect apply to the prescription of barbiturates? Syme vs the Medical Board of Australia My recently published article analyses the controversial Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) hearing Syme vs The Medical Board of Australia. In that hearing, Dr Rodney Syme, an Australian urologist and euthanasia […]
Does Female Genital Mutilation Have Health Benefits? The Problem with Medicalizing Morality
By Brian D. Earp (@briandavidearp) * Please note: this piece was originally published in Quillette Magazine. Four members of the Dawoodi Bohra sect of Islam living in Detroit, Michigan have recently been indicted on charges of female genital mutilation (FGM). This is the first time the US government has prosecuted an “FGM” case since a federal law was passed in […]
Charlie Gard: An Ethical Analysis of a Legal Non-Problem
By Iain Brassington (Cross-posted from EJIL: Talk!) For those with an internet connection and an interest in current affairs, the story of Charlie Gard been hard to avoid recently. A decent précis is available here; but it’s worth rehearsing. Shortly after his birth, Charlie’s health began to deteriorate, and he was diagnosed with a terminal and […]
The ‘Weird’ First Fortnight of the Foetus: Implications for the Abortion Debate
Guest Post: William Simkulet Paper: The Cursed Lamp: The Problem of Spontaneous Abortion For many people, the moral status of abortion stands or falls whether or not a human fetus is morally comparable to you or I; whether its death is a significant loss. Many people believe human fetuses have a right to life from conception, […]
Ethics Committees Should Have Standards in Preparing New Members
Guest Post: Danish Zaidi and Jennifer Kesselheim Paper: Assessment of orientation practices for ethics consultation at Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals Ethics advisory committees (EACs), or clinical ethics committees, fulfill an important role in hospitals, providing ethics consultation, contributing to hospital-wide policies, and educating staff on ethical dimensions of medical practice. Our study built upon a central […]