By Aisling McMahon, Alanna Kells and Sinéad Masterson CAR-T therapies (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy) have demonstrated remarkable potential for the treatment of certain blood cancers. CAR-T therapy is a cellular immunotherapy which involves the extraction of a sample of a patient’s white blood cells (T-cells) which are then modified outside the body to […]
Latest articles
If we expand the criteria for what makes a medical intervention invasive, we should include ingestion, not mental distress
Paul Affleck , Julia Cons, and Simon E. Kolstoe. De Marco et al have challenged the standard account of what makes a medical intervention invasive, stimulating a set of commentaries, including our own. Whilst we have enjoyed this correspondence, we still disagree on some fundamental points. De Marco et al state it is not clear […]
Pronatalism gone wrong? Cash rewards, state-sponsored dating, and exemption from military conscription
By J. Y. Lee. “A South Korean firm is offering to pay its workers $75,000 each time they have a baby,” a recent news headline reads. Pronatalist incentives are not new in South Korea; the South Korean government has spent 270 billion dollars since 2006 in effort to promote childbirth and reverse declining fertility rates. […]
Practising genomics ethically – is more guidance really the answer?
By Kate Sahan and Kate Lyle. As genomic medicine advances, so too its volume and range of ethical considerations expands. Last month, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics published a report entitled “Towards a gold standard of ethics in genomic healthcare and research: where are we?” The report mapped existing ethics resources in place to support […]
Medical authority and expectations of conformity: undermining person-centred maternity care
By Anna Nelson. There is an ongoing ‘maternity crisis’ in the UK, and too many women and birthing people face barriers to accessing respectful, person-centred maternity care. Charities, campaigners and journalists continue to emphasise the consequences of this state of affairs, both for individuals and for society more widely. Individuals may experience harm to their […]
Can artificial intelligence serve as an ethical decision-maker within committees?
By Kannan Sridharan & Gowri Sivaramakrishnan. Artificial intelligence is widely being used in recent years in the health care industry. These systems learn to perform tasks that are commonly associated with human cognitive functions such as identifying patterns. Typically, these systems process massive amounts of data and look for patterns to model in their own […]
Martha’s rule: rebalancing power dynamics between patients or families and clinicians to improve patient outcomes
By Ilaria Bertini. UK media outlets have reported the upcoming implementation of Martha’s Rule within NHS foundation trusts, starting from April 2024. This rule will enable swift second medical opinions for patients, healthcare practitioners, or families who express concerns regarding the patient’s response to care provided. This new pathway takes its name from a 13-year-old […]
Musings on artificial intelligence, fairness and conceptions of justice to help with implementation considerations
By Michal Pruski. I am currently undertaking a mixed-methods project which is looking at barriers and facilitators to the adoption of machine learning in Wales with respect to value-based healthcare – focusing on the potential application of artificial intelligence (AI) to patient reported outcome measures (often known as PROMs). The project is in the early […]
Queering the genome: epigenome editing for biological lesbian motherhood
By Adrian Villalba. In the thrilling frontier of reproductive technologies, a ground-breaking approach aims to shake the foundations of conventional norms – it’s called epigenome editing. Imagine a world where same-sex couples can have genetically related children without the traditional genetic hurdles. Welcome to the era of “queering the genome”. This revolutionary technique bypasses the […]
Voicing the realities of patient consent to unplanned obstetric interventions
By Frances Hand*, Morganne Wilbourne*, Sophie McAllister, Louise Print-Lyons, and Meena Bhatia. Approximately 46% of primiparous women using NHS facilities undergo an obstetric intervention during their labour. For women with a planned intervention (usually a caesarean birth) conversations regarding consent are mostly straightforward and occur during the pregnancy. Where an intervention is unplanned, current practice […]