Guest Post: Jarrod Bailey, Cruelty Free International, London, UK. Paper: Advances in Neuroscience Imply that Harmful Experiments in Dogs are Unethical More than 200,000 dogs are used in harmful experiments every year worldwide, in research into human and animal diseases and in the testing of new drugs and agrochemicals. This continues despite significant public opposition […]
Category: Guest Post
Pain After Cancer: A New Model for Pain Psychology?
Guest Post by Lauren Heathcote What if every headache, every slight twinge in your back, was potentially life threatening? What if you couldn’t tell a brain tumour from coffee-withdrawal? These can be constant, niggling worries for many people who have survived cancer, and we think their experiences can tell us something important about pain. If […]
Re: Nudges in a Post-truth World
Guest Post: Nathan Hodson In a recent article in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Neil Levy has developed a concept of “nudges to reason,” offering a new tool for those trying to reconcile medical ethics with the application of behavioural psychological research – a practice known as nudging. Very roughly, nudging means adjusting the way choices […]
Guest Post: Withdrawing Life-Prolonging Treatment in the Patient’s Best Interests: The Implications of Briggs
Guest Post: Jenny Kitzinger, Celia Kitzinger and Jakki Cowley Paper: When ‘Sanctity of Life’ and ‘Self-Determination’ clash In a recent landmark judgment in the Court of Protection (Briggs v Briggs [2016] EWCOP 53), a judge authorised withdrawal of life-prolonging treatment from a minimally conscious patient with potential for further recovery. Our article in the Journal of […]
No Pain, All Gain: The Case for Farming Organs in Brainless Humans
Guest post by Ruth Stirton, University of Sussex (@RuthStirton) and David Lawrence, Newcastle University (@Biojammer) It is widely acknowledged that there is a nationwide shortage of organs for transplantation purposes. In 2016, 400 people died whilst on the organ waiting list. Asking for donors is not working fast enough. We should explore all avenues to […]
Appealing to the Crowd: Ethical Justifications in Canadian Medical Crowdfunding Campaigns
Guest Post: Jeremy Snyder Paper:Appealing to the crowd: ethical justifications in Canadian medical crowdfunding campaigns Medical crowdfunding is a practice where users take advantage of the power of social networks to raise funds related to medical needs from friends, family, and strangers by sharing fundraising appeals online. Popular venues include GiveForward, GoFundMe, and YouCaring, among […]
A Plutocratic Proposal: An Ethical Way for Rich Patients to Pay for a Place on a Clinical Trial
Guest Post: Alexander Masters and Dominic Nutt Paper: A Plutocratic Proposal: an ethical way for rich patients to pay for a place on a clinical trial Is it ethically possible to fund a clinical trial by charging the participants? We believe we have discovered a way to do it. Our suggested method has, as far as […]
Nudges in a Post-truth World.
Guest Post: Neil Levy Full Article: Nudges in a Post-Truth World Human beings are motivated reasoners. We find ways to believe what we want to believe, sometimes even in the face of strong evidence to the contrary. This fact helps to explain why so many political issues are intractable, and why so many of us […]
The Unusual Case of Ian Paterson and Criminally Harmful Surgery
Guest post by Alex Mullock, University of Manchester On 28th April 2017 in the case of breast surgeon, Ian Paterson, the jury in Nottingham Crown Court agreed that in carrying out unnecessary and mutilating surgery the defendant had done what no reasonable surgeon would do. Paterson was convicted of seventeen counts of wounding with intent […]
Gene Editing For A Long Life – A No Brainer?
Guest Post: Isabelle L Robertson Paper: Student Essay- Designing Methuselah: an ethical argument against germline genetic modification to prolong human longevity I am 16 years old. I am at the start of my life and looking towards my future, deciding on universities, career options and how I want my life to be. At the moment […]