•  48
    Crocodile tiers
    Journal of Medical Ethics 34 (8): 575. 2008.
    It is clearly unethical for the NHS to tell people that they will die sooner unless they pay for private treatment, and then to tell them that if they pay for private treatment they will have to pay the NHS for its insufficient service. This is all the more true if people in other parts of the country are receiving all the drugs they need for the same condition on the NHS. Patients who discover that the NHS care that they have paid for will not keep them alive should be able to supplement their …Read more
  •  36
    Unethical framework: Red Card for the REF
    Times Higher Education. 2012.
    Almost all academics sigh at any mention of the REF. Preparing submissions for the Research Excellence Framework takes up a lot of effort, but is important because the REF determines a department's funding allocation from a finite pot of cash. As such, it is seen as a necessary evil by most staff. However, the REF poses ethical problems in addition to the stress it causes. As it stands, the REF is exacerbating a schism between research and teaching staff, encouraging deceptive attribution of au…Read more
  •  94
    Oncologists frequently have to break bad news to patients. Although they are not normally the ones who tell patients that they have cancer, they are the ones who have to tell patients that treatment is not working, and they are almost always the ones who have to tell them that they are going to die and that nothing more can be done to cure them. Perhaps the most difficult cases are those where further treatment is almost certainly futile, but there remains an extremely slim chance of yet more ag…Read more
  • Biobanks are vital for diagnostic, epidemiological and research purposes following radiation disasters, but there is a history of delays in this type of research and specifically in setting up important resources including tissue repositories following the rare occurrence of these events. Here, we argue that one key lesson from Chernobyl and Fukushima has still not been learned: it is essential to agree on a proactive international plan for a radiation disaster biobank and accompanying data coll…Read more
  •  1
    Confidentiality in Prison Health care – A Practical Guide
    with Bernice Elger
    In Bernice S. Elger, Catherine Ritter & Heino Stöver (eds.), Emerging Issues in Prison Health, Springer. 2018.
    The importance of medical confidentiality is obvious to anyone who has ever been a patient, and protecting private information about patients is one of the key responsibilities of healthcare professionals. However, maintaining the confidentiality of patients who are incarcerated in prisons poses several ethical challenges. In this chapter we explain the importance of confidentiality in general, and the dilemmas that sometimes face doctors with regard to it, before describing some of the specifi…Read more
  •  19
    The Virus of Vagueness in Authorship
    Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 13 (3): 361-362. 2016.
  • What is a biobank? Differing definitions among biobank stakeholders
    with Bernice Elger and Flora Colledge
    Clinical Genetics 85 (3): 223-7. 2014.
    Aim: While there is widespread agreement on the broad aspects of what constitutes a biobank, there is much disagreement regarding the precise definition. This research aimed to describe and analyse the definitions of the term biobank offered by various stakeholders in biobanking. Methods: Interviews were conducted with 36 biobanking stakeholders with international experience currently working in Switzerland. Results: The results show that, in addition to the core concepts of biological samples…Read more
  •  39
    Permitting patients to pay for participation in clinical trials: the advent of the P4 trial
    with Guido de Wert, Wybo Dondorp, David Townend, Gerard Bos, and Michel van Gelder
    Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 20 (2): 219-227. 2017.
    In this article we explore the ethical issues raised by permitting patients to pay for participation (P4) in clinical trials, and discuss whether there are any categorical objections to this practice. We address key considerations concerning payment for participation in trials, including patient autonomy, risk/benefit and justice, taking account of two previous critiques of the ethics of P4. We conclude that such trials could be ethical under certain strict conditions, but only if other potentia…Read more
  •  58
    The ethics committee as ghost author
    Journal of Medical Ethics 37 (12): 706-706. 2011.
    Ethics committees have a bad reputation for impeding, rather than facilitating research. Here, I argue that many committees actually improve the quality of the research proposal to such an extent that they deserve credit as authors in any resulting publications, or at least an acknowledgement of the contribution made.
  •  428
    Euthanasia and Eudaimonia
    Journal of Medical Ethics 35 (9): 530-533. 2009.
    This paper re-evaluates euthanasia and assisted suicide from the perspective of eudaimonia, the ancient Greek conception of happiness across one’s whole life. It is argued that one cannot be said to have fully flourished or had a truly happy life if one’s death is preceded by a period of unbearable pain or suffering that one cannot avoid without assistance in ending one’s life. While death is to be accepted as part of life, it should not be left to nature to dictate the way we die, and it is fun…Read more
  •  17
    Although homeopathy has received a great deal of criticism in recent years for unethical practices, Homeopaths without Borders (HWB) has gone almost entirely unmentioned in the medical literature. This is somewhat surprising, given that HWB are engaged in activity even more dubious than that of most homeopaths. HWB has quite a long history, and several different national associations; here, I focus on HWB Germany (HWBG) and HWB North America (HWBNA) and briefly describe some of their activities …Read more
  •  36
    Switzerland has very detailed laws regulating the use of animals in agriculture, entertainment and science. There are also many Swiss laws governing the genetic modification of animals, protecting human embryos, and criminalising the creation of human/animal chimeras or hybrids. Despite all these regulations, the creation of an animal embryo that will develop a human organ using induced pluripotent stem cells and the subsequent birth of the resulting chimera would actually be permitted by curren…Read more
  •  29
    Ethicovigilance in clinical trials
    with Alex Mcmahon
    Bioethics 27 (9): 508-513. 2012.
    This article provides an ethical critique of the Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and Declaration of Helsinki (DoH) documents. While the previous criticisms of GCP are entirely correct, there is much more wrong with the document than has previously been acknowledged, including a circular definition and an astonishing vagueness about ethical principles. In addition to its failure to provide adequate ethical protection of participants, the procedurally dense nature of GCP lends itself to a box-ticking…Read more
  •  27
    [V]isibility is central to the shaping of political, medical, and socioeconomic decisions. Who will be treated—how and where—are the central questions whose answers are often entwined with issues of visibility … [and] the effects that media visibility has on the perception of particular bodies .In a documentary entitled Paris: The Luminous Years , writer Janet Flanner describes the intense friendship of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Both were inspired by Paul Cézanne and his retrospective at…Read more
  •  28
    The Roman Catholic Church and the Repugnant Conclusion
    Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 13 (1): 11-14. 2016.
  •  49
    Not Fit for Purpose: The Ethical Guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research
    with Priya Satalkar
    Developing World Bioethics 15 (1): 40-47. 2015.
    In 2006, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) published its ‘Ethical guidelines for Biomedical Research on human participants’. The intention was to translate international ethical standards into locally and culturally appropriate norms and values to help biomedical researchers in India to conduct ethical research and thereby safeguard the interest of human subjects. Unfortunately, it is apparent that the guideline is not fit for purpose. In addition to problems with the structure and c…Read more
  • In 2011 the Swiss government published a report on homeopathy. This report was commissioned following a 2009 referendum in which Swiss people decided that homeopathy and other alternative therapies should be covered by private medical insurance; before implementing this decision, the government wanted to establish whether homeopathy actually works. In February 2012 the report was published in English and was immediately proclaimed by proponents of homeopathy to be conclusive proof that homeopath…Read more
  •  28
    Intergenerational Global Heath
    Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 12 (1): 1-4. 2015.
    This special issue of the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry focuses on global health and associated bioethical concerns. As a concept, global health broadens the focus from national public health situations to the international sphere and concerns itself with the health of all humans, but particularly those in developing countries who suffer from severe health inequalities. However, there is one sense in which global health is lacking: Its primary focus is on those currently alive and, in some cases…Read more
  •  1
    No Remedy for Homeopathy "Research"
    Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies 17 (4): 209-10. 2012.
    The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine is a major complementary and alternative medicine journal, with an an 18-year history and an impact factor of almost 1.5. This paper examines an article and accompanying editorial from the August 2011 issue of the journal and finds a severe lack of scientific and academic rigour
  •  58
    Current General Medical Council guidelines state that any doctor who does not wish to carry out a non-therapeutic circumcision (NTC) on a boy must invoke conscientious objection. This paper argues that this is illogical, as it is clear that an ethical doctor will object to conducting a clinically unnecessary operation on a child who cannot consent simply because of the parents’ religious beliefs. Comparison of the GMC guidelines with the more sensible British Medical Association guidance reveals…Read more
  •  67
    Homeopathy and Medical Ethics
    Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies 16 (1): 17-21. 2011.
    Homeopathy has been the subject of intense academic, media and public debate in recent months. Those opposed to the practice, which treats like with like by using ultra-dilute remedies, argue that it is an ineffective non-treatment that is not supported by evidence and should not be funded on the National Health Service. Its proponents claim that it is effective (although they disagree about whether it is more effective than placebo) and argue its use is appropriate for certain conditions. This…Read more
  •  3
    A Response to Penders: The Disvalue of Vagueness in Authorship
    Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 14 (1): 17-17. 2017.
  •  155
    Mandeville and colleagues describe a fascinating case where Facebook was used to warn potential contacts that their acquaintance had a communicable disease (Mandeville et al., 2013). They are correct that this case raises important issues about social media, confidentiality and the prevention of harm. However, they underestimate both the dangers of overcommunication via Wall and Timeline postings (and Twitter) and the potential utility of Facebook in cases like this one. Increased awareness of F…Read more
  •  10
    Preventing Human Rights Violations in Prison – the Role of Guidelines
    with Bernice Elger
    In Bernice S. Elger, Catherine Ritter & Heino Stöver (eds.), Emerging Issues in Prison Health, Springer. 2018.
    It is well known that prisoners’ human rights are often violated. In this chapter we examine whether guidelines can be effective in preventing such violations and in helping physicians resolve the significant conflicts of interest that they often face in trying to protect prisoners’ rights. We begin by explaining the role of clinical and ethical guidelines outside prisons, in the context of healthcare for non-incarcerated prisoners, and then the specific role of such guidelines within prisons, w…Read more
  •  32
    Using non-human primates to benefit humans: research and organ transplantation
    with Wybo Dondorp and Guido de Wert
    Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 17 (4): 573-578. 2014.
    Emerging biotechnology may soon allow the creation of genetically human organs inside animals, with non-human primates and pigs being the best candidate species. This prospect raises the question of whether creating organs in primates in order to then transplant them into humans would be more acceptable than using them for research. In this paper, we examine the validity of the purported moral distinction between primates and other animals, and analyze the ethical acceptability of using primates…Read more
  •  67
    Transatlantic Issues: Report from Scotland
    Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 19 (3): 310-320. 2010.
    Several bioethical topics received a great deal of news coverage here in Scotland in 2009. Three important issues with transatlantic connections are the swine flu outbreak, which was handled very differently in Scotland, England and America; the US debate over healthcare reform, which drew the British NHS into the controversy; and the release to Libya of the Lockerbie bomber, which at first glance might not seem particularly bioethical, but which actually hinged on the very public discussion of …Read more
  •  93
    Response: A defence of a new perspective on euthanasia
    Journal of Medical Ethics 37 (2): 123-125. 2011.
    In two recent papers, Hugh McLachlan, Jacob Busch and Raffaele Rodogno have criticised my new perspective on euthanasia. Each paper analyses my argument and suggests two flaws. McLachlan identifies what he sees as important points regarding the justification of legal distinctions in the absence of corresponding moral differences and the professional role of the doctor. Busch and Rodogno target my criterion of brain life, arguing that it is a necessary but not sufficient condition and that it is …Read more
  •  195
    The Ethics of Spoilers
    Ethical Space 8 (1). 2011.
    It is highly probable that you have fallen victim to a spoiler at some point in your life. Perhaps you heard what the twist was in The Sixth Sensei before you saw it, or perhaps you have come across one of the now near-ubiquitous references in the media to Keyzer Soze, and thus had much of your enjoyment of The Usual Suspectsii ruined. Put simply, a spoiler is a piece of information that spoils your enjoyment of a film, usually by revealing a key plot detail. This paper argues that those working…Read more
  •  17
    Ethical Aspects of the Glasgow Effect
    Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 12 (1): 11-14. 2015.
    IntroductionThis editorial introduces this special issue of the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry on global health by presenting an analysis of the ethical implications of the Glasgow effect, the curious phenomenon whereby inhabitants of Scotland’s largest city have substantially higher mortality rates than their counterparts in similar British cities, despite adjustment for factors such as socioeconomic status, obesity, smoking, drinking, and drug use. The Glasgow effect represents a health inequal…Read more