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323Review of Nils Hoppe, Bioequity--Property and the Human Body (review)International Journal of Law in Context 6 (4): 397-399. 2010.Review of Nils Hoppe book, Bioequity--Property in the Body
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315Ethical issues in long-term psychiatric managementJournal of Medical Ethics 23 (5): 300-304. 1997.Two general ethical problems in psychiatry are thrown into sharp relief by long term care. This article discusses each in turn, in the context of two anonymised case studies from actual clinical practice. First, previous mental health legislation soothed doubts about patients' refusal of consent by incorporating time limits on involuntary treatment. When these are absent, as in the provisions for long term care which have recently come into force, the justification for compulsory treatment and s…Read more
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296Who owns embryonic and fetal tissue?In Ethical Issues in Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Cambridge University Press. pp. 233-244. 2002.Until very recently the question of who owns embryonic or fetal tissue was of limited importance to clinicians, but advances in stem cell research have made such tissue commercially valuable. This chapter examines the legal and ethical basis of claims to property in embryonic or fetal tissue, taking a critical stance.
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292Leaky Bodies and Boundaries: Feminism, Postmodernism and (Bio) Ethics (review)Journal of Medical Ethics 24 (3): 212-213. 1998.Review of Margrit Shildrick, Leaky Bodies and Boundaries
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289Testing times for the consumer genetics revolutionThe New Scientist 221 (2251): 26-27. 2014.With the highest profile seller of $99 genetic tests under fire, will public trust in personalised medicine suffer?
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277Disappearing women, vanishing ladies and property in embryosInternational Journal of Law and the Biosciences 4 1-6. 2017.Guidelines on embryo storage prioritise 'respect for the embryo' above the wishes of the women whose labour and tissue have gone into creating the embryo in the first place, effectively making women and the female body disappear. In this article I draw a parallel between this phenomenon relating to embryo storage and other instances of a similar phenomenon that I have called 'the lady vanishes', particularly in stem cell and 'mitochondrial transfer' research. I suggest that a modified property r…Read more
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275What should be the RCOG's relationship with older women?In What should be the RCOG's relationship with older women?, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Press. pp. 277-286. 2009.A ‘should’ question normally signals work for an ethicist but this ethicist’s task is complicated by the normative dimension of all the chapters in this volume. Each author was asked to come up with three recommendations from their own subject area – ’should’ statements deriving from the ‘is’ analysis that they present. If those prescriptions cover the relevant topics, what more is there for an ethicist to do? I have had a personal interest in obstetricians’ relationship with ‘older women’ since…Read more
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268Regulating (or not) reproductive medicine: an alternative to letting the market decideIndian Journal of Medical Ethics 8 (3): 175-179. 2011.Whilst India has been debating how to regulate 'surrogacy' the UK has undergone a major consultation on increasing the amount of 'expenses'paid to egg 'donors', while France has recently finished debating its entire package of bioethics regulation and the role of its Biomedicine Agency. Although it is often claimed that there is no alternative to the neo-liberal, market-based approach in regulating (or not) reproductive medicine--the ideology prevalent in both India and the UK--advocates of that…Read more
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264Children's informed consent to treatment: is the law an ass?Journal of Medical Ethics 20 (4): 205-222. 1994.Anomaly in English law between age of children's permitted consent to treatment and much lower age of criminal responsibility
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263Reproduction, Ethics and the Law: Feminist PerspectivesJournal of Medical Ethics 23 (5): 329-329. 1997.Review of Joan Callahan, Reproduction, Ethics and the Law: Feminist Perspectives.
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252An uneasy case against Stephen Munzer: umbilical cord blood and property in the bodyAmerican Philosophical Association Newsletter 8 (2). 2009.Critical examination of the concept of property in the body, with particular relevance to Stephen Munzer's work on umbilical cord blood
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248Decision-making competence in adults: a philosopher's viewpointAdvances in Psychiatric Treatment 7 (5): 381-387. 2001.What does it mean to respect autonomy and encourage meaningful consent to treatment in the case of patients who have dementia or are otherwise incompetent? This question has been thrown into sharp relief by the Law Lords' decision in R.v Bournewood Community and Mental Health NHS Trust, ex parte L.
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240Commentary. Female circumcision in Nigeria: is it not time for government intervention?Health Care Analysis 6 (1): 27-30. 1998.The results of a recent survey of Nigerian women might give pause to opponents of female genital mutilation (FGM). One could well argue that if these Nigerian women themselves favour FGM, then it is ironically paternalistic to oppose it. Should Western feminists actually support FGM if it is what women in the South want? I argue in this commentary that such an argument rests on shaky statistical, psychological, medical, political and philosophical grounds. We should go on opposing female genital…Read more
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239Ethical qualms about genetic prognosisCanadian Medical Association Journal 188 (6): 1-2. 2016.The debate about direct-to-consumer genetic testing has centred on whether consumers are the best judges of their own clinical care. Inthis article, I also examine whether the science of personalized medicine is really as advanced as its proponents claim, and how the availability of genetic markers affects decisions on who gets and does not get medical treatment.
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229Counting women in: globalization, democratization and the women's movementIn Anthony McGrew (ed.), The Transformation of Democracy?, Polity. pp. 97-120. 1997.The feminist movement may seek democratization on a global scale, but women are still hampered by a democratic deficit in terms of economic and political power. On the other hand, global feminist networks and new expanded forms of non-territorial political space do appear to be increasing democratic participation for women.
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225In Me We Trust: Public Health, Personalized Medicine and the Common GoodThe Hedgehog Review 16 (1). 2014.The rise of personalised medicine can be seen as an extension of individualism and as a threat to the common good.
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223Prospero among the neo-conservatives: the temptations of political powerlessnessThe Hedgehog Review 9 (1). 2007.How can intellectuals who oppose the illegitimate war in Iraq come to similar terms with the U.S. neoconservatives, and their unrepentant British collaborators, who have stranded us in it? In the Tempest, Shakespeare’s most political play, comedy though it is meant to be, intellectuals are warned not to consider themselves guiltless. But how can those who marched against the war, or who tried to speak truth to power in other ways, be guilty of its misuses? Surely this is too harsh a view of the …Read more
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212On Bioethics and the Commodified Body: An Interview with Donna DickensonStudies in Social Justice 10 (2): 342-351. 2016.Interview on the commodified body with Donna Dickenson by Alana Cattapan
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208Donating gametes for research and therapy: a reply to Donald EvansJournal of Medical Ethics 23 (2): 93-95. 1997.There has been a troublesome anomaly in the UK between cash payment to men for sperm donation and the effective assumption that women will pay to donate eggs. Some commentators, including Donald Evans in this journal, have argued that the anomaly should be resolved by treating women on the same terms as men. But this argument ignores important difficulties about property in the body, particularly in relation to gametes. There are good reasons for thinking that the contract model and payment for …Read more
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207True wishes: the philosophy and developmental psychology of informed consentPhilosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 2 (4): 287-303. 1995.In this article we explore the underpinnings of what we view as a recent "backlash" in English law, a judicial reaction against considering children's and young people's expressions of their own feelings about treatment as their "true" wishes. We use this case law as a springboard to conceptual discussion, rooted in (a) empirical psychological work on child development and (b) three key philosophical ideas: rationality, autonomy and identity. Using these three concepts, we explore different unde…Read more
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203The troubled dream of life: living with mortalityJournal of Medical Ethics 21 (3): 188-189. 1995.Review of Daniel Callahan, The Troubled Dream of Life
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203Ethical issues in pre-cancer testing: the parallel with Huntington's diseaseIn Bill Fulford, Donna Dickenson & Thomas Murray Murray (eds.), Healthcare Ethics and Human Values: An Introductory Text with Readings and Case Studies, Blackwell. pp. 97-100. 2002.This chapter considers ethical issues involved in genetic testing and screening for susceptibility to various forms of cancer.
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196Personalized genetic medicine: present reality, future prospectsIn Sheldon Krimsky & Jeremy Gruber (eds.), Biotechnology in Our Lives, Skyhorse Publishing. 2013.The soaring promises made by personalized genetic medicine advocates are probably loftier than those in any other medical or scientific realm today. Are they justified?
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173Interview with Donna Dickenson about gender and bioethicsIn Klasien Horstman & Marli Huijer (eds.), Gender and Genes: Yearbook of Women's History, Hilversum. 2013.Interview by Klasien Horstman on gender and genetics. 'Unlike many gender theorists, I do not view the body as socially constructed; nor do I share postmodern and deconstructionist disquiet at the notion of a unified subject. Frankly, I think these constructions get in the way of political action and are bad for women’s rights.'
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173Review of Cynthia Daniels, At Women's Expense (review)Journal of Medical Ethics 21 (1): 61. 1995.Review of book by Cynthia Daniels, At Women's Expense: State Power and the Politics of Fetal Rights
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167Can children and young people consent to be tested for adult onset genetic disordersBritish Medical Journal 318 1063-1066. 1999.What should we do about children and young people who want to be tested for incurable, adult onset, genetic disorders? In particular, what should a general practitioner do if he or she believes the young person is competent to decide, but the regional genetics unit refuses to test anyone under 18? In this article I discuss such a case (drawn from actual practice, but anonymised), and consider the arguments for and against allowing the young person to be tested in terms of good practice, case and…Read more
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167Feeling more like myselfThe Philosophers' Magazine 62 (62): 79-84. 2013.Speculative enhancement technologies are premised on the notion that I have a duty to be the best Me I can possibly be. This article takes a sceptical look at that claim.
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167The threatened trade in human ovaNature Reviews Genetics 5 (3): 157. 2004.It is well known that there is a shortage of human ova for in vitro fertilization (IVF) purposes, but little attention has been paid to the way in which the demand for ova in stem-cell technologies is likely to exacerbate that shortfall and create a trade in human eggs. Because the 'Dolly' technology relies on enucleated ova in large quantities, allowing for considerable wastage, there is a serious threat that commercial and research demands for human eggs will grow exponentially from the combin…Read more
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165Consent in childrenCurrent Opinion in Psychiatry 11 389-393. 1998.Children and young people under 18 years old should no longer be regarded as incompetent to give or withhold consent in decisions involving their health care, Recent research suggests a functional test of cognitive and emotional maturity, rather than a strict age cut-off point. However, it is often difficult to implement these recommendations in practice, not least because the law is, if anything, increasingly 'hard-line' about children's autonomy.
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164Bioethics: All That MattersHodder. 2012.Should we do whatever science lets us do? This short introduction in the 'All That Matters' series shows how developments in biotechnology, such as genetics, stem cell research and artificial reproduction, arouse both our greatest hopes and our greatest fears. Many people invest the new biotechnology with all the aspirations and faith once accorded to religious salvation. But does everyone benefit equally from scientific progress? This book argues that although we've entered new scientific terri…Read more