•  77
    Effective infectious disease control may require states to restrict the liberty of individuals. Since preventing harm to others is almost universally accepted as a legitimate (prima facie) reason for restricting the liberty of individuals, it seems plausible to employ a mid‐level harm principle in infectious disease control. Moral practices like infectious disease control support – or even require – a certain level of theory‐modesty. However, employing a mid‐level harm principle in infectious di…Read more
  •  11
    Capabilities and Stakeholders – Two Ways of Enriching the Ethical Debate on Artificial Womb Technology
    with Angret de Boer, Rosa Geurtzen, and Martine C. de Vries
    American Journal of Bioethics 23 (5): 110-113. 2023.
    The review by De Bie et al. (2023) provides an overview of the current ethical literature on artificial womb technology (AWT). Two characteristics stand out, and provide the basis for our commentar...
  •  13
    A Dutch medical student has the potentially more virulent Panton-Valentine leukocidin form of MRSA colonization yet shows no signs or symptoms of infection. More than a year ago, a routine MRSA screening of health care personnel providing care for MRSA-positive patients detected the colonization. Since then, the student has been treated intensively but unsuccessfully in an attempt to decolonize her. During this decolonization period, the medical student was barred from performing patient-related…Read more
  •  33
    Earning Points for Moral Behavior
    with An Ravelingien
    International Journal of Applied Philosophy 19 (1): 73-83. 2005.
    Anticipating the reevaluation of the Dutch organ procurement system, in late 2003 the Rathenau Institute published a study entitled ‘Gift or Contribution?’ In this study, the author, Govert den Hartogh, carries out a thorough moral analysis of the problem of organ shortage and fair allocation of organs. He suggests there should be a change in mentality whereby organ donation is no longer viewed in terms of charity and the volunteer spirit, but rather in terms of duty and reciprocity. The procure…Read more
  •  65
    After arrival in a hospital, a man with suspected meningococcal septicaemia slips into a coma. One of his friends posts a message on the patient’s Facebook ‘wall’ informing three named contacts that the patient has meningitis and tells them to speak to a doctor. At the request of the Health Protection Unit (HPU), this message is later modified, to reduce unnecessary anxiety and to provide better guidance (Mandeville et al., 2013). Based on the harm principle and considerations of reasonableness,…Read more
  • Recensie-Normering van het ontembare
    Filosofie En Praktijk 31 (1): 87. 2010.