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22052An introduction to ethical theory for healthcare assistantsBritish Journal of Healthcare Assistants 11 (11): 556-561. 2017.This article will explore and summarise the four main ethical theories that have relevance for healthcare assistants. These are utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, and principlism. Understanding different ethical theories can have a number of significant benefits, which have the potential to shape and inform the care of patients, challenge bad practice and lead staff to become better informed about areas of moral disagreement.
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1703Prolife Hypocrisy: Why Inconsistency Arguments Do Not MatterJournal of Medical Ethics (Online First): 1-6. 2020.Opponents of abortion are often described as ‘inconsistent’ (hypocrites) in terms of their beliefs, actions and/or priorities. They are alleged to do too little to combat spontaneous abortion, they should be adopting cryopreserved embryos with greater frequency and so on. These types of arguments—which we call ‘inconsistency arguments’—conform to a common pattern. Each specifies what consistent opponents of abortion would do (or believe), asserts that they fail to act (or believe) accordingly an…Read more
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1591The Problem of Spontaneous Abortion: Is the Pro-Life Position Morally Monstrous?The New Bioethics 25 (2): 103-120. 2019.A substantial proportion of human embryos spontaneously abort soon after conception, and ethicists have argued this is problematic for the pro-life view that a human embryo has the same moral status as an adult from conception. Firstly, if human embryos are our moral equals, this entails spontaneous abortion is one of humanity’s most important problems, and it is claimed this is absurd, and a reductio of the moral status claim. Secondly, it is claimed that pro-life advocates do not act as if spo…Read more
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1144Beyond Infanticide: How Psychological Accounts of Persons Can Justify Harming InfantsThe New Bioethics 24 (2): 106-121. 2018.It is commonly argued that a serious right to life is grounded only in actual, relatively advanced psychological capacities a being has acquired. The moral permissibility of abortion is frequently argued for on these grounds. Increasingly it is being argued that such accounts also entail the permissibility of infanticide, with several proponents of these theories accepting this consequence. We show, however, that these accounts imply the permissibility of even more unpalatable acts than infantic…Read more
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1133Public health ethics and abortion: A response to SimkuletBioethics 36 (4): 469-471. 2021.Bioethics, Volume 36, Issue 4, Page 469-471, May 2022.
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983Questionable benefits and unavoidable personal beliefs: defending conscientious objection for abortionJournal of Medical Ethics 3 (46): 178-182. 2020.Conscientious objection in healthcare has come under heavy criticism on two grounds recently, particularly regarding abortion provision. First, critics claim conscientious objection involves a refusal to provide a legal and beneficial procedure requested by a patient, denying them access to healthcare. Second, they argue the exercise of conscientious objection is based on unverifiable personal beliefs. These characteristics, it is claimed, disqualify conscientious objection in healthcare. Here, …Read more
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960Detached from Humanity: Artificial Gestation and the Christian DilemmaChristian Bioethics. forthcoming.The development of artificial womb technology is proceeding rapidly and will present important ethical and theological challenges for Christians. While there has been extensive secular discourse on artificial wombs in recent years, there has been little Christian engagement with this topic. There are broadly two primary uses of artificial womb technology—ectogestation as a form of enhanced neonatal care, where some of the gestation period takes place in an artificial womb, and ectogenesis, where…Read more
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728Quotas: Enabling Conscientious Objection to Coexist with Abortion AccessHealth Care Analysis 29 (2): 154-169. 2020.The debate regarding the role of conscientious objection in healthcare has been protracted, with increasing demands for curbs on conscientious objection. There is a growing body of evidence that indicates that in some cases, high rates of conscientious objection can affect access to legal medical services such as abortion—a major concern of critics of conscientious objection. Moreover, few solutions have been put forward that aim to satisfy both this concern and that of defenders of conscientiou…Read more
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721Xenotransplantation: A historical–ethical account of viewpointsXenotransplantation. forthcoming.Formal clinical trials of pig-to-human organ transplant—known as xenotransplantation—may begin this decade, with the first trials likely to consist of either adult renal transplants or pediatric cardiac transplant patients. Xenotransplantation as a systematic scientific study only reaches back to the latter half of the 20th century, with episodic xenotransplantation events occurring prior to that. As the science of xenotransplantation has progressed in the 20th and 21st centuries, the public's k…Read more
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706Why we should stop using animal-derived products on patients without their consentJournal of Medical Ethics 48 (10): 702-706. 2022.Medicines and medical devices containing animal-derived ingredients are frequently used on patients without their informed consent, despite a significant proportion of patients wanting to know if an animal-derived product is going to be used in their care. Here, I outline three arguments for why this practice is wrong. First, I argue that using animal-derived medical products on patients without their informed consent undermines respect for their autonomy. Second, it risks causing nontrivial psy…Read more
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680Responding to objections to gatekeeping for hormone replacement therapyJournal of Medical Ethics 45 (12): 828-829. 2019.Florence Ashley has responded to our response to ‘Gatekeeping hormone replacement therapy for transgender patients is dehumanising.’ Ashley criticises some of our objections to their view that patients seeking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for gender dysphoria should not have to undergo a prior psychological assessment. Here we clarify our objections, most importantly that concerning the parity between cosmetic surgery and the sort of intervention Ashley has in mind. Firstly, we show Ashley’…Read more
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666Gestaticide: Killing the Subject of the Artificial WombJournal of Medical Ethics 47 (12). 2021.The rapid development of artificial womb technologies means that we must consider if and when it is permissible to kill the human subject of ectogestation—recently termed a ‘gestateling’ by Elizabeth Chloe Romanis—prior to ‘birth’. We describe the act of deliberately killing the gestateling as gestaticide, and argue that there are good reasons to maintain that gestaticide is morally equivalent to infanticide, which we consider to be morally impermissible. First, we argue that gestaticide is hard…Read more
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577If fetuses are persons, abortion is a public health crisisBioethics 35 (5): 465-472. 2021.Pro-life advocates commonly argue that fetuses have the moral status of persons, and an accompanying right to life, a view most pro-choice advocates deny. A difficulty for this pro-life position has been Judith Jarvis Thomson’s violinist analogy, in which she argues that even if the fetus is a person, abortion is often permissible because a pregnant woman is not obliged to continue to offer her body as life support. Here, we outline the moral theories underlying public health ethics, and examine…Read more
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568Hormone replacement therapy: informed consent without assessment?Journal of Medical Ethics 45 (12): 1-2. 2019.Florence Ashley has argued that requiring patients with gender dysphoria to undergo an assessment and referral from a mental health professional before undergoing hormone replacement therapy is unethical and may represent an unconscious hostility towards transgender people. We respond, first, by showing that Ashley has conflated the self-reporting of symptoms with self-diagnosis, and that this is not consistent with the standard model of informed consent to medical treatment. Second, we note tha…Read more
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432Why Ectogestation is Unlikely to Transform the Abortion Debate: A discussion of 'Ectogestation and the Problem of Abortion'Philosophy and Technology (4): 1-7. 2020.In this commentary, I will consider the implications of the argument made by Christopher Stratman (2020) in ‘Ectogestation and the Problem of Abortion’. Clearly, the possibility of ectogestation will have some effect on the ethical debate on abortion. However, I have become increasingly sceptical that the possibility of ectogestation will transform the problem of abortion. Here, I outline some of my reasons to justify this scepticism. First, that virtually everything we already know about uninte…Read more
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412Using animal-derived constituents in anaesthesia and surgery: the case for disclosing to patientsBMC Medical Ethics 20 (1): 1-9. 2019.Animal-derived constituents are frequently used in anaesthesia and surgery, and patients are seldom informed of this. This is problematic for a growing minority of patients who may have religious or secular concerns about their use in their care. It is not currently common practice to inform patients about the use of animal-derived constituents, yet what little empirical data does exist indicates that many patients want the opportunity to give their informed consent. First, we review the nature …Read more
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407Can conscientious objection lead to eugenic practices against LGBT individuals?Bioethics 33 (4): 524-528. 2019.In a recent article in this journal, Abram Brummett argues that new and future assisted reproductive technologies will provide challenging ethical questions relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons. Brummett notes that it is likely that some clinicians may wish to conscientiously object to offering assisted reproductive technologies to LGBT couples on moral or religious grounds, and argues that such appeals to conscience should be constrained. We argue that Brummett's ca…Read more
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358The case for compulsory surgical smoke evacuation systems in the operating theatreClinical Ethics 17 (2): 130-135. 2022.Perioperative staff are frequently exposed to surgical smoke or plume created by using heat-generating devices like diathermy and lasers. This is a concern due to mounting evidence that this exposure can be harmful with no safe level of exposure yet identified. First, I briefly summarise the problem posed by surgical smoke exposure and highlight that many healthcare organisations are not sufficiently satisfying their legal and ethical responsibilities to protect their staff from potential harm. …Read more
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337Meeting the Epicurean challenge: a reply to ChristensenJournal of Medical Ethics 45 (7): 478-479. 2019.In ’Abortion and deprivation: a reply to Marquis’, Anna Christensen contends that Don Marquis’ influential ’future like ours’ argument for the immorality of abortion faces a significant challenge from the Epicurean claim that human beings cannot be harmed by their death. If deprivation requires a subject, then abortion cannot deprive a fetus of a future of value, as no individual exists to be deprived once death has occurred. However, the Epicurean account also implies that the wrongness of murd…Read more
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307Why a right to life rules out infanticide: A final reply to RäsänenBioethics 33 (8): 965-967. 2019.Joona Räsänen has argued that pro‐life arguments against the permissibility of infanticide are not persuasive, and fail to show it to be immoral. We responded to Räsänen’s arguments, concluding that his critique of pro‐life arguments was misplaced. Räsänen has recently replied in ‘Why pro‐life arguments still are not convincing: A reply to my critics’, providing some additional arguments as to why he does not find pro‐life arguments against infanticide convincing. Here, we respond briefly to Räs…Read more
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306Why we should not extend the 14-day ruleJournal of Medical Ethics (10): 712-714. 2021.The 14-day rule restricts the culturing of human embryos in vitro for the purposes of scientific research for no longer than 14 days. Since researchers recently developed the capability to exceed the 14-day limit, pressure to modify the rule has started to build. Sophia McCully argues that the limit should be extended to 28 days, listing numerous potential benefits of doing so. We contend that McCully has not engaged with the main reasons why the Warnock Committee set such a limit, and these sti…Read more
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294Kidney xenotransplantation: future clinical reality or science fiction?Nursing and Health Sciences. forthcoming.There is a global shortage of organs for transplantation and despite many governments making significant changes to their organ donation systems, there are not enough kidneys available to meet the demand. This has led scientists and clinicians to explore alternative means of meeting this organ shortfall. One of the alternatives to human organ transplantation is xenotransplantation, which is the transplantation of organs, tissues, or cells between different species. The resurgence of interest in …Read more
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274In defense of xenotransplantation research: Because of, not in spite of, animal welfare concernsXenotransplantation. forthcoming.It is envisioned that one day xenotransplantation will bring about a future where transplantable organs can be safely and efficiently grown in transgenic pigs to help meet the global organ shortage. While recent advances have brought this future closer, worries remain about whether it will be beneficial overall. The unique challenges and risks posed to humans that arise from transplanting across the species barrier, in addition to the costs borne by non-human animals, has led some to question th…Read more
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260COVID-19 Vaccination Should not be Mandatory for Health and Social Care WorkersThe New Bioethics 28 (1): 27-39. 2022.A COVID-19 vaccine mandate is being introduced for health and social care workers in England, and those refusing to comply will either be redeployed or have their employment terminated. We argue th...
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204Generative AI entails a credit–blame asymmetryNature Machine Intelligence 5 (5): 472-475. 2023.Generative AI programs can produce high-quality written and visual content that may be used for good or ill. We argue that a credit–blame asymmetry arises for assigning responsibility for these outputs and discuss urgent ethical and policy implications focused on large-scale language models.
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178A fair exchange: why living kidney donors in England should be financially compensatedMedicine, Health Care and Philosophy 26 (4): 625-634. 2023.Every year, hundreds of patients in England die whilst waiting for a kidney transplant, and this is evidence that the current system of altruistic-based donation is not sufficient to address the shortage of kidneys available for transplant. To address this problem, we propose a monopsony system whereby kidney donors can opt-in to receive financial compensation, whilst still preserving the right of individuals to donate without receiving any compensation. A monopsony system describes a market str…Read more
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113Parental responsibilities and moral statusJournal of Medical Ethics 47 (3): 187-188. 2020.Prabhpal Singh has recently defended a relational account of the difference in moral status between fetuses and newborns as a way of explaining why abortion is permissible and infanticide is not. He claims that only a newborn can stand in a parent–child relation, not a fetus, and this relation has a moral dimension that bestows moral value. We challenge Singh’s reasoning, arguing that the case he presents is unconvincing. We suggest that the parent–child relation is better understood as an exten…Read more
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98Agency, Pregnancy and Persons: Essays in Defense of Human Life (edited book)Routledge. 2022.This book provides extensive and critical engagement with some of the most recent and compelling arguments favoring abortion choice. It features original essays from leading and emerging philosophers, bioethicists and medical professionals that present philosophically sophisticated and novel arguments against abortion choice. The chapters in this book are divided into three thematic sections. The first set of essays focuses primarily on unborn human individuals--zygotes, embryos and fetuses. In …Read more
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80Why inconsistency arguments fail: a response to ShawThe New Bioethics 28 (2): 139-151. 2022.Opponents of abortion are commonly said to be inconsistent in their beliefs or actions, and to fail in their obligations to prevent the deaths of embryos and fetuses from causes other than induced...
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77Why arguments against infanticide remain convincing: A reply to RäsänenBioethics 32 (3): 215-219. 2018.In ‘Pro-life arguments against infanticide and why they are not convincing’ Joona Räsänen argues that Christopher Kaczor's objections to Giubilini and Minerva's position on infanticide are not persuasive. We argue that Räsänen's criticism is largely misplaced, and that he has not engaged with Kaczor's strongest arguments against infanticide. We reply to each of Räsänen's criticisms, drawing on the full range of Kaczor's arguments, as well as adding some of our own.
Daniel Rodger
London South Bank University
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London South Bank UniversitySenior Lecturer
Areas of Specialization
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Philosophy, Misc |
Professional Areas |
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Persons |
Nursing Ethics |
Death and Dying |
Public Health, Misc |