Lisa Dive

University of Technology Sydney
  •  56
    Reconceptualizing Autonomy for Bioethics
    Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 28 (2): 171-203. 2018.
    The concept of autonomy plays a central role in bioethics,1 but there is no consensus as to how we should understand it beyond a general notion of self-determination. The conception of autonomy deployed in applied ethics2 can have crucial ramifications when it is applied in real-world scenarios, so it is important to be clear. However, this clarity is often lacking when autonomy is discussed in the bioethics literature. In this paper we outline three different conceptions of autonomy, and argue …Read more
  •  23
    Disruption, Diversity, and Global Biobanking
    with Edwina Light, Miriam Wiersma, Ian Kerridge, Christine Critchley, and Wendy Lipworth
    American Journal of Bioethics 19 (5): 45-47. 2019.
    Volume 19, Issue 5, May 2019, Page 45-47.
  •  19
    Globalisation and the Ethics of Transnational Biobank Networks
    with Paul Mason, Edwina Light, Ian Kerridge, and Wendy Lipworth
    Asian Bioethics Review 9 (4): 301-310. 2017.
    Biobanks are increasingly being linked together into global networks in order to maximise their capacity to identify causes of and treatments for disease. While there is great optimism about the potential of these biobank networks to contribute to personalised and data-driven medicine, there are also ethical concerns about, among other things, risks to personal privacy and exploitation of vulnerable populations. Concepts drawn from theories of globalisation can assist with the characterisation o…Read more
  •  19
    Reproductive carrier screening: responding to the eugenics critique
    Journal of Medical Ethics 48 (12): 1060-1067. 2022.
    Reproductive genetic carrier screening (RCS), when offered to anyone regardless of their family history or ancestry, has been subject to the critique that it is a form of eugenics. Eugenics describes a range of practices that seek to use the science of heredity to improve the genetic composition of a population group. The term is associated with a range of unethical programmes that were taken up in various countries during the 20th century. Contemporary practice in medical genetics has, understa…Read more
  •  18
    Public trust and global biobank networks
    with Wendy Lipworth, Ian Kerridge, Cameron Stewart, Edwina Light, Miriam Wiersma, Paul Mason, Margaret Otlowski, and Christine Critchley
    BMC Medical Ethics 21 (1): 1-9. 2020.
    BackgroundBiobanks provide an important foundation for genomic and personalised medicine. In order to enhance their scientific power and scope, they are increasingly becoming part of national or international networks. Public trust is essential in fostering public engagement, encouraging donation to, and facilitating public funding for biobanks. Globalisation and networking of biobanking may challenge this trust.MethodsWe report the results of an Australian study examining public attitudes to th…Read more
  •  17
    Intertwined Interests in Expanded Prenatal Genetic Testing: The State’s Role in Facilitating Equitable Access
    with Kathryn MacKay, Zuzana Deans, Isabella Holmes, and Ainsley J. Newson
    American Journal of Bioethics 22 (2): 45-47. 2022.
    In their analysis of how much fetal genetic information prospective parents should be able to access, Bayefsky and Berkman determine that parents should only be able to access information th...
  •  17
    How should severity be understood in the context of reproductive genetic carrier screening?
    with Alison D. Archibald, Lucinda Freeman, and Ainsley J. Newson
    Bioethics 37 (4): 359-366. 2023.
    Reproductive genetic carrier screening provides information about people's chance of having children with certain genetic conditions. Severity of genetic conditions is an important criterion for their inclusion in carrier screening programmes. However, the concept of severity is conceptually complex and underspecified. We analyse why severity is an important concept in carrier screening and for reproductive decision-making and show that assessments of severity can also have normative societal im…Read more
  •  15
    Reproductive genetic carrier screening is increasingly being offered more widely, including to people with no family history or otherwise elevated chance of having a baby with a genetic condition. There are valid reasons to reject a prevention-focused public health ethics approach to such screening programs. Rejecting the prevention paradigm in this context has led to an emphasis on more individually-focused values of freedom of choice and fostering reproductive autonomy in RCS. We argue, howeve…Read more
  •  15
    In healthcare broadly, and especially in genetic medicine, there is an ongoing debate about whether patients have a right not to know information about their own health. The extensive literature on this topic is characterised by a range of different understandings of what it means to have a RNTK,1–9 and how this purported right relates to patient autonomy. Ben Davies considers whether obligations not to place avoidable burdens on a publicly funded healthcare system might form the basis for an ob…Read more
  •  14
    Is It Just for a Screening Program to Give People All the Information They Want?
    with Isabella Holmes and Ainsley J. Newson
    American Journal of Bioethics 23 (7): 34-42. 2023.
    Genomic screening at population scale generates many ethical considerations. One is the normative role that people’s preferences should play in determining access to genomic information in screening contexts, particularly information that falls beyond the scope of screening. We expect both that people will express a preference to receive such results and that there will be interest from the professional community in providing them. In this paper, we consider this issue in relation to the just an…Read more
  •  11
    Autonomy, Information, and Paternalism in Clinical Communication
    American Journal of Bioethics 17 (11): 50-52. 2017.
    While this paper does not explicitly define the concept of autonomy, the way Ubel et al describe clinicians’ failures to enhance their patients’ autonomy reflects a broader understanding of autonomy than the default account as free and informed choice. In this OPC I would demonstrate that the communication strategies the authors recommend reflects a more sophisticated conception of autonomy than the understanding that typically prevails in bioethics. I will also distinguish between weak and stro…Read more
  •  10
    From a Right to a Preference: Rethinking the Right to Genomic Ignorance
    Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 46 (5): 605-629. 2021.
    The “right not to know” has generated significant discussion, especially regarding genetic information. In this paper, I argue that this purported right is better understood as a preference and that treating it as a substantive right has led to confusion. To support this claim, I present three critiques of the way the right not to know has been characterized. First, I demonstrate that the many conceptualizations of this right have hampered debate. Second, I show that the way autonomy is conceptu…Read more
  •  7
    Consistency of What? Appropriately Contextualizing Ethical Analysis of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing
    with Ainsley J. Newson, Zuzana Deans, and Isabella Catherine Holmes
    American Journal of Bioethics 23 (3): 56-58. 2023.
    It is unarguable that the implementation and use of noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) should be critical and appropriate. After all, decisions that influence when and how to have children have ut...
  •  3
    An epistemic structuralist account of mathematical knowledge
    Dissertation, University of Sydney. 2003.
    Structuralism, the theory that mathematical entities are recurring structures or patterns, has become an increasingly prominent theory of mathematical ontology in the later decades of the twentieth century. The epistemically driven version of structuralism that is advocated in this thesis takes structures to be primarily physical, rather than Platonically abstract entities. A fundamental benefit of epistemic structuralism is that this account, unlike other accounts, can be integrated into a natu…Read more
  •  2
    4. Resolving the Skolem Paradox
    In Kent A. Peacock & Andrew D. Irvine (eds.), Mistakes of reason: essays in honour of John Woods, University of Toronto Press. pp. 64-77. 2005.
  • Autonomy and Responsibility
    In Ezio Di Nucci, Ji-Young Lee & Isaac A. Wagner (eds.), The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook of Bioethics, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2022.