University of Manchester
Department of Philosophy
PhD, 2002
Manchester, England, United Kingdom
  •  439
    The fallacy of the principle of procreative beneficence
    Bioethics 23 (5): 265-273. 2008.
    The claim that we have a moral obligation, where a choice can be made, to bring to birth the 'best' child possible, has been highly controversial for a number of decades. More recently Savulescu has labelled this claim the Principle of Procreative Beneficence. It has been argued that this Principle is problematic in both its reasoning and its implications, most notably in that it places lower moral value on the disabled. Relentless criticism of this proposed moral obligation, however, has been u…Read more
  •  131
    Antenatal Genetic Testing and the Right to Remain in Ignorance
    Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 22 (5): 461-471. 2001.
    As knowledge increases about the human genome,prenatal genetic testing will become cheaper,safer and more comprehensive. It is likelythat there will be a great deal of support formaking prenatal testing for a wide range ofgenetic disorders a routine part of antenatalcare. Such routine testing is necessarilycoercive in nature and does not involve thesame standard of consent as is required inother health care settings. This paper askswhether this level of coercion is ethicallyjustifiable in this c…Read more
  •  127
    The Principle of Procreative Beneficence claims that we have a moral obligation, where choice is possible, to choose to create the best child we can. The existence of this moral obligation has been proposed by John Harris and Julian Savulescu and has proved controversial on many levels, not least that it is eugenics, asking us to produce the best children we can, not for the sake of that child's welfare, but in order to make a better society. These are strong claims that require robust justifica…Read more
  •  97
    Traditionally reproduction, gestation and childbirth have all been regarded as being primarily a woman's domain. As natural reproduction occurs inside a woman's body, respect for autonomy and bodily integrity requires the pregnant woman to have the conclusive say over the fate of the embryo/fetus growing within her. Thus traditionally the ethics and law of reproduction is dominated by the importance of respecting women's reproductive choices. This paper argues that emerging technologies demand a…Read more
  •  63
    Routine antenatal HIV testing and informed consent: an unworkable marriage?
    Journal of Medical Ethics 33 (8): 446-448. 2007.
    This paper considers the ethics of routine antenatal HIV testing and the role of informed consent within such a policy in order to decide how we should proceed in this area—a decision that ultimately rests on the relative importance we give to public health goals on the one hand and respect for individual autonomy on the other.A recent illuminating qualitative study by Zulueta and Boulton1 explores the practicalities of informed consent in routine antenatal HIV testing. Its results support what …Read more
  •  55
    There Can Be No Moral Obligation to Eradicate All Disability
    Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 23 (1): 30-40. 2014.
  •  32
    Ignorance is bliss? HIV and moral duties and legal duties to forewarn
    Journal of Medical Ethics 26 (1): 9-15. 2000.
    In 1997, a court in Cyprus jailed Pavlos Georgiou for fifteen months for knowingly infecting a British woman, Janet Pink, with HIV-1 through unprotected sexual intercourse. Pink met Georgiou in January 1994 whilst on holiday. She discovered that she had contracted the virus from him in October 1994 but continued the relationship until July 1996 when she developed AIDS. She returned to the UK for treatment and reported Georgiou to the Cypriot authorities.1There have been a number of legal cases i…Read more
  •  31
    Bioethics, medicine, and the criminal law (edited book)
    with Amel Alghrani and Suzanne Ost
    Cambridge University Press. 2013.
    Who should define what constitutes ethical and lawful medical practice? Judges? Doctors? Scientists? Or someone else entirely? This volume analyses how effectively criminal law operates as a forum for resolving ethical conflict in the delivery of health care. It addresses key questions such as: how does criminal law regulate controversial bioethical areas? What effect, positive or negative, does the use of criminal law have when regulating bioethical conflict? And can the law accommodate moral c…Read more
  •  30
    Due Consideration: Controversy in the Age of Medical Miracles
    Journal of Medical Ethics 24 (5): 353-353. 1998.
  •  29
    Human reproduction: irrational but in most cases morally defensible
    Journal of Medical Ethics 30 (4): 379-380. 2004.
    While I am inclined to agree that in most cases a choice to become pregnant and bring to birth a child is an irrational choice, unlike Professor Häyry,1 I believe that choosing to do so is far from being necessarily immoral. In fact I will argue that it is often these irrational choices which make human life the valuable commodity many of us believe it is.Häyry argues that not only is the choice to have children always an irrational choice, but also it is necessarily an immoral choice. Thus, for…Read more
  •  26
    Can routine screening for alcohol consumption in pregnancy be ethically and legally justified?
    with Catherine Bowden
    Journal of Medical Ethics 48 (8): 512-516. 2022.
    In the UK, it has been proposed that alongside the current advice to abstain from alcohol completely in pregnancy, there should be increased screening of pregnant women for alcohol consumption in order to prevent instances of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network published guidelines in 2019 recommending that standardised screening questionnaires and associated use of biomarkers should be considered to identify alcohol exposure in pregnancy. This was fo…Read more
  •  19
    Many thanks to bioethics reviewers
    with George Agich, Priscilla Anderson, Alice Asby, Dominic Beer, Alec Bodkin, Stephen Braude, Dan Brock, Gideon Calder, and Emma Cave
    In Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred Dycus Miller & Jeffrey Paul (eds.), Bioethics, Cambridge University Press. pp. 2002. 2002.
  •  18
    Birth Control
    In Hugh LaFollette (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Ethics, Blackwell. 2013.
  •  10
    Hiv and Aids: Testing, Screening, and Confidentiality (edited book)
    with Rebecca Bennett and Charles A. Erin
    Clarendon Press. 2001.
    An international team of eighteen doctors, philosophers, and lawyers present a fresh and thorough discussion of the ethical, legal, and social issues raised by testing and screening for HIV and AIDS. They aim to point the way to practical advances but also to give an accessible guide for those new to the debate.
  •  6
    Bioethics, medicine, and the criminal law (edited book)
    with Amel Alghrani and Suzanne Ost
    Cambridge University Press. 2013.
    Who should define what constitutes ethical and lawful medical practice? Judges? Doctors? Scientists? Or someone else entirely? This volume analyses how effectively criminal law operates as a forum for resolving ethical conflict in the delivery of health care. It addresses key questions such as: how does criminal law regulate controversial bioethical areas? What effect, positive or negative, does the use of criminal law have when regulating bioethical conflict? And can the law accommodate moral c…Read more
  •  3
    Should We Criminalize HIV Transmission?
    In Charles A. Erin & Suzanne Ost (eds.), The Criminal Justice System and Health Care, Oxford University Press. 2007.
  •  3
    Reproductive choice
    In Rosamond Rhodes, Leslie Francis & Anita Silvers (eds.), The Blackwell Guide to Medical Ethics, Blackwell. 2007.
    The prelims comprise: Reproductive Choice and Reproductive Autonomy The Limits of Reproductive Autonomy The Right to Reproduce? Who Should Be Provided with Assistance to Reproduce? Reproductive Choices in Pregnancy Future Reproductive Choices Conclusions Notes References.
  •  2
    Bioethics, Genethics and Medical Ethics
    with Charles A. Erin, John Harris, and Søren Holm
    In Nicholas Bunnin & E. P. Tsui‐James (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy, Blackwell. 2002.
    This chapter contains sections titled: Bioethics Genethics Medical Ethics.
  •  1
    Empirical data can be an extremely powerful and influential tool in bioethical research. However, when researchers or policy makers look for answers to ethical questions by engaging with empirical research, there can be a tendency (conscious or unconscious) to shape, report, and use empirical research in a way that confirms their own preferred ethical conclusions. This skewing effect - what we call ‘normative bias’ - is often so subtle it falls short of clear misconduct and thus can be difficult…Read more
  • Introduction
    with Charles A. Erin
    In Rebecca Bennett & Charles A. Erin (eds.), Hiv and Aids, Testing, Screening, and Confidentiality, Clarendon Press. 2001.