•  15
    The demise of UKXIRA and the regulation of solid-organ xenotransplantation in the UK
    with L. Williamson
    Journal of Medical Ethics 33 (7): 373-375. 2007.
    The new regulations on xenotransplantation pay insufficient attention to the broad ethical problems raised by this technique and that the abandonment of a national body with overall regulatory authority in this area is a mistake.Following reports from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics1 and, most importantly, the Advisory Group on the Ethics of Xenotransplantation2 , the UK Xenotransplantation Interim Regulatory Authority was established in 1997. The existence of a national body to govern xenotra…Read more
  •  19
    What and who are clinical ethics committees for?
    Journal of Medical Ethics 33 (9): 497-500. 2007.
    As support for clinical ethics committees in the UK grows, care must be taken to define their function, membership and method of working and the status of their decisions.The modern practice of medicine raises a plethora of complex issues—medical, ethical and legal. Doctors and other healthcare professionals increasingly must try to resolve these and may sometimes have to do so in the face of contrary opinion expressed by patients and/or their surrogates. While clearly qualified in the medical a…Read more
  •  26
    Human tissue legislation: listening to the professionals
    with A. V. Campbell, K. Gutridge, and H. Harper
    Journal of Medical Ethics 34 (2): 104-108. 2008.
    The controversies in Bristol, Alder Hey and elsewhere in the UK surrounding the removal and retention of human tissue and organs have led to extensive law reform in all three UK legal systems. This paper reports a short study of the reactions of a range of health professionals to these changes. Three main areas of ethical concern were noted: the balancing of individual rights and social benefit; the efficacy of the new procedures for consent; and the helpfulness for professional practice of the …Read more
  •  48
    Commentary on Glannon and Ross, and McKay
    Journal of Medical Ethics 28 (2): 74-74. 2002.
    The patient-doctor relationship has recently come under intense scrutiny, resulting in a re-evaluation of the basis of that relationship. The papers by Glannon and Ross, and McKay seek to identify the sources of authority in the patient-doctor relationship by evaluating it in terms of the concept of altruism. In this paper I argue that the analysis of Glannon and Ross, and of McKay is unnecessary and that the analysis offered by the latter is also flawed. I do acknowledge, however, that Glannon …Read more