Journal of Medical Ethics articles from August 2000

Journal of Medical Ethics archives from August 2000

Acts and omissions revisited.
August 1, 2000... There are some ideas that at first seem simple, but which become more complex and profound the more they are explored. Great art, of course, is like that. When I first saw Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring I was excited by its fresh...

POM + EBM = CPD?
August 1, 2000... There are many ways of combining three letters out of an alphabet of 26; yet still there are overlaps which can confuse meaning. So the first duty of anyone using an acronym is to say what it denotes. Here, POM is "problem-oriented medicine",...

Starting clinical trials of xenotransplantation--reflections on the ethics of the early phase.
August 1, 2000... At present there is a shortage of human organs for organ transplantation. The use of animal organs for transplantation, that is, xenotransplantation, would greatly increase the number of organs available. Other forms of xenotransplantation...

Causal authorship and the equality principle: a defence of the acts/omissions distinction in euthanasia.
August 1, 2000... Introduction The current attitude of the law towards the practice of euthanasia is as well known as it is controversial. In two cases, from 1992 and 1993 respectively, the courts took a stand based on the well-established criminal law...

Avoiding anomalous newborns: preemptive abortion, treatment thresholds and the case of baby Messenger.
August 1, 2000... Introduction The case of baby Messenger, a severely ill preterm infant removed by his parents from ventilator support and allowed to die, serves to illustrate treatment options when infants are threatened by extremely premature birth. In...

Presumed consent in emergency neonatal research.
August 1, 2000... Introduction Neonatal research exposes inherent conflicts between the obligation to evaluate the efficacy and safety of new treatments, justice in recruiting subjects, and respect for autonomy in protecting subjects. Recent controversies...

Are medical ethicists out of touch? Practitioner attitudes in the US and UK towards decisions at the end of life.
August 1, 2000... Introduction For the past thirty years bioethicists' bread-and-butter has been critical examination of faulty thinking in biomedical practice. Where stereotypes and muddle prevailed, we have seen it as our task to bring philosophical...

Genetics services in a social, ethical and policy context: a collaboration between consumers and providers.
August 1, 2000... Most ethical and service guidelines derive from recommendations of medical professionals or bioethicists. The voices of users of these services (or "consumers", as many prefer to be called in the United States) are rarely heard, either in...

Ethical-legal problems of DNA databases in criminal investigation.
August 1, 2000... Introduction Advances in DNA technology and the discovery of DNA polymorphisms have facilitated the creation of DNA databases of individuals for the purpose of criminal investigation.(1) Therefore, a considerable range of...

Choices without reasons: citizens' juries and policy evaluation.
August 1, 2000... Abstract Citizens' juries are commended as a new technique for democratising health service reviews. Their usefulness is said to derive from a reliance on citizens' rational deliberation rather than on the immediate preferences of the...

Neither consenting nor protesting: an ethical analysis of a man with autism.
August 1, 2000... Facts At the time of Mr L's admission, he was forty eight years old. He had autism and was unable to speak.(2) His level of understanding was severely impaired, his complex needs required 24-hour supervision and he did not leave his home...

Commercial predictive testing: the desirability of one overseeing body.
August 1, 2000... The Council of Europe urges that society's views must be ascertained on fundamental questions raised by the life sciences and recommends appropriate public discussion and consultation.(1) The introduction of predictive genetic testing...

Ethics briefings.
August 1, 2000... Gene patenting The EC Directive on the Legal Protection of Biotechnological Inventions (98/44/EC), adopted by the European Parliament in July 1998, required all member states of the European Union to ensure that, by 30 July 2000, their...

Medicolegal certificates in investigations of asylum applications.
August 1, 2000... SIR According to the Swedish Immigration Board (SIB), about 26,500 people per year have applied for asylum in Sweden during the last decade. Experiences from Denmark show that up to 20% of those who seek asylum have been subjected to...

Ethical ethics committees?: a response.
August 1, 2000... SIR Following Dr Barber's letter[1] relating to the mechanism for approval of Local Research Ethics Committees (LRECs), I have also had concerns over the intense pressure for a fast turn around for local approval. Projects may have been...

Physician-assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate.
August 1, 2000... Physician-assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate Edited by Margaret P Battin, Rosamund Rhodes and Anita Silvers, New York and London, Routledge, 1998, 463 pages, 45 [pounds sterling]. This substantial academic volume, which seeks to...

Children, Families, and Health Care Decision-making.
August 1, 2000... Children, Families, and Health Care Decision-making Lainie Friedman Ross, New York, Oxford University Press, 1998, 197 pages, 30 [pounds sterling]. Over recent years in the UK there has been increasing emphasis placed on children...

A Philosophical Disease: Bioethics, Culture and Identity.
August 1, 2000... A Philosophical Disease: Bioethics, Culture and Identity Carl Elliott, New York and London, Routledge, 1999, 188 pages, 12.99 [pounds sterling]. Bioethics became established as a distinct discipline in the United States in the 1960s....

Medicine and the Marketplace: the Moral Dimensions of Managed Care.
August 1, 2000... Medicine and the Marketplace: the Moral Dimensions of Managed Care Kenman L Wong, Notre Dame, Indiana, University of Notre Dame Press, 1998, 232 pages, $32.00 Health care in our society has reached a critical point in its evolution....

The Goals of Medicine: The Forgotten Issue in Health Care Reform.
August 1, 2000... The Goals of Medicine: The Forgotten Issue in Health Care Reform Edited by Mark J Hanson and Daniel Callahan, Washington, DC, Georgetown University Press, 1999, 239 + xiv pages, $55 hb. The dominant theme in health care and its ethics...

The Future of Human Reproduction: Ethics, Choice and Regulation.
August 1, 2000... The Future of Human Reproduction: Ethics, Choice and Regulation Edited by John Harris and Soren Holm, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1998, 254 pages, 35.00 [pounds sterling]. It is often the case that the subheading of a book is more...

Truth and the Child 10 years on: Information Exchange in Donor Assisted Conception.
August 1, 2000... Truth and the Child 10 years on: Information Exchange in Donor Assisted Conception Edited by Eric Blyth, Marilyn Crawshaw and Jennifer Speirs, Birmingham, British Association of Social Workers, 1998, 83 pages, 5.95 [pounds sterling]. ...