Genetic predisposition as a legal defence
What is the relationship between genetic predisposition and upbringing? With the rapid advance of behavioural genetics it has become easier for lawyers to mount a...
Conflicted over slippery slopes
Hi there, I suspect that people who use the expressing “I’m feeling conflicted” are mostly American, so I avoid it. However, when discussing slippery slopes,...
Stop fretting about 3-parent embryos and get ready for “multiplex parenting”
With artificial gametes, the sky’s the limit for parents. The controversy over three-parent embryos could soon be old hat. Writing in one of the world’s...
Analysis of legal assisted suicide in Switzerland
Women are the most vulnerable. An extensive survey of assisted suicide in Switzerland between 2003 and 2008 has found that the most vulnerable people are...
Rethinking informed consent
If a trial has no or only minor effects on important patient interests, do we need it? Informed consent is a bioethical precept of paramount...
The industrial revolution in surrogacy
An innovative doctor wants to set up a baby factory in India. An Indian doctor cum businesswoman is looking to build the world’s biggest ‘baby...
New technology could raise awareness in minimally conscious patients
Electric stimulation can increase awarenessA promising way of rousing minimally conscious patients has been developed by a group of Belgian researchers. In the April edition...
India profits as Afghan health crisis continues
Medical tourism booms in India, With Afghanistan’s hospitals in a parlous state, tens of thousands of Afghans are travelling to India for safe, albeit expensive,...
Force-feeding continues at Guantanamo Bay
A cruel and degrading process, according to Physicians for Human Rights. A US federal court recently declined to stop force-feeding of detainees at Guantánamo Bay....
Barcoding embryos
Hi there, First things first: the company which distributes our emails, AWeber, is struggling with some very nasty hackers at the moment. No personal information...
Conscientious objection to “patriarchal norms”
A report from Sweden on how doctors handle hymen restorationInformed consent and conscientious objection are easy to fulminate about, but tricky to discuss with consistency....
UK to press ahead with 3-parent IVF babies
Chief Medical Officer announces the launch of a consultation. While the US Food and Drug Administration examines the possibility of allowing “three-parent embryos” to fight...