UK’s equality watchdog insists on transgender fertility services
NHS caught between conflicting demandsThe UK’s equality watchdog has demanded that the country’s National Health Service offer scarce fertility services to transitioning transgender people. At...
Capital punishment stumbles ahead in US
Lethal injections are becoming more difficult to administerThree news items this week illustrate the patchwork of capital punishment legislation in the United States. On Thursday,...
The Sea and Poison
Today, I'll take a break from controversy. Let's talk about literature. In 2003 the President’s Council on Bioethics published an anthology about bioethical dilemmas. It was...
UK Supreme Court decision changes rules about brain-damaged patients
A difficult and controversial ruling viewed from a lawyer’s perspective The Supreme Court is the United Kingdom’s highest appellate court. It has now ruled that...
Is death by dehydration in a patient’s ‘best interest’?
UK court rules that doctors and families can decide in some cases The UK’s Supreme Court has ruled that court orders are not necessarily needed...
Abortion activists unveil strategy for attacking conscientious objection
‘A violation of medical ethics and of patients' right to health care’, they say An “expert group” of abortion activists has launched a strong attack...
UK cosmetic surgery ads criticised as ‘unscrupulous”
Channel advised to review its standards ITV, a commercial TV channel in the UK, will review its policy of screening advertisements for breast enlargement and...
Doctors’ well-being is suffering because of ‘moral injury’
Similar symptoms to PTSD soldiers In trying to understand post-traumatic stress disorders amongst soldiers, psychologists have developed the notion of “moral injury”. This is an...
No privacy in a transhumanist future, says former presidential candidate
An old-fashioned concept What would life be like in a transhumanist future? Upgrading from Humanity 1.0 to Humanity 2.0 would involve unpredictable changes in social...
Two cheers, at least, for utilitarianism
We tend to give utilitarianism a hard time in “Pointed Remarks”. But sometimes we could do with a bit more utilitarianism. It might keep the...
British IVF clinics on a “gravy train”: Robert Winston
Mixing the "desperation" of couples for a child and the "avarice" of private practice is a "dangerous combination". The 40th anniversary of the birth of...
Another reason why cloning probably won’t work
Most humans are chimerasHuman cloning – illegal around the world -- is just a glimmer on the horizon of some rogue scientists. However, there are...