Doctors slow to blow whistle
A lawsuit against the medical products giant Johnson & Johnson has raised questions about doctors’ willingness to warn colleagues and patients about bad drugs or...
German minister for education and research loses job in plagiarism scandal
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, losing one minister because he plagiarised his PhD thesis is a misforture; losing two looks like carelessness. But this is what...
Inside the “fortress of death”
Dr Gunther von Hagens and his controversial Body Worlds exhibitions of plasticised human bodies and body parts have been out of the news for a...
French doctors endorse euthanasia
France’s peak medical body, the Conseil national de l'ordre des médecins (CNOM, the national council of the college of physicians) has endorsed euthanasia. This marks...
German sperm donor children gain right to know fathers
A German court has ruled that sperm donor children have a right to know the identity of their biological fathers. "The interest of the...
Virus research resumed after security controversy
Research into airborne strains of chicken flu virus has recommenced, following a year and a half of international controversy and bioethical debate. Virologist Dr Ron...
Three cheers for consistency
Hi there, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” This quote from the American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of my favourite...
Colorado hospital apologises over personhood dispute
Coloradans on both sides of the abortion debate were surprised that lawyers for a Catholic hospital were arguing that a fetus has no rights in...
Tasmania may get legal euthanasia
Tasmanians are once again gearing up for a debate over euthanasia. Labor Premier Lara Giddings and her Greens Deputy Nick McKim released a report this...
Another speed bump for Belgian euthanasia
A woman asks for euthanasia after being sexually abused by her psychiatrist. The complications of euthanasia keep bubbling away in Belgium. The latest scandal is...
UK doctor struck off for failing to protect Iraqi detainees
A British Army doctor was deregistered in the UK in December for failing to treat an Iraqi man who had been tortured by British troops...
Does Western bioethics ignore the family?
The emergence of a family centred bioethicsA conference in Singapore recently cast bioethics in a different light. Jim Sabin, a professor at Harvard Medical School,...