Is the world’s most influential theory of medical ethics fit for purpose in analysing abortion and euthanasia?
As a word, principlism may be clumsy and unpronounceable, but as an explanation of medical ethics, it is supreme. The four principles of autonomy, beneficence,...
Is it ethical to hold a bioethics conference in Qatar?
The International Association of Bioethics is defending its decision to hold its 2024 congress in Qatar, a country which is notoriously hostile to LGBTQI+ people....
Robot priests are unlikely to be credible: study
Robotics experts have had limited success with replacing human carers in nursing homes with robots. Nothing daunted, some have tried to create robot priests to...
What will ChatGPT mean for bioethics?
An expert on medical issues at Harvard Law School, I. Glenn Cohen, has analysed the challenge of AI for bioethics in the American Journal of...
World Medical Association undermines conscience rights
The World Medical Association is largely toothless, but its policies matter. They can be used as a benchmark in bioethical debates in jurisdictions around the...
Harvard Medical School crimson over body parts scandal
Harvard Medical School is renowned throughout the world as a centre of excellence in clinical medicine and medical research. Sixteen Nobel Prize laureates are associated...
Will AI be useful for bioethics?
Will ChatGPT become a bioethical tool? Possibly, but not at the moment. A forum in The Hastings Center focused on this issue. Jon F. Merz,...
Decriminalise all forms of sexual activity, says UN report
A United Nations report has recommended the decriminalisation of drug use and sexual activity. The “March 8 Principles”, released on International Women’s Day, are supposed...
Is the Spanish government creating a black list of healthcare workers who are conscientious objectors?
Euthanasia became legal in Spain on 25 June 2021. An unusual feature of its law is that the Health Ministry is supposed to create a...
The virtues and the vices of the outrageous
A Norwegian bioethicist, Anna Smajdor, recently set out a case for “Whole Body Gestational Donation” – using the wombs of brain-dead women as surrogate mothers...
Should bioethicists hold a conference in Qatar?
FIFA’s choice of Qatar for the 2022 World Cup sparked huge ethical controversies. What about its abominable record on migrant workers? What about its record...
Do ‘conscientious providers’ matter more than ‘conscientious objectors’?
Dov Fox, an expert on health law and bioethics, has written a blistering attack on conscientious objection and a defence of “conscientious provision” in the...