Is there a case for ’institutional conscientious objection’ to abortion and euthanasia?
Institutional conscientious objection may sound like an arcane bioethical issue, but it will be at the centre of fierce political debates in coming years. As...
Is diversity of opinion at risk in medical journals?
A couple of years ago, a new editor was appointed to one of the world’s leading medical journals, JAMA, or the Journal of the American...
It’s time to abolish morality in bioethics, say bioethicists
The idea that morality ought to be abolished is not limited to invading armies (pick one) or child abusers or internet scammers. Some philosophers have...
The medical profession needs to reflect on the crimes of Nazi doctors, says The Lancet
Medical ethics education must be informed by a robust understanding of medicine’s role within the Nazi regime, according to a new report from The Lancet...
Is the ethics of animal liberation showing its age? Is Peter Singer a closet speciesist?
The Expanding Circle (1981) is one of Peter Singer’s best-known books. In it he argues that moral progress is marked by a gradual widening of...
The responsibility of bioethicists: the case study of Yemen
With the eyes of the world on the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, there have been relatively few observations from bioethicists. Some 1,400...
After Gaza, leading US bioethicist laments moral vacuum amongst students
A leading bioethicist, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, of the University of Pennsylvania, says that the war in Gaza has exposed a moral vacuum in American university...
Plato didn’t think that parents mattered. These academics don’t, either
In Book V of The Republic, Plato outlines a utopian vision for raising children. They will be taken from their mothers and raised communally by...
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....
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,...
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...