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Greeks and geeks
At Harvard Medical School someone is screaming, reports the Boston Globe. ‘Death!’, he shrieks, ‘Why after all these years have you not appeared?’ He begs for euthanasia, tormented by his pain. Medical students listen to him. His lines were written by Sophocles, and the students are listening because they have to: it is part of
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Between Life and Death…
A powerful BBC documentary, “Between Life and Death”, screened this evening on BBC One. The documentary (which can be viewed online for the next week in the UK) examined the life and death decisions made for critically ill patients with severe brain injury. Neuro-intensive care provides a way to interrupt the process of dying for
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The Age of the Genome – on BBC radio tomorrow night
Genetic tests at birth, designer babies, synthetic life and resurrected mammoths. In the final part of this series, Richard Dawkins talks to Craig Venter and other leading scientists about the potential powers of genome science in the future. The program also includes an interview with Julian Savulescu and others about the ethical implications of these
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Artificial Performance Enhancement in Sports – Are we Overreacting?
Elite athletes are a kind of mirror for society, but simultaneously a role model for the young generation. According to the general opinion, being the one looking-up to implies a certain level of moral behaviour. Therefore cheating by abusing performance enhancing substances in sport is obviously a matter of social irresponsibility. Is that really the…
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The Costs of a Right to Demand Treatment
by Bridget Williams Who has the right to decide when life prolonging treatment should be withdrawn? Should doctors have the right to refuse to use costly and scarce resources to continue to treat a permanently unconscious, dying man? Is there a limit to the medical resources we can reasonably claim for ourselves and our families
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Special Guest Blog – The problem of militarism
by Tony Coady Israel’s decision to institute an inquiry into the military misadventure with the flotilla attempting to break its blockade of Gaza and its subsequent partial relaxation of restrictions on aid to Gaza represent grudging concessions to international outrage about the flotilla episode. Any recognition by Israel that its military policies are offensive to
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Critical Care ethics series – the ethics of maxiple pregnancies
by Dominic Wilkinson Quads, Quins, Sexts, Septs, even Octs! High order multiple pregnancies such as the Suleman octuplets in California generate enormous media attention. However, they also raise some unique ethical questions. In the second of a series of seminars on critical care ethics, the neonatal grand round today looked at ethical questions arising from
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Robolove – Robot Machines as Companions
Robot companions are being used in Japan and the the US for elderly patients in nursing homes. They take advantage of our innate tendency to develop affection for things that are cute and appear to respond positively to us. Paro is a robot modeled after a baby harp seal. It trills and paddles when petted,
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On Knowing (or Not)
Judy is an intelligent, articulate woman with a great sense of humor. She is also completely paralyzed on her left side. Trouble is, she doesn’t know she is. On the contrary, she knows that she isn’t. What’s going on? Self-deception? Denial? Puzzling examples like this are scattered throughout a recent series in the NY Times,
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Don’t forget to vote in the Drugs in Sport debate
Would relaxing the ban on doping lead to a fairer, safer sporting field with a better spectacle for audiences? Or would it distort and undermine the very nature of sporting endeavour and run contrary to the virtues that are the essence of sport? What have the debaters got right and where have they gone wrong?