Bio-Ethics
Hospital staff bear brunt of anger after death of Alfie
May 2nd, 2018 The British baby Alfie Evans has died, bringing into the spotlight a host of legal and ethical issues around the treatment of patients in a semi-vegetative state on life support. It also has placed hospitals and their staff at the epicentre of...
Study accuses Asperger of assisting in Nazi euthanasia programme
April 25th, 2018 The Austrian doctor after whom Asperger syndrome is named was an active participant in the Nazi regime, assisting in the Third Reich’s so-called euthanasia programme and supporting the concept of racial hygiene by deeming certain children unworthy...
Down's syndrome takes centre stage in US abortion debate
March 14th, 2018 Bills are being placed before US state legislatures that would make it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion if sought 'solely' because the foetus has Down's syndrome. It is the latest twist in the political debate over abortion, writes The...
Contraception, HIV and control over black women’s bodies
February 14th, 2018 The practice of injecting women with the 'controversial' conraceptive Depo-Provera without proper informed consent – especially those who are poor, black and using the public health sector – is still happening, writes Amy Green of Health...UK's terminally ill suffer 'traumatic' deaths because they can't afford to go abroad to die
Thousands of terminally ill people in the UK, who want to travel abroad to end their life in specialist clinics cannot afford the costs of doing so, leaving them to face often “painful and traumatic deaths at home”. The Guardian reports that...SA NGOs gear up against anti-abortion Bill
The Treatment Action Campaign and Section 27 say they are opposing a new Bill by the African Christian Democratic Party that insists women who want an abortion must have ultrasounds first. The Times reports that the Bill was written by MP Cherrylyn...
The death of Charlie Gard leaves a legacy of thorny questions
August 9th, 2017 Charlie Gard, the incurably ill British infant who died recently, could not hear, see or even cry. But, reports The New York Times, his case captured the attention of the pope and the US president, and raised difficult ethical issues that...Facebook censors page on abortion pills
Facebook has refused to publish the page of an organisation that helps women obtain abortion pills, citing its policy against the ‘promotion or encouragement of drug use’, The Guardian reports. Women on Web, which is based in Amsterdam, helps...
Courts, politicians and doctors failed dying psychiatric patients
February 8th, 2017 The SA courts have not emerged unscathed from the saga of the deaths of 94 psychiatric patients at the hands of uncaring, incompetent Gauteng Health officials. Rapport points out that lobby group Section 27 tried more than once to interdict the...
Clinical trial with 'young blood' to slow ageing is labelled a 'scam'
January 18th, 2017 A pay-to-participate private clinical trial on the potential of 'young' blood plasma from teenagers and young adults can reverse certain of the hallmarks of ageing, has been labelled a 'scam'. Just off a winding highway along the Pacific coast...WikiLeaks releases sensitive personal medical data
The whistleblowing site WikiLeaks has published the sensitive personal data of hundreds of ordinary people, including sick children, rape victims and people with mental health problems, The Guardian reports an investigation has revealed. In the...Social media adept patients raising thorny ethical questions
As more and more sick patients are going online and using social media to search for answers about their health and lobby for specific treatments, it’s raising thorny ethical questions for doctors, reports Reuters Health. Hospitals and other...
Dutch sex abuse victim allowed euthanasia
July 13th, 2016 A sex abuse victim in the Netherlands has been been allowed to undergo euthanasia via lethal injection. The Independent reports that, according to papers released by the Dutch Euthanasia Commission, the unnamed woman in her 20s had suffered...
US medical school scandal over donated cadavers
June 15th, 2016 Donating one’s body to medical research is arguably the ultimate act of generosity, Medical schools, including in South Africa, ceremonially honour the donors, while students are taught to respect the mortal remains that underpin their education....
Pfizer shuts off death penalty drugs
May 18th, 2016 Pfizer Inc has taken steps to ensure that none of its products are used in lethal injections, shutting off the last remaining open market source of drugs ued in executions....