Bio-Ethics
SA needs to overhaul genetics research guidelines — ASSAf
December 12th, 2018 South Africa needs to overhaul the laws and ethical guidelines that govern its genetics research, testing and databases, says its national science academy – especially given the country’s troubled history of race-based discrimination. The...
Doubts and outrage over genetically edited babies claims
November 28th, 2018 Significant doubts have been expressed, as well as international outrage, over unverified claims from a Chinese scientist that he has helped make the world's first genetically edited babies, reports BBC News. Professor He Jiankui says the twin...
UK-trained forensic pathologist's alleged role in murder
November 7th, 2018 Medical associations have condemned the alleged role of the top UK-trained Saudi forensic pathologist had in the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, reports The Lancet. The former Glasgow University student, Dr Salah al-Tubaigy, is...
Researchers warn that smart pills may be a dumb solution
October 3rd, 2018 Enthusiasm for an emerging digital health tool, the smart pill, is on the rise but researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago caution health care providers and policymakers to slow down when it comes to allowing this technology in...
UK inquiry concludes that editing human embryos 'morally permissible'
July 25th, 2018 An independent UK inquiry into the ethical issues surrounding genetically altering a human embryo has found there is 'no absolute reason not to pursue it'. The inquiry by the Nuffield Council concludes that any invention should be guided by two...SA med students becoming more open to legalising euthanasia
More than half of medical students at Stellenbosch University feel the practices of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) should be legalised in South Africa, and if a patient had a terminal disease with intractable suffering, 41.9% of...
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...