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Ethics
Suicide pod creator denies first user was strangled
The right-to-die activist behind the “Sarco” suicide capsule has rejected what he calls “absurd” allegations that the American woman who was its first user...
Patient sues Algerian author for allegedly using her story in novel
An Algerian woman has sued the winner of France’s biggest book prize, claiming he based his story on her, using confidential information from when...
US medical school in hot water for liquefying bodies after using for training
The University of North Texas Health Science Centre has been ordered to immediately stop its practice of liquefying bodies after using them for training...
Despite ethics changes, GM babies still illegal in SA
South African scientists who reacted with concern to a recent change in the country’s research guidelines have been reassured that the creation of genetically...
Court injunction stops Canadian woman’s scheduled euthanasia
A Canadian woman – who had scheduled an assisted suicide for 27 October – had her plan blocked when a British Columbian judge issued...
Meditation may worsen mental health issues, warns expert
Because mindfulness is free, and something you can practise at home, it often sounds like the perfect tonic for stress and mental health issues....
‘Race science’ group claims to have accessed sensitive data
Undercover footage has revealed that fringe researchers advocating “nefarious” theories – that intelligence is based on race – claim to have obtained data from...
British MPs to vote on assisted dying
The UK has become the latest country to consider assisted suicide legislation, with MPs, for the first time in almost a decade, set to...
DIY health screening industry ‘built on fear’, Lancet warns
The direct-to-consumer medical testing industry is booming, with the global market predicted to reach more than $9bn by 2033, but many screening tests sold...
UK nutrition advisers linked to world’s biggest food groups – BMJ analysis
More than half of the experts on the British Government’s advisory panel on nutrition are linked to the food industry, according to an analysis...
Why liberal Switzerland is opposing Sarco suicide capsule
The Sarco suicide capsule will soon be used for the first time in Switzerland, according to its makers, but authorities are resisting, and the...
Should doctors treat family and friends?
The question of whether doctors should be allowed to treat – and operate on – close friends and relatives is a controversial one, and...
Legalising assisted suicide risks replacing proper care for terminally ill
A group of South African doctors is supporting the call to oppose a court challenge by DignitySA to legalise physician-assisted suicide, arguing that dignity...
More of Big Pharma's Covid vaccine bully tactics laid bare
With the release of a second tranche of information showing how South Africa was bullied into paying outrageously high prices for its Covid-19 vaccines,...
Justice yet to be served in US osteoporosis drug case
A US court case by 1 000 plaintiffs against pharmaceutical company Merck has been dragging on since 2011, writes Gregory Curfman in JAMA Network,...
Written consent now a must for pelvic exams at US hospitals
American hospitals must now obtain written informed consent from patients before they undergo intimate physical exams, including those performed under anaesthesia – otherwise they...
HSPCA petitioned over big tobacco sponsorship of medical education
The National Council Against Smoking (NCAS) has lodged an objection, with more than 50 signatories, with the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) over...
SA linked to global scandal as PMI extends Big Tobacco reach
An ambitious deal between a leading global medical education provider and Philip Morris International (PMI) collapsed this week, with Medscape acknowledging its “misjudgment” and...
Nestlé to end sugar addition in baby products from year-end
Nestlé will end the practice of adding sugar to its baby food products by the end of the year, it has announced, after an...
Children used as guinea pigs in UK's tainted blood scandal
The National Health Service in the UK is facing a major criminal and ethical scandal as the true scale of the number of medical...
Probe into Bara’s AWOL high-flying plastic surgeon
Gauteng Health has launched an investigation into plastic surgeon Dr Brian Monaisa, who has been accused by his peers of skipping work for months...
Hundreds of websites flog fake weight-loss and other drugs
An Israeli cybersecurity firm has taken down more than 250 websites selling fake versions of popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs in the GLP-1 class,...
The right to assisted suicide long overdue
Helping suffering people to end their lives remains a crime in South Africa – but now, backed by eight influential doctors, an ethicist has...
US doctors paid billions by Big Pharma and manufacturers
The American pharmaceutical and medical device industry paid physicians $12.1bn over nearly a decade, with orthopaedic surgeons being the highest earners, followed by neurologists,...
Organ harvesting syndicates exploit Kenyan youth
Poverty is driving young men to sell their kidneys to organ harvesting syndicates in Kenya, with one man saying he earned nearly US$1 000...
Wrong family pulls plug on patient after hospital mix-up
In a terrible case of mistaken identity, a hospital in Vancouver, Canada, allowed a family to end life support on a man they thought...
Leading SA medical experts back euthanasia court challenge
Respected South African medical experts, including professors, oncologists, ethicists and anaesthesiologists, have thrown their weight behind a pending court challenge to legalise assisted suicide,...
How Big Tobacco is slithering into wellness industry
Experts say tobacco companies are turning to the booming wellness industry as a way of normalising more harmful products, with some brands obscuring or...
Canada to legalise assisted suicide for mental illness
A new law due to take effect in March has divided citizens of Canada, which already has one of the most liberal assisted death...
Scientists want to double 14-day limit for embryo experiments
While there appears to be some public support for calls by leading British scientists to double the current 14-day limit on embryo research to...
New draft ethics guidelines create confusion
A long overdue and much needed revised draft version of South Africa’s Ethics Guidelines – last updated in 2015 – has been released to...
Time to move past medicalised approach for assisted suicide
Despite growing legal and medical support for assisted dying, many healthcare professionals do not want to be directly involved, but a de-medicalised approach could...
Moral issues not considered in xenograft kidney procedure
An American medical specialist and law expert has raised questions over the recently published case in which doctors at NYU Langone transplanted a genetically-altered pig...
Profit drives over-treatment of peripheral artery disease
A recent report on widespread overuse and overtreatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD) has drawn strongly divided reaction.
The article in The New York Times...
Opening the genetics Pandora box
With the inclusion of genetic screening possibly becoming a routine test in infants in the future, experts warn that the results might not always...
Ethico-legal challenges of tissue engineering
Potential ethical dilemmas could stymie the growth of the engineered tissue industry in South Africa, with moral question marks hovering over aspects like the...
Slippery slope when gene editing advances outpace the law
Scientific development in human genome editing is progressing at a rapid rate, sparking hope and fear in equal measure, and raising the question: is...
UK to begin genome testing on 100 000 UK infants
Despite protests and some mutterings that it’s unethical, a British programme, similar to one launched in New York last year, will begin genome sequencing...
Scientists find successful technique for choosing babies’ sex – NY study
Although the issue of sex selection raises serious ethical concerns, and selection of embryos on the basis of sex, without mitigating reasons such as...
Excessive knee jabs linked to industry's marketing payouts
Researchers in the US found that physicians accepting payments from drug and device companies administered significantly more hyaluronic acid (HA) injections – three times...