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In countries practising capital punishment, lethal injection by doctors is increasingly seen as the most reliable method. The USA is the most prolific user and lethal injection by doctors has [...]

The election of George Bush heralded a shift to the right in American politics and with it the expectation of a more conservative approach to issues such as abortion. In [...]

For at least a decade the UK Lord Chancellor's Department has been considering the need for reform of the law that protects mentally incapacitated adults and authorises medical treatment for [...]

The Cour de Cassation, France's highest court of appeal, ruled in July 2001 that the parents of handicapped children are entitled to compensation for being denied the option of seeking [...]

There has been increasing interest in the UK in recent years about prosecutions for driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. Many people see it as problematic that [...]

In June, the Family Planning Association (FPA) was granted leave for a judicial review of the practice of abortion in Northern Ireland. The application is not to amend the law [...]

In the UK, the wide ranging public consultation about the retention and use of human tissue continued into February 2003. In November 2002, the Retained Organs Commission which had been [...]

Patients in the UK are entitled to see and have copies of their health records. Currently, however, legislation that gives patients access has some significant restrictions. If the doctor responsible [...]

Following the organ retention scandals at Alder Hey and elsewhere (3) the UK is undertaking a thorough review of the legislation governing organ donation and retention of material following postmortem [...]

Many people gain much of their awareness of medicine and medical techniques from television. A regional survey in 1995, for example, indicated that local people primarily gained their understanding of [...]

The UK government has been advised to join the growing number of countries that have, or are considering, a 'genetic non-discrimination' law. The government's advisory body, the Human Genetics Commission [...]

Ethical problems confronting public health practitioners have, relatively speaking, received scant attention. No doubt this is in part due to the traditional emphasis in medical ethics on the dynamics of [...]

One of the most difficult tasks the British Medical Association's (BMA) 2001 annual meeting asked the ethics committee to undertake was to 'investigate the issues surrounding the circumcision of male [...]

On 20 January 2002, a 74 year old man from Liverpool died after travelling to Switzerland for assisted suicide, using barbiturates supplied by the organisation Dignitas. Mr Reginald Crew, who [...]

A central ethical argument about the provision of health care to detainees is that it should meet the same standards as health care in the wider community. This goal clearly [...]

The availability of skilled doctors is both a necessary and an incontrovertible public good. How they should develop their skills, however, and what doctors and patients can reasonably expect in [...]

As predicted in previous Ethics Briefings, (6) summer 2002 saw the publication of draft mental health bills for England and Scotland. But fierce opposition on civil liberties' grounds, including from [...]

Female genital mutilation generates passionate argument about child abuse and the limits of cultural independence. The Sudanese Women's Rights Group (SWRG), which is based in the United Kingdom (UK) issued [...]

When children have a life threatening illness, parents are often prepared to consider any measure that could save them. Having another child who could donate bone marrow or other cells [...]

In May 2002, Belgium's Chamber of Representatives backed the senate's earlier vote in favour of euthanasia, making it the second European country to introduce a clear statute permitting euthanasia. (11) [...]

Various facets of the international debate about the 'right to health' or the 'right to treatment' have featured previously in these briefings. (7) Since 1996, the British Medical Association (BMA) [...]

The New Zealand government has retreated from plans to make it mandatory for doctors and other health professionals to report colleagues they believe are underperforming. During the development stages of [...]

Debate continues about retention of human material in pathology collections and museums. In March 2002 the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland issued draft standards on the topic. In June, the [...]

A complex mixture of common (judgemade) law and statute form the legal basis for confidentiality in the UK. The 1998 Data Protection Act requires any processing of data to be [...]

Dianne Pretty (10) lost the final stage of her battle against the UK's prohibition on assisted suicide on 29 April 2002. (11) The European Court of Human Rights dismissed claims [...]

In April 2002, South Africa dramatically reversed its AIDS policy, announcing universal access to AIDS prophylactics for mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Previously, President Mbeki and Health Minister Tshabalala-Msimang had been [...]

We have previously drawn attention (1) to evolving international research ethics and standards of care to be applied by Western researchers carrying out drug trials in developing countries. The non-provision [...]

Two recent announcements have again triggered the perennial debate about altruism versus commercialism. In Israel, the health minister has reversed a ban on the import of ova, which will allow [...]

The UK government is seeking views about what information concerning donors should be available to children born as a result of egg, sperm, or embryo donation. (4) For those born [...]

The Canadian Standing Committee on Health is due to report, in January 2002, on draft legislation on human assisted reproduction. (11) The proposals set out activities that should be regulated [...]

There is growing international debate about the so-called 'right to health' and the likely content of such a right as it is gradually defined by international bodies such as the [...]

The report of the Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI) Inquiry into the management of the care of children receiving complex cardiac surgical services at the BRI was published in July 2001. [...]