Not so long ago, I heard a research scientist talking about the work he was doing and its context in the discipline. He was looking at a particular set of genes that were implicated in cancer, and was interested in manipulating those genes as a means of controlling tumor formation. He wanted to work on […]
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Welfare, Principles, and an Unexpected Attack
First up, this may seem like a bit of a diversion from JME core concerns, but – as I hope will become clear – it has to do with moral philosophy, so that’s enough of a link. Obviously, news for the last week or so has been dominated by the earthquake in Haiti and its […]
Protecting Innocent Lives?
Last spring, George Tiller was killed. (I was going to say murdered, or assassinated, but both of those are morally and legally weighted…) Tiller was one of a very small community of doctors in the US willing to give late-term abortions, and it was for this that he was shot. Scott Roeder is currently on […]
A Very Small Post about Homeopathy
I know I keep stressing the distinction between ethics and activist – and how it’s usually just before I witter on about something vaguely activistic. However, I do think it’s worth popping over to look at the 10:23 Campaign, which takes a robust and sceptical attitude to homeopathy. If you’re not sure about why it’s […]
Sic transit gloria DECODE
You may remember an Icelandic company called DECODE that, way back in the last decade wanted to collect DNA samples from the complete Icelandic population, link them with health data and perform amazing gene-epidemiological studies that would revolutionise medicine. Many investors will certainly remember DECODE which, at its peak had a market value in the […]
Funeral Expenses? I’m Going to be Pickled!
Since we’re technically still in the holiday period, have a bit more silliness. This concerns a scheme that is a supposed to disincentivise drink-driving. A funeral home in Rome, Georgia, is offering… Oh, what the hell. I’ll let the local paper, the Rome News-Tribune, tell the story: Between now and noon on Thursday, drivers can […]
Chuck Norris on why Obamacare is Bad
You know Chuck Norris: martial-arts-film-star-bloke-turned-right-wing-commentator-and-walking-internet-meme. Yep. Him. Well, he’s identified exactly what’s wrong with Obamacare. It might mean publicly funded terminations of pregnancy. And imagine what state the world’d be in if the Virgin Mary had had an abortion. Go on. Imagine it. [A]s we near the eve of another Christmas, I wonder: What would have […]
Public Spending – and the NHS in Perspective.
I have a vague memory of John Lydon telling the crowd at the first Sex Pistols reunion gig in 1996 (Woo-hoo! I was there!) that he’d had a message of support from the owner of Creation records. “Don’t trust Alan McGee,” he snarled. “He’s a very clever man.” […]
More on Ethics Teaching
Further to the post below, and by complete serendipity – David and I have asked for pre-publication access to the JME, but haven’t got it yet – this month’s Journal is crammed with stuff on ethics in the undergrad medical curriculum. Sophie Mills gives a student’s-eye account of the place of ethics in the curriculum […]
The Good of Small Things
A few nights ago, I went out for a curry with a doctor friend who’s just returned from a year working in Africa. She was telling me all about the experience and about its difficulties. Some of these difficulties are straightforwardly down to poverty; others are down to mismanagement or – if not exactly mismanagement […]