By Karel-Bart Celie. In a recent issue of JAMA, Ahmed et al. published data on healthcare unionization in the United States between 2009 and 2021. Despite the observed association between unionization and higher wages, better benefits, and more equitable compensation, unionization among healthcare workers has evidently remained low. Richman and Schulman (R&S) wrote a commentary […]
Latest articles
What’s the big deal with ‘whole body gestational donation’? On defending bioethics
By J. Y. Lee. Over the past week, a flurry of articles on the internet (for example: 1, 2, 3) sensationalized the contents of a journal article published by philosopher Anna Smadjor, on what she calls “Whole body gestational donation” – with discussants on social media largely condemning the proposed concept, and implying that “bioethics” […]
Reassessing the “VaxTax”
By Nathan Petrovic. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that inequalities are still a worldwide problem concerning healthcare, especially regarding the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. As more affluent countries bought massive stocks of vaccines, lower and middle income (LMICs) countries struggled to gather enough vaccines. To counteract this predicament, Albertsen and Germani et al. have proposed […]
Dying like (never) before
By Ezio Di Nucci. At no (other) time during the COVID-19 pandemic were excess deaths as high as they are this January 2023 in Denmark. That’s right, more people are dying now than at any other time since the beginning of the pandemic (the last time excess death numbers were comparable was, in fact, the […]
How much credibility does my testimony deserve? This is not for an algorithm to decide!
By Giorgia Pozzi. The hype about the promises of machine learning (ML) systems in medicine is real, even though not always justified. As ethicists have been increasingly pointing out in the past years, quite some work still needs to be done to ensure their responsible use and safeguard fundamental bioethical principles, such as justice and […]
Challenging lesser evil justifications for non-clinically indicated uses of antipsychotics in aged care facilities
By Hojjat Soofi. The administration of antipsychotic medications to residents with dementia in aged care facilities remains a subject of considerable controversy. A major focus of the controversy has been on the (questionable) influence that non-clinical considerations have on the rate of antipsychotic prescriptions in aged care facilities. Often, the primary beneficiaries of antipsychotic uses […]
A political approach to thinking about self-harm
By Guy Aitchison and Ryan Essex. In April 2016, the Iranian refugee, Omid Masoumali, set himself on fire in front of UN inspectors at the Nauru island detention centre run by Australia. He later died of his injuries after delays in his treatment. Before carrying out his act, he shouted “This is how tired we […]
Suicide assistance in Switzerland: for palliative care physicians, the reality is more complex than you might think
By Martyna Tomczyk. As is well known, assistance in suicide is allowed in Switzerland. Although this practice is not explicitly regulated by law, Article 115 of the Criminal Code stipulates that assisting someone to commit suicide is only punishable if this is carried out for selfish reasons. Private right-to-die organizations have developed their activity in […]
Champagne, cava, Prosecco, and whisky: Drinks and diminishing marginal utility
By David Shaw. Christmas is here, and for many people that means buying some booze. As it’s a special occasion, not just any alcohol will do; many will buy champagne, if not for Christmas then to see in the New Year. And a dram (whisky) is another traditional way to celebrate Hogmanay. But when budgets […]
How much information is enough? It should be your choice!
By Sophie Ludewigs, Jonas Narchi, Lukas Kiefer and Eva C. Winkler. It is rare to return from a visit at the doctor’s office or a clinic and feel informed to a satisfactory degree. In many cases, one will either feel completely overwhelmed by the amount of medical information and the professional lingo used, or, on […]