AUTONOMY

Defending human dignity

Michael Cook | 13 September 2014 | Comments

tags: autonomy, human dignity

English barrister and medical ethicist Charles Foster has penned defence of “human dignity” as the foundation of bioethics in the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics.

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Should we allow organ transplants from HIV positive donors?

Xavier Symons | 07 June 2014 | Comments

tags: autonomy, HIV, organ transplantation

In a controversial article in the Journal of Medical Ethics, three Israeli bioethicists advocate for the restricted use of organ transplants from HIV positive patients to non-infected recipients.

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Are hasty decisions really autonomous?

Xavier Symons | 16 November 2013 | Comments

tags: autonomy

A spirited debate arose in the US last week over the withdrawal of life support from a recently paralysed hunter.

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Is autonomy a flaky idea?

Michael Cook | 16 November 2013 | Comments

tags: authenticity, autonomy

The monolithic concept of autonomy may be fissuring, judging from recent articles in the bioethics journals. In debates over key issues at the beginning and end of life, autonomy has been an important criterion, often the only one, for settling problems. But as academics bat the ball back and forth, it seems that it is beginning to fray.

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How much does irrationality limit autonomy?

Michael Cook | 02 November 2013 | Comments

tags: autonomy, rationality

Like human dignity, autonomy is a word more honoured than analysed, even though it is the cornerstone of most contemporary bioethics approaches.

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Whose autonomy is respected in Belgium?

Michael Cook | 31 August 2013 | Comments

tags: autonomy, Belgium, disabilities

Opponents of euthanasia in Belgium are highlighting the state of disability services there

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Is informed consent on the skids?

Michael Cook | 16 March 2012 | Comments

tags: autonomy, informed consent

Questions are being asked about the sacrasanct value of informed consent.

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Mentally challenged can be “walking targets”

Jared Yee | 27 October 2011 | Comments

tags: autonomy, disability, disabled, mentally disabled, US

A horrifying story from Philadelphia has brought to light the complexity of the issue of autonomy. Paroled murderer Linda Ann Weston dragged several mentally challenged adults along to Social Security offices to sign off as their representative payee – someone who helps manage their monthly benefits of between US$600 and $900, authorities say.

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Are we morally obliged to participate in research?

Michael Cook | 22 October 2011 | Comments

tags: autonomy, bioethics, clinical trials, informed consent

Bioethics debates are often robust, but it’s not every day that they make a reader sick. This was the reaction of Professor Bill Gleason, of the University of Minnesota Medical School, a columnist for the Chronicle of Higher Education. He had just attended a seminar at his university, “Do people have a moral obligation to participate in research?”. The contrarian views of Rosamund Rhodes, of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, in New York, were so unsettling that he needed three beers to come back to earth.

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Transhumanist sets goalposts for the future

Michael Cook | 23 July 2011 | Comments

tags: autonomy, eugenics, personhood, transhumanism

American political science commentator Francis Fukuyama once called transhumanism the world’s most dangerous idea. Whether this is true depends on your aspirations for society. But a brief article in Discover by a staffer with the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a transhumanist thinktank, Kyle Munkittrick, at least shows that society will be very different if transhumanism gets traction.

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Should patients be forced to participate in clinical trials?

Michael Cook | 10 December 2009 | Comments

tags: autonomy, clinical trials

Stem cell scientst calls for mandatory participation

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