BMJ  2007;334 (9 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39239.430613.3A

Editor's Choice

US editor's choice

Morals and ethics and medicine

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A subtext floats below the surface of this week's BMJ, illustrating how morals and ethics are woven throughout health care.

Problem: there is a worldwide shortage of organ donors, leading to long waiting lists and unneeded suffering and deaths. No one would argue against publicity that might motivate people to donate. Does that justify a recent Dutch game show that claimed to portray a real-life kidney donor interviewing potential recipients, which turned out to be a hoax to garner ratings and publicity for the cause (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39237.609132.59)? Ethicists Inez de Beaufort and Frans Meulenberg felt soiled by the whole thing.

Or how about the question of whether health insurers should have access to your genetic history? Søren Holm says it's no different from their knowing other risk related information, such as age and medical history (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39216.468495.AD). Richard Ashcroft disagrees (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39216.425231.AD), saying that predicting risk . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Treatment of epilepsy in developing countries

Emilio Perucca
BMJ 2007 334: 1175-1176. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

The dangers of triage by television

Inez de Beaufort and Frans Meulenberg
BMJ 2007 334: 1194-1195. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Should genetic information be disclosed to insurers? Yes

Søren Holm
BMJ 2007 334: 1196. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Should genetic information be disclosed to insurers? No

Richard Ashcroft
BMJ 2007 334: 1197. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Side effects of phenobarbital and carbamazepine in childhood epilepsy: randomised controlled trial

Selina H Banu, Moshrat Jahan, Umme Kulsum Koli, Saadia Ferdousi, Naila Z Khan, and Brian Neville
BMJ 2007 334: 1207. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

At what age can schoolchildren provide effective chest compressions? An observational study from the Heartstart UK schools training programme

Ian Jones, Richard Whitfield, Michael Colquhoun, Douglas Chamberlain, Norman Vetter, and Robert Newcombe
BMJ 2007 334: 1201. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Online poll

Find out more >>