By Katarzyna Widlas-Klimsiak
The Council of Europe (CoE) is pursuing two different ways of protecting people who receive mental healthcare without their consent. A draft Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention would create binding obligations for states that ratify it. A new, non-binding Recommendation puts autonomy, consent and the prevention of coercion at the
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Whose permission counts? Rethinking abortion access through the lens of authorization
By Owenschaefer
By Shizuko Takahashi
A law permits abortion. A court has ruled, or a legislature has voted. Legality appears settled. But for the pregnant person in front of a clinician, legality is often not enough. Someone still has to authorize the abortion in practice.
This is the starting point of the second instalment of the Global…
Moving beyond the “Balance Sheet”: How narrative ethics can inform judicial deliberations on treatment refusal
By Owenschaefer
By Prof. Adv. Maya Peled Raz
Too often, when courts face the question of forced medical treatment for individuals under guardianship, the conversation quickly narrows to clinical calculations of risk and benefit. As a legal expert and clinical ethics consultant working within the healthcare system, I have often felt that something vital is lost in…
“What My Hand Does, My Heart Does”: Conscience and Assisted Dying
By Owenschaefer
By Helen Watt
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would permit assisted suicide in England and Wales for mentally capable adults reasonably expected to die within 6 months. Progress on the Bill has met a roadblock: we now wait as the House of Lords begins committee-stage consideration. After vigorous debate in the Lords,…
The 2025 Tennessee Medical Ethics Defense Act is Leading to Unethical Healthcare
By Owenschaefer
By Brianne Helfrich and Joseph Bertino
Not all lifestyles or beliefs align perfectly, but in a healthcare system that ought to prioritize just practices, moral or spiritual objections should never impede a patient’s access to necessary care. Across the United States, healthcare workers’ right to conscientious objection—refusing participation in certain procedures that conflict with…
In the best interests of the child – reporting restrictions in serious medical treatment cases
By Owenschaefer
By Helen Turnham and Dominic Wilkinson
Following the release of the judgment in Abbasi and Haastrup [2023] EWCA Civ 331 Abbasi and another (Respondents) v Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Appellant); Haastrup (Respondent) v King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Appellant) – UK Supreme Court, April 2025, a ripple of conversation and…
The New Gatekeepers: the role of the UK High Court in the oversight of medical assistance in dying
By Owenschaefer
By Sean R. Riley
After decades of unsuccessful attempts by advocates, in November 2024, the United Kingdom House of Commons passed a second reading of a bill permitting medical assistance-in-dying (MAiD). The bill still faces a long legislative road before royal assent, but MAiD may very well be a reality for English and Welsh…
Could a potential cure for morning sickness actually lead to more discrimination for pregnant women?
By Hazem Zohny
By Frances Hand.
Scientific research has recently been published which explains why almost 80% of women experience morning sickness during pregnancy. This study revealed a causal link between foetal production of the hormone GDF15 and nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. It is therefore hoped that, given this new information, more precise mechanisms can now be…
The delicate balance between aggressive treatments and palliative care
By Hazem Zohny
By Ilaria Bertini.
In recent months the story of Indi Gregory has been brought to light by the media as another dreadful story of life and death involving a critically ill 8-month-old baby with no prospect of recovery.
When Indi was born, she was admitted as a PICU patient at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham…
Additional factors tending against the prosecution of suspects in cases of ‘mercy killings’ ought to concern all sides of the debate
By Hazem Zohny
By Rebecca Limb.
Assisted dying is unlawful in England and Wales. To end or assist in the ending of another’s life out of compassion for and/or at the direction of the victim is not a defence to murder. A suspect will be prosecuted where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest…