A new book examined the legal and ethical aspects of euthanasia.
Source: Emily Jackson and John Keown, Debating Euthanasia, Hart Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Dec
A report examined how social solidarity could help to find solutions in three areas of policy-making on bioethical issues – biobanks, pandemics, and lifestyle diseases. Solidarity was defined as people s willingness to help others even if this incurred costs for them, such as time, emotional investment or money.
Source: Barbara Prainsack and Alena Buyx, Solidarity: Reflections on an emerging concept in bioethics, Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Links: Report | Summary | NCB press release
Date: 2011-Nov
The Welsh Government began consultation on proposals to introduce an 'opt-out' system of organ donation, backed by a comprehensive communication programme.
Source: Proposals for Legislation on Organ and Tissue Donation: A Welsh Government White Paper, Welsh Government
Links: Consultation document | Welsh Government press release | BHA press release | BMA press release | Plaid Cymru press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Nov
The fertilization and embryology watchdog announced (following consultation) that the cap of £250 on recovery of lost earnings for egg and sperm donors should be lifted. Women who donated their eggs for others treatment would in future be compensated with £750 per cycle, and sperm donors would be compensated with £35 per clinic visit.
Source: Press release 19 October 2011, Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
Links: HFEA press release | NCB press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Oct
An article examined how the general public viewed posthumous organ donation. An altruistic motivation to help others emerged as the most commonly identified motivator for becoming an organ donor, although feeling a sense of solidarity with the broader community and believing that donated organs were put to good use might be important preconditions. The two most commonly identified barriers were the need to maintain bodily integrity to safeguard progression into the afterlife, and the unethical recovery of organs by medical professionals.
Source: Joshua Newton, ' How does the general public view posthumous organ donation? A meta-synthesis of the qualitative literature', BMC Public Health, Volume 11
Date: 2011-Oct
A think-tank report said that the National Health Service should test the idea of paying for the funerals of organ donors in order to help tackle the shortage of organs.
Source: Human Bodies: Donation for medicine and research, Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Links: Report | Summary | NCB press release | Nuffield Foundation press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Oct
A report (by an official advisory body) said that there were no specific social, ethical, or legal principles that would make preconception genetic testing, within the framework of a population screening programme, unacceptable.
Source: Increasing Options, Informing Choice: A report on preconception genetic testing and screening, Human Genetics Commission
Links: Report | HGC press release | SPUC press release | 2020health press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Apr
A new book examined the possible conflicts that might arise between (on the one hand) individual rights to liberty and privacy and (on the other) controlling the spread of a new disease in the interest of public health.
Source: Michael Selgelid, Angela McLean, Nimalan Arinaminpathy, and Julian Savulescu (eds.), Infectious Disease Ethics: Limiting liberty in contexts of contagion, Springer
Links: Summary | Oxford Martin press release
Date: 2011-Feb
