1,720,980 research outputs found
The Authors Reply
No full textA reply by the author of "Scholarly Discussion of Infanticide?" to "The Arguments Matter," by Don Marquis, "The Importance of Rationality," by G. Owen Schaeffer, and "Reasons and Freedom," by Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva. © 2013 by The Hastings Center
Guantanamo and other cases of enforced medical treatment: A biopolitical analysis
No full textThis volume presents a number of controversial cases of enforced medical treatment from around the globe, providing for the first time a common, biopolitcal framework for all of them. Bringing together all these real cases guarantees that a new, more complete understanding of the topic will be within grasp for readers unacquainted with the aspects involved in these cases. On the one hand, readers interested mainly in the legal and medical dimensions of cases like those considered will benefit from the explanation of the biopolitical framework within which each case develops. On the other hand, those focusing on only one of the situations presented here will find the parallels between the cases an interesting expansion of the complexity of the problem. Despite the book's ambitious goal, for those willing to use it as supplemental material or interested in only one of the cases, the chapters can function as self-standing pieces to be read separately. This volume will be a valuable tool for both academics and professionals. Bioethicists in both the analytic and continental traditions, will find the book interesting for not only the specific concepts and issues considered, but also for its constructive bridging of the two schools of thought. In addition to philosophers, the structure of this work will also appeal to lawyers, doctors, human rights activists, and anyone concerned in the most disparate way with real-life cases of enforced medical treatment
Performance enhancing drugs: Regular armies, irregular armies and beyond
No full textPromoters of Moral Enhancement have argued that it is necessary for people to use consciousness-altering strategies (e.g. psychoactive drugs) to help society address moral issues. Proponents believe that through a biochemical re-modulation of our inclinations and priorities we might finally achieve greater moral goals for humanity (e.g. reducing pollution). Without sharing the same vision of a better world, one group of people seems to be the first willing to implement (Im)Moral Enhancement on a large scale. The widespread use of Captagon (an amphetamine used and produced in large quantities in Syria) by ISIS terrorists in the recent Paris attacks and in war zones in Syria and Iraq underlines this reality. This is certainly not the first case in which members of a military force use drugs to increase courage or coolness during action. There is evidence of the use of amphetamines such as Dexedrine among US Air Force pilots. This awareness pushes us to question if we can indeed distinguish the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs between regular and irregular armies (i.e. terrorists). Through a comparison of the two situations, this investigation will use the context of the Middle East and the military to rethink the increasing centrality of Performance Enhancing Drugs in Western society
Force-feeding, hunger strikes, Guantanamo and autonomy: Replies to George Annas, Charles Foster and Michael Gross
No full text
Anti-Love Biotechnology: Was It Not Better to Have Loved and Lost Than Never to Have Loved at All?
No full textIn defence of male circumcision
No full textControversies over the acceptability of male circumcision (MC) are not new to the international bioethical community. I do not expect to add much to the arguments or evidence presented elsewhere, but I want to acknowledge the often-overlooked political element in which the debate is entrenched. In fairness to those sympathetic to the circumcision ban, I will first introduce some supportive arguments to their position. Next, I will show the limits of those critiques, affirming that MC should not be outlawed in any liberal country, but that its permissibility only be evaluated within its medico-ethical dimension without the political charge often associated with the issue
Vampires 2.0? The ethical quandaries of young blood infusion in the quest for eternal life
No full textCan transfusions of blood plasma slow down ageing or even rejuvenate people? Recent preclinical studies and experimental tests inspired by the technique known as parabiosis have aroused great media attention, although for now there is no clear evidence of their effectiveness. This line of research and the interest it is triggering testify to the prominent role played by the idea of combating the “natural” ageing process in the scientific and social agenda. While seeking to increase the duration of healthy living time may be considered a duty, it also raises ethical questions about how to pursue this goal. Specifically, therapies and techniques accessible only to a fraction of the population seem destined to exponentially increase social inequality and to produce undesirable consequences. In this article we address the issue precisely in the light of the prospected use of plasma for the rejuvenation of a small elite of people
When autonomy kills: the case of Sami Mbarka Ben Garci
No full textFoucault suggested that foreigners and criminals are treated in a particularly unfavourable way by the law. We find arguable support for that proposition in the case of Sami Mbarka Ben Garci. He was a Tunisian Muslim prisoner, charged with rape, held in an Italian prison. He went on a hunger strike, protesting his innocence. He was not force-fed, and was allowed to die. Hunger strikers are commonly force fed. We ask why he was not, and although the reasons in his case are not clear, we suggest that many prisoners perceived as being 'undesirable' (in the sense of being foreigners, or facing particularly serious allegations) are allowed to die (the rhetoric being that their autonomy is being respected), while other prisoners' autonomy would be violated in order to ensure survival. We explore the European and some domestic jurisprudence surrounding force-feeding, and conclude that the law is applied in a worryingly inconsistent way
The Singleton case: Enforcing medical treatment to put a person to death
No full textIn October 2003 the Supreme Court of the United States allowed Arkansas officials to force Charles Laverne Singleton, a schizophrenic prisoner convicted of murder, to take drugs that would render him sane enough to be executed. On January 6 2004 he was killed by lethal injection, raising many ethical questions. By reference to the Singleton case, this article will analyse in both moral and legal terms the controversial justifications of the enforced medical treatment of death-row inmates. Starting with a description of the Singleton case, I will highlight the prima facie reasons for which this case is problematic and merits attention. Next, I will consider the justification of punishment in Western society and, in that context, the evolution of the notion of insanity in the assessment of criminal responsibility during the past two centuries, both in the US and the UK. In doing so, I will take into account the moral justification used to enforce treatment, looking at the conflict between the prisoner's right to treatment and his right to refuse medication where not justified by outcomes that can be reasonably expected to be positive for the individual. Finally, in contrast with some retributivist arguments in favour of enforced treatment to enable execution, I will propose a possible alternative, necessary if we are to consistently uphold the notion of autonomy. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
- …
