by Henrianne DE PONTBRIAND | 28 Jan, 2019 | Bioethics press synthesis | MAP – Surrogacy
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced that funds would be made available to couples using medically assisted reproduction treatments. At the same time, he admitted that adoption of the medically assisted reproduction draft bill would take longer than anticipated...
by Henrianne DE PONTBRIAND | 28 Jan, 2019 | Bioethics press synthesis | End of life
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg has just agreed to take up a case of euthanasia in Belgium. Godelieve De Troyer was euthanised in 2012 by Wim Distelmans, a renowned Belgian oncologist. Tom Mortier, her son, criticises Belgium for...
by Henrianne DE PONTBRIAND | 28 Jan, 2019 | Bioethics press synthesis | End of life
In July 2018, the UK Supreme Court abolished the need for legal authorisation to withdraw a patient’s food and water if both family and doctor agree (see UK Supreme Court authorises withdrawal of food and water for patients in a vegetative state). The General...
by Henrianne DE PONTBRIAND | 28 Jan, 2019 | Bioethics press synthesis | Abortion - Medical termination of Pregnancy(MTP)
In China, a woman pregnant with her third child “was forced to have an abortion under threat of sending her brother to an internment camp”. Introduced in 1979, the Chinese “one-child policy”, which penalized families who had more than...
by Henrianne DE PONTBRIAND | 28 Jan, 2019 | Bioethics press synthesis | Organ donation
In Sweden, the first country to have performed uterine transplants from live donors, a new study is trialling robot-assisted surgery. Six Swedish women have undergone surgery with this new uterine transplant technique, and one of them is pregnant and due to give birth...
by Henrianne DE PONTBRIAND | 28 Jan, 2019 | Bioethics press synthesis | Abortion - Medical termination of Pregnancy(MTP)
Pakistan has one of the highest abortion rates in the world. A recent report by National Public Radio in the United States estimated that 48% of pregnancies were unwanted, and 54% of them were aborted. Abortion is actually used as contraception a posteriori. One-third...