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Articles on Medical ethics

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Horseshoe crabs in spawning season at Reeds Beach, N.J., on June 13, 2023. AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Horseshoe crab blood is vital for testing intravenous drugs, but new synthetic alternatives could mean pharma won’t bleed this unique species dry

Horseshoe crabs play a unique role in medicine, but they’re also ecologically important in their home waters along the Atlantic coast. Can regulators balance the needs of humans and nature?
The HeLa line of immortal human epithelial cancer cells was derived from cells taken from Henrietta Lacks when she was a cancer patient in 1951. (Wellcome Collection: Anne Weston, Francis Crick Institute)

Settlement with family of Henrietta Lacks is an opportunity to reflect on inequalities in genetic research

The settlement is a long-awaited moment of victory for Henrietta Lacks and her family. But the battle for justice in genetic and medical research is not over yet.
Given how quickly MAID eligibility has changed in Canada in the past six years, it is time we take a step back to ask whether current MAID practice is still something we want to support. (Pexels/Karolina Grabowska)

As eligibility for MAID expands, the ethical implications of broad access to medically assisted death need a long, hard look

Since 2016, Canada’s practice of offering MAID has followed a trajectory of ever-expanding eligibility. The ultimate expansion would make MAID available to anyone who wanted it, for any reason.
A limited supply of donor organs, paired with a massive demand for transplants, has fuelled the global organ trafficking industry, which exploits poor, underprivileged and persecuted members of society as a source of organs to be purchased by wealthy transplant tourists. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Killing prisoners for transplants: Forced organ harvesting in China

China’s industrial-scale organ trafficking practice has been executing prisoners of conscience and using their organs for transplantation for decades. This is known as forced organ harvesting.
Right to die activist Sean Davison (left) speaks to the press after three years of house arrest. Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images

The right to die: unpacking an ethical dilemma in South Africa

People make decisions throughout their lives about their health. But when they are terminally ill they are not allowed to decide when they want to die.

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