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medical ethics

The Doctor Will Speak as You Prefer? How AI Could Personalize Medical Communication

(This blog post was originally published in the JME Forum) By Hazem Zohny, Jemima Winfried Allen, Dominic Wilkinson, and Julian Savulescu. When you go to the doctor, there’s little telling what kind of communicator you’ll get. Some doctors are on the paternalistic side, telling you what you should do without much discussion. Others just give… Read More »The Doctor Will Speak as You Prefer? How AI Could Personalize Medical Communication

Declaration of Helsinki turns 60 – how this foundational document of medical ethics has stood the test of time

The declaration of Helsinki recently turned 60, but don’t feel bad if you missed the celebrations. It probably passed unnoticed by most people not working in the medical field – and possibly even a good few in the field. If you’re not familiar with the declaration – adopted by the World Medical Association on October… Read More »Declaration of Helsinki turns 60 – how this foundational document of medical ethics has stood the test of time

PRESS RELEASE: Oxford-led Study Calls for End to “Medically Unnecessary” Intersex Surgeries

New International Consensus Calls for Healthcare Providers to Stop Performing Medically Unnecessary Genital Surgeries in Prepubertal Children and Infants, Regardless of Sex or Gender

A new study led by researchers at the University of Oxford’s Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics published today in the American Journal of Bioethics argues that all children (defined in the study as prepubertal minors) should be equally protected from medically unnecessary, non-voluntary genital cutting or surgery performed by healthcare providers – including children born with intersex traits.

Read More »PRESS RELEASE: Oxford-led Study Calls for End to “Medically Unnecessary” Intersex Surgeries

Caution With Chatbots? Generative AI in Healthcare

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Written by MSt in Practical Ethics student Dr Jeremy Gauntlett-Gilbert Human beings, as a species, love to tell stories and to imagine that there are person-like agents behind events. The Ancient Greeks saw the rivers and the winds as personalised deities, placating them if they appeared ‘angry’. Psychologists  in classic 1940s experiments were impressed at… Read More »Caution With Chatbots? Generative AI in Healthcare

2024 Annual Uehiro Lectures: Professor Elizabeth Harman

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We were honoured to welcome Professor Elizabeth Harman, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy and Human Values at Princeton University, to Oxford to deliver the 2024 Annual Uehiro Lectures in Practical Ethics. The three-part lecture series, entitled “Love and Abortion”, took place in the H B Allen Centre, Keble College, on 25 April, 2 and 9… Read More »2024 Annual Uehiro Lectures: Professor Elizabeth Harman

Quasi-Refusal and Teens

by Dominic Wilkinson In an interesting legal case earlier this year, the court held an emergency hearing about the medical care of a 16 year old, recently diagnosed with acute leukaemia. The hearing, conducted remotely in the middle of the night, was to decide whether she should have medical treatment imposed against her wishes. Should an “intelligent… Read More »Quasi-Refusal and Teens

Why a US State Court Ruling on the Rights of Children Before Birth is Unjust

Dominic Wilkinson, University of Oxford. In 2020, in a medical facility in one of the southern states of the US, a patient wandered into an unsecured nursery for extremely premature children. Unfortunately, the patient managed to accidentally disconnect multiple babies from their life support. Worried that they would get in trouble, they fled the scene.… Read More »Why a US State Court Ruling on the Rights of Children Before Birth is Unjust