Australasian Science Magazine

By Ian Haines

Much of the focus on new voluntary assisted dying laws is centred on patient autonomy, but it is only one of the four pillars. Does the legislation also satisfy the other three tenets of beneficence, non-maleficence and justice?

Will voluntary assisted dying (VAD) legislation provide compassionate physician-assisted dying, as hoped, or are we providing state-sanctioned euthanasia and assisted suicide? It certainly raises some important ethical questions.

Many of the submissions in Victoria were about tragic cases of desperate and suffering people with incurable illness who had taken or attempted to take their lives in sometimes very horrific circumstances. There was also a focus on high-profile celebrities and politicians who had watched on feeling helpless as a loved one suffered and died.

By Michael Cook

Claims of the successful transplant of a human head may have been met by derision but they also reveal bioethical blindspots among ambitious surgeons.

What can you do if you become a quadriplegic after a catastrophic injury, or if you’re getting old, weak and fat? One solution is head transplantation – once the theme of very bad science fiction films and now the theme of press conferences.

Controversial Italian neurosurgeon Dr Sergio Canavero announced to media in Vienna recently that a team from Harbin Medical University led by his colleague Dr Ren Xiaoping has carried out the world’s first head transplant experiment. (In his line of business, they call it cephalosomatic anastomosis.)

By Michael Cook

Editing of a gene in a human embryo may have ticked some regulatory boxes but this does not address some huge ethical issues.

To view this article subscribe or purchase a yearly pass here.

By Michael Cook

If moral bioenhancement of psychopaths becomes obligatory, who will benchmark standards?

To view this article subscribe or purchase a yearly pass here.