EUTHANASIA AFTER THE HOLOCAUST – IS IT POSSIBLE?: A REPORT FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY

The author theorizes that eugenically-related killings before and during the Nazi era have made it more difficult to discuss euthanasia in modern West Germany and have influenced public policy on this issue. Opinion polls reveal that over 50% of West Germans favor active euthanasia, a proportion identical to that in corresponding U.S. polls. However, official opinion is strongly opposed to legalizing any kind of euthanasia except nontreatment of those in the irreversible process of imminent death. Even legally acceptable treatment refusal may be easily overridden by declaring the patient incompetent. Kottow cites poor medical treatment of the mentally ill and 38% public acceptance of proposals to kill them as evidence of dormant tendencies which support the view that the "times are not yet ripe for innovative legislation."     

Autophagy revisited: a conversation with Christian de Duve

The word "autophagy" was invented by Christian de Duve, the discoverer of lysosomes, who also initiated the first experiments that provided clear biochemical proof of the involvement of lysosomes in this process. I recently had an opportunity to speak with de Duve and some of his former coworkers about their reminiscences of these events, and am pleased to share what they had to say with the readers of this journal, many of whom may not be familiar with this historical background to their field of interest.     

Illness, suffering and voluntary euthanasia

It is often accepted that we may legitimately speak about voluntary euthanasia only in cases of persons who are suffering because they are incurably injured or have an incurable disease. This article argues that when we consider the moral acceptability of voluntary euthanasia, we have no good reason to concentrate only on persons who are ill or injured and suffering.     

Voluntary euthanasia: a utilitarian perspective

Belgium legalised voluntary euthanasia in 2002, thus ending the long isolation of the Netherlands as the only country in which doctors could openly give lethal injections to patients who have requested help in dying. Meanwhile in Oregon, in the United States, doctors may prescribe drugs for terminally ill patients, who can use them to end their life--if they are able to swallow and digest them. But despite President Bush's oft-repeated statements that his philosophy is to 'trust individuals to make the right decisions' and his opposition to 'distant bureaucracies', his administration is doing its best to prevent Oregonians acting in accordance with a law that its voters have twice ratified. The situation regarding voluntary euthanasia around the world is therefore very much in flux. This essay reviews ethical arguments regarding voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide from a utilitarian perspective. I shall begin by asking why it is normally wrong to kill an innocent person, and whether these reasons apply to aiding a person who, when rational and competent, asks to be killed or given the means to commit suicide. Then I shall consider more specific utilitarian arguments for and against permitting voluntary euthanasia.     

Fewer invited talks by women in evolutionary biology symposia

Lower visibility of female scientists, compared to male scientists, is a potential reason for the under‐representation of women among senior academic ranks. Visibility in the scientific community stems partly from presenting research as an invited speaker at organized meetings. We analysed the sex ratio of presenters at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) Congress 2011, where all abstract submissions were accepted for presentation. Women were under‐represented among invited speakers at symposia (15% women) compared to all presenters (46%), regular oral presenters (41%) and plenary speakers (25%). At the ESEB congresses in 2001–2011, 9–23% of invited speakers were women. This under‐representation of women is partly attributable to a larger proportion of women, than men, declining invitations: in 2011, 50% of women declined an invitation to speak compared to 26% of men. We expect invited speakers to be scientists from top ranked institutions or authors of recent papers in high‐impact journals. Considering all invited speakers (including declined invitations), 23% were women. This was lower than the baseline sex ratios of early‐mid career stage scientists, but was similar to senior scientists and authors that have published in high‐impact journals. High‐quality science by women therefore has low exposure at international meetings, which will constrain Evolutionary Biology from reaching its full potential. We wish to highlight the wider implications of turning down invitations to speak, and encourage conference organizers to implement steps to increase acceptance rates of invited talks.     

Hermann Schaaffhausen (1816-1893) and the early history of the profession of anthropology]

The most important and best-known merit of Hermann Schaaffhausen is the correct explanation of the Neanderthal man as a fossil human being. Considering his work in the field of paleoanthropology one can designate him as the founder of this anthropological discipline in Germany. Beyond that he was also very active in the "Deutsche Anthropologische Gesellschaft" of the 19th century and played an important role as an editor of the journal "Archiv für Anthropologie". Thus, Hermann Schaaffhausen can be considered as one of the most important founders of Physical Anthropology in Germany. He belongs to those persons to whom German Anthropology owes its acknowledgement as an academic subject in German universities.     

CALIFORNIA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: ARE WE MAKING THE SAME MISTAKES BRITISH DOCTORS MADE?

Almost every doctor who visits England comes back wanting to write an article or give a speech about socialized medicine. Because there has been so much said so many times on the subject, it has lost much of its interest.Yet, the headquarters of the California Academy of General Practice in San Francisco recently had a visitor from England who had some startling, frightening things to say of interest to every American doctor. The visitor was Dr. Alastair J. Marshall, Luton, England, who is visiting in this country under a Ford Foundation Grant. As an area executive in the British Medical Association and on the executive area council (one-third physicians, two-thirds laymen) for the national health system, Dr. Marshall can competently speak on this subject. Here are some of the questions presented to Dr. Marshall by the Academy's Executive Secretary Bill Rogers.     

Academic Freedom,Public Reactions,and Anonymity

Academic freedom can be defined as immunity against adverse reactions from the general public, designed to keep scholars unintimidated and productive even after they have published controversial ideas. Francesca Minerva claims that this notion of strict instrumental academic freedom is supported by Ronald Dworkin, and that anonymity would effectively defend the sphere of immunity implied by it. Against this, I argue that the idea defended by Minerva finds no support in the work by Dworkin referred to; that anonymity would not in most cases effectively protect the kind of immunity sought after; and that in some cases it would not even be desirable to protect scholars from public reactions to their controversial claims.     

Conflicting interests in Toronto: anatomy of a controversy at the interface of academia and industry

In December 2000, the University of Toronto breached a contract it held with me, initiating a sequence of events that has led to a public letter to the University from a large number of senior figures in the psychopharmacology community, protesting against the infringement of academic freedom involved, and a first-ever legal action seeking redress for violation of academic freedom. This case has been intertwined from the start with a longer running debate about the possibility that the SSRI group of antidepressants may have the potential to trigger suicidality or other serious effects in a subgroup of takers. And this specific issue connects to concerns about conflict of interest in the domain of therapeutics, as well as in science in general, the ghostwriting of scientific articles, and a series of other hot-spots on the interface between academia and industry.     

Health professionals and South Africa: supporting change in the health sector.

Now that political change is on the way in South Africa, what should be the position of doctors who are invited to visit the country? Does the "academic boycott" still have relevance? Waterston and Zwi review the case for and against an academic boycott policy, using evidence collected during the recent visit by Physicians for Human Rights (UK) and the Johannes Wier Foundation. The health system in South Africa is still inequitable, and despite progress towards desegregation in hospitals there is little momentum towards universal provision of primary health care, especially in the rapidly growing townships around big cities. The authors consider that pressure on the government should be maintained by outside organisations but that support directed towards appropriate health care should be encouraged, particularly in public health and primary health care.     

New Threats to Academic Freedom

Using a specific case as an example, the article argues that the Internet allows dissemination of academic ideas to the general public in ways that can sometimes pose a threat to academic freedom. Since academic freedom is a fundamental element of academia and since it benefits society at large, it is important to safeguard it. Among measures that can be taken in order to achieve this goal, the publication of anonymous research seems to be a good option.     

突发性公共卫生事件中法医工作者的角色探究

突发性公共卫生事件已经成为当前人类社会面临的一项重大难题和挑战。在应对和处置各类突发性公共卫生事件法医工作者被社会和国家赋予了重要的义务和责任。本文对法医工作者在解决各类突发性公共卫生事件中的角色定位进行了探讨,阐明法医工作者在应对和处置突发性公共卫生事件中发挥的重要作用。同时,针对现在和未来突发性公共卫生事件的发生发展趋势,对法医工作者在应对和处置这些事件中的角色作用提出了展望,并对法医工作者如何来提高自身的综合业务能力和素质,以便更好地来扮演好在突发性公共卫生事件中的角色。     

Ghost marketing: pharmaceutical companies and ghostwritten journal articles

The use of ghostwriters by industry is subject to increasing public attention and scrutiny. This article addresses the practice and ethics of scientific ghostwriting. We focus on the type of ghostwriting that involves a pharmaceutical company hiring a medical education and communications company to write a paper favorable of their product, who then hires a well-known academic to publish it under his or her name without disclosing the paper's true origins. We argue that this practice is harmful both to the public and to the institutions of science and that it is not justified by an analogy to accepted scientific authorship practices. Finally, we consider ways to discourage the practice.     

The impact of reporting cases of euthanasia in Holland: a patient and family perspective

In 1991 the Dutch government released the results of the first national investigation into the nature and extent of decisions concerning end of life including euthanasia. A significant finding was that most cases of euthanasia were not reported. This prompted us to ask what effect, if any, not reporting caused. More specifically, we asked whether reporting has a positive or negative impact on the experiences of friends or relatives of patients who have received euthanasia. In cases of euthanasia, complications of both process and experience can deter from a minimally complicated death. These difficulties arise when either the family or physician does not perceive the freedom to disclose euthanasia openly. On the basis of interviews with family members and patients, we illustrate that they generally benefit from reporting. Our premise is that reporting fosters open discussion of euthanasia. We further suggest physicians and society benefit from a milieu of openness initiated by reporting cases of euthanasia.     

Seeking healing transnationally: Australians,John of God and Brazilian Spiritism

João de Deus (John of God) is a Brazilian faith healer who has become increasingly well‐known outside Brazil. In 2006 alone he was invited to conduct healing events in Germany, the United States of America and New Zealand. He returned to the United States of America and New Zealand in 2007, and in 2008 was once again in the United States of America. There are plans for him to come to Australia in the near future. This article is based on ethnographic research conducted in Brazil, New Zealand and Australia and on interviews with Australians in Sydney. Here, I explore the stories of Australian followers of John of God and their reasons for seeking his healing system. I argue that Western New Age and alternative medicine concepts of healing produce a disposition ( Bourdieu 1972 ) towards ‘traditional’ healing from exotic lands. I show that the reinstatement of a connection between healing and religion, the construction of context that gives meaning to illness, and empowerment through surrendering to a higher power are three important factors that help to explain why people shun Western medicine in favour of alternative practices.     

‘Alive by default’: An exploration of Velleman’s unfair burdens argument against state sanctioned euthanasia

In this article we critically evaluate an argument against state-sanctioned euthanasia made by David Velleman in his 1992 paper ‘Against the right to die’. In that article, Velleman argues that legalizing euthanasia is morally problematic as it will deprive eligible patients of the opportunity of staying ‘alive by default’. That is to say, those patients who are rendered eligible for euthanasia as a result of legislative reform will face the burden of having to justify their continued existence to their epistemic peers if they are to be perceived as ‘reasonable’. We discuss potential criticisms that could be made of the argument, and consider how a defender of the view might respond. Velleman’s argument is particularly interesting as it is a consequentialist argument against state-sanctioned euthanasia, challenging the many consequentialist arguments that have been made in favour of legalizing the procedure. We conclude by suggesting that further research on the question of unfair burdens is important to adequately evaluating the potential harms of legalizing euthanasia for patients at the end of life.     

Can research align with service? Lessons learned from the Big Experiment and National Biomechanics Day

Public engagement is an important role for the university academic, but is often neglected due to perceived lack of time and prioritized commitments in research and teaching. Yet, public engagement events offer an untapped opportunity for researchers to collect data from members of the general public who arrive on site at university labs. These engagement events could allow for data collection as part of didactic and demonstrative outreach events to be used in research and science. In this proof of concept study, a collaborative group of international researchers investigated the feasibility of embedding research quality assessment into events surrounding National Biomechanics Day. The Big Experiment collected data on 501 secondary school students (age range: 13 to 18 years) across 9 university sites within a 24-hour period. Data included maximal vertical jump height and self-reported physical activity levels. Vertical jump height was positively correlated to participant height, but not age or body mass. Very physically active students had significantly higher vertical jump heights than individuals who reported being somewhat or not physically active. This feasibility project demonstrates that with substantial preparation and a simple research design, focused research questions can be incorporated into educational outreach initiatives and ultimately provide a rich data source.     

Freedom of choice and the tobacco endgame

Endgame proposals strive for a tobacco-free (or at least cigarette-free) society. Some endgame proposals are radical and include, for example, a complete ban on cigarettes. Setting aside empirical worries, one worry is ethical: would such proposals not go too far in interfering with individual freedom? I argue that concerns around freedom do not speak against endgame proposals, including strong proposals such as a ban on cigarettes. I first argue that when balancing freedom with public health goals in tobacco control, the latter win out. But I also argue that, in principle, a concern with freedom itself already justifies endgame measures. First, such measures can increase people's lifetime freedom, that is, the freedom they have across their entire lives. Second, such measures can facilitate a better interpersonal distribution of freedom by increasing aggregate societal freedom and by reducing inequalities. Overall, freedom does not preclude strict tobacco control but supports it.     

Bioethics for clinicians: 11. Euthanasia and assisted suicide

Euthanasia and assisted suicide involve taking deliberate action to end or assist in ending the life of another person on compassionate grounds. There is considerable disagreement about the acceptability of these acts and about whether they are ethically distinct from decisions to forgo life-sustaining treatment. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are punishable offences under Canadian criminal law, despite increasing public pressure for a more permissive policy. Some Canadian physicians would be willing to practise euthanasia and assisted suicide if these acts were legal. In practice, physicians must differentiate between respecting competent decisions to forgo treatment, providing appropriate palliative care, and acceeding to a request for euthanasia or assisted suicide. Physicians who believe that euthanasia and assisted suicide should be legally accepted in Canada should pursue their convictions only through legal and democratic means.