SMH, 21 September 2017
Authors: Aisha Dow, Melissa Cunningham
“A procedure to create “three-person babies” could be on its way to Australia, with a campaign launched to overhaul a law on human cloning in an attempt to prevent babies from suffering a severe genetic disorder.”
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Category Archives: Legislation & jurisprudence
‘Shocking’ disregard for safety in U.S. meningitis case -prosecutor
Reuters, 21 September 2017
Author: Nate Raymond
“A federal prosecutor on Tuesday accused a Massachusetts pharmacist charged with murder for his role in a deadly 2012 U.S. meningitis outbreak of showing a “shocking” disregard for patients’ lives, while his lawyer argued the man was no killer.”
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Should the family court have to approve hormone treatment for transgender teens?
SMH, 21 September 2017
Author: Fiona Kelly
“For the past four years, transgender children and their families, as well as judges, academics and doctors, have spoken out against the mandatory family court process, arguing it’s unnecessary and harmful.”
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Health Care Complaints Commission v Mercurio [2017] NSWCATOD 136
Decision date: 12 September 2017
“Medical practitioner- refusal to terminate proceedings without enquiry- finding of professional misconduct consequent on admission by respondent-registration cancelled- costs order made.”
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Oversight safeguard added to proposed assisted dying laws in NSW
SMH, 19 September 2017
Author: Sean Nicholls
“A seven-person oversight board would review all assisted deaths of terminally ill patients in NSW under the latest version of a bill to legalise voluntary assisted dying in the state.”
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The ethical basis for performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation only after informed consent in selected patient groups admitted to hospital
Clinical Ethics, 12(3), 111-116
Authors: Philip Berry, Iona Heath
“Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is frequently performed on patients who, in retrospect, had a very low chance of survival. This is because all patients are ‘For cardiopulmonary resuscitation’ on admission to hospital by default, and delays occur before cardiopulmonary resuscitation can be ‘de-prescribed’. This article reviews the nature of potential harms caused by futile cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the reasons why de-prescription may be delayed, recent legal judgements relevant to timely do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation decision making, and the possible detrimental effects of do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation discussions on end of life care.”
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Health Care Complaints Commission v De Saxe [2017] NSWCATOD 135
Decision date: 12 September 2017
“Medical Practitioner: practitioner engaging in sexual conduct with patients – practitioner prescribing inappropriately for patient – practitioner prescribing for self-medication – practitioner failing to maintain proper records – practitioner failing to communicate with other treating specialists of patient – complaints of unsatisfactory professional conduct constituting professional misconduct established.”
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‘His death still hurts’: the Pfizer anti-smoking drug ruled to have contributed to suicide
The Guardian, 15 September 2017
Author: Andrew McMillen
“When the retired Queensland schoolteacher Phoebe Morwood-Oldham started an online petition following her son’s suicide in April 2013, she could not have known that her insistence on asking hard questions of one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies would lead to an Australian-first finding by a state coroner.”
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France to prosecute its drug regulator and Servier in scandal over diabetes drug
BMJ 2017; 358: j4231
Author: Owen Dyer
“France’s drug regulator and one of its leading drug companies, Servier, will stand trial as legal persons over the marketing of the antidiabetes and weight loss drug benfluorex (marketed in France as Mediator), which is believed to have killed between 500 and 2300 people before being pulled from the market in 2009.”
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France eyes legalizing assisted reproduction for gay women in 2018
Reuters, 12 September 2017
Source: Reuters
“The right of lesbian couples and single women to have access to assisted reproduction was “a matter of social justice” and will likely be legislated next year, a French government minister said on Tuesday.”
Find article here.