BMJ  2007;334 (9 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39239.430613.3A

Editor's Choice

US editor's choice

Morals and ethics and medicine

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A subtext floats below the surface of this week's BMJ, illustrating how morals and ethics are woven throughout health care.

Problem: there is a worldwide shortage of organ donors, leading to long waiting lists and unneeded suffering and deaths. No one would argue against publicity that might motivate people to donate. Does that justify a recent Dutch game show that claimed to portray a real-life kidney donor interviewing potential recipients, which turned out to be a hoax to garner ratings and publicity for the cause (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39237.609132.59)? Ethicists Inez de Beaufort and Frans Meulenberg felt soiled by the whole thing.

Or how about the question of whether health insurers should have access to your genetic history? Søren Holm says it's no different from their knowing other risk related information, such as age and medical history (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39216.468495.AD). Richard Ashcroft disagrees (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39216.425231.AD), saying that predicting risk . . . [Full text of this article]

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