There has never been much doubt that medical ethics in Dunstan's sense of 'the obligations of a moral nature which govern the practice of medicine' (1) has been an important part of medical education for at least two and a half thousand years. But in a second sense of medical ethics-philosophical or critical medical ethics (2)-the subject is very much a newcomer to medical curricula, with the p...

Scientific advances and technical developments in the field of laboratory diagnosis and their practical applications have raised ethical issues linked to religion, beliefs, lifestyle and traditions prevailing in different communities. Some of these are pertinent to genetic screening at various stages of life, prenatal diagnosis and the right of the genetically affected fetus to live--all aspect...

The following areas will be addressed in the article, based upon a review of relevant evidence in these different areas. 1) Health, safety and well-being (including mental health) 2) Interprofessional and interagency working/sharing of information 3) Restorative approaches 4) Restorative justice 5) Young people who have sexually abused 6) Young people held in police custody 7) Risk assessment i...

BACKGROUND Although HIV and tuberculosis (TB) prevalence are high in prisons throughout sub-Saharan Africa, little research has been conducted on factors related to prevention, testing and treatment services. METHODS To better understand the relationship between prison conditions, the criminal justice system, and HIV and TB in Zambian prisons, we conducted a mixed-method study, including: fac...

CONTEXT Previous research has focused on suicide among male prisoners and ex-prisoners, but little is known about risk in the wider offender population. OBJECTIVE To examine suicide risk over 3 decades among all people processed by a national criminal justice system. DESIGN Nested case-control study. SETTING The whole Danish population. PARTICIPANTS Interlinked national registers identi...

Background: Substance use during pregnancy and motherhood is both a public health and criminal justice concern. Negative health consequences associated with substance use impact both the mother and the developing fetus, and there are ongoing attempts to criminalize substance use during pregnancy that put pregnant substanceusing women at risk of detection, arrest, and punishment. This study expl...

Social justice is a core value to the mission of social work. Older people are among the most vulnerable populations for whom social workers are called on to advocate. Although Medicare prescription drug coverage has been a top legislative issue over the past few years, such a benefit expansion has yet to be implemented. This article examines the historical context of Medicare and reviews the p...

This article revisits and reaffirms Patricia Steven's earlier work on access to healthcare as an important arena for nursing action. Many of the conditions that affect access to healthcare, such as racism and oppression, also shape inequities in health outcomes. We propose a conceptualization of social justice that is consistent with addressing the conditions that influence health inequities. W...

John Rawls's Theory of Justice has been widely and correctly recognized as a tremendous intellectual accomplishment. It has been applauded as a comprehensive and satisfying approach to the problem of defining justice. Health policy analysts and medical ethicists have thus been inspired to apply Rawls's principles to various health care issues. The result has not been greater coherence in approa...

BACKGROUND People who are street involved such as those experiencing homelessness and drug use face multiple inequities in health and access to health care. Morbidity and mortality are significantly increased among those who are street involved. Incorporation of a harm reduction philosophy in health care has the potential to shift the moral context of health care delivery and enhance access to ...