Home
Kieran Lamb's Library tagged → View Popular
Organ donation: Why we should move to 'presumed consent' - The Observer 13th September 2009
A majority of people say they are prepared to donate organs after their death, but fewer than half of these register
Organ donation: My wait for a transplant on Britain's invisible death row - The Observer 13th September 2009
Frank Deasy explains how a system in crisis could be transformed if more of us registered for organ donation
Laser eye surgery risks underplayed by opticians, says Which? - The Guardian 26th March 2009
High street laser eye surgery clinics play down procedural risks to prospective customers and are pressuring them into treatment options that cost more than the advertised price, according to an undercover investigation by Which?.
More than half the UK-based clinics visited by researchers from the consumer group – including Optical Express, Optimax and Ultralase – gave unsatisfactory advice, and none of the consultations given were rated as "good" by its panel of laser eye experts.
High street opticians 'don't explain risks of laser eye surgery' - Daily Mail 26th March 2009
Six in ten high street opticians offering laser eye surgery give unsatisfactory advice and fail to point out the risks, it is claimed.
Customers are bombarded with overblown claims about what can be achieved while potential problems are swept aside or not even mentioned.
In a minority of cases, patients can be left with worse vision while a number develop night glare, which appears as a halo effect around lights.
Laser eye consultations 'flawed' - BBC Health News 25th March 2009
People may not be properly advised on the risks of laser eye surgery and might pay more than the advertised price, a Which? study suggests.
The magazine sent researchers into 18 clinics, including several branches of three high street chains.
Doctors told to give more respect to wishes of dying patients - The Guardian 6th March 2009
General Medical Council to publish new guidelines for GPs on end-of-life care but stance on euthanasia remains unchanged
Doctors face the axe for saving 'living will' patients - Daily Mail 7th March 2009
Doctors have been warned they will be struck off if they ignore the wishes of patients who have made 'living wills' which say treatment should be stopped.
The ethical rules of the medical profession will in future demand that doctors obey the living wills, in which patients can ask to be killed if they become too ill to speak, eat or drink
Medics to get end of life advice - BBC Health News 6th March 2009
The medical regulator is to issue updated guidance to doctors on making treatment decisions at the end of life.
Doctors must consider any harm caused by going against patient wishes in withdrawing artificial nutrition, the General Medical Council says.
Right to die: Doctors who ignore last wishes may be struck off - The Times 6th March 2009
Doctors who act contrary to the wishes of dying or comatose patients could be judged to be causing harm and struck off under new rules from the medical regulator.
The General Medical Council (GMC) will publish draft guidance this month advising doctors how they should approach decisions surrounding the “end of life”, including whether to withhold treatment from terminally ill patients, turn off life support or attempt resuscitation.
Some decisions are too important to be left to medics - The Times 6th March 2009
Patients have an absolute right to refuse treatment – they even have the right to make an unwise decision – and as doctors we have to respect that.
The key in any walk of medicine is if you accept a refusal of consent to treatment, you have to be quite certain that it is valid. Does the patient have the mental capacity to make that decision? Is it a voluntary decision without any external pressure being put on them? Do they really understand the implications of what they are asking for? If the answers are “yes”, then the doctor – and the guidelines that structure care – have to accept it.
Presumed consent for organ donation could increase transplants by a quarter -The Telegraph 14th January 2009
A presumed consent organ donation scheme - where organs are taken unless the donor has specifically opted out - could increase donation rates by up to 25 per cent, research has shown.
Psychiatric drugs force queried - BBC Health News 4th November 2008
The practice of forcing psychiatric patients to take medication is not backed by evidence, say UK researchers.
Very few rigorous investigations of the use of coerced medication have been done despite it being widespread, the Journal of Advanced Nursing reported.
Taskforce opposes 'presumed consent' for organ donors - The Guardian 18th November 2008
"Presumed consent" for organ donation would risk destroying the trust that patients and their families have in doctors, a government-appointed taskforce said yesterday, unanimously rejecting a proposal which has the support of the prime minister and chief medical officer.
Gordon Brown immediately made it clear that he still supported presumed consent, which would mean that every UK citizen would be assumed to be willing to donate their organs in the event of sudden death, unless they had specifically opted out by placing their name on a register.
Michael White: Urgent question, wrong answer - The Guardian 18th November 2008
It happens even in the best-run governments, though not very often. An independent committee tasked with providing an urgently-needed answer comes up with the wrong one, the answer officials didn't expect.
It happened last year on the reclassification of cannabis and again yesterday when the organ donation taskforce reported to the health secretary, Alan Johnson, on the best way to improve the UK's poor rate of organ transplants obtained from dead bodies.
Editorial: A lethal shortfall - The Guardian 18th November 2008
For every three people who will benefit from an organ transplant this year, a fourth will die while waiting for a match to become available. More than 7,000 will simply wait, enduring another year of painfully restricted life. Put brutally, not enough people are dying who have healthy organs that they or their families are willing to donate. Earlier this year, the government's Organ Donation Taskforce recommended improvements in the way organ donation is managed. They will be fully implemented, and in five years' time should have raised transplants by 25%.
Rafael Matesanz and John W Fabre: Advocates of a presumed consent system of organ donation are ignoring the weakness of the evidence - The Guardian 17th November 2008
Advocates of a presumed consent system of organ donation are ignoring the weakness of the evidence
Organ donation: Brown says presumed consent still an option - The Guardian 17th Novemebr 2008
Taskforce advises against shift from volunteer system, but Gordon Brown says proposal may be revisited if number of donors does not rise significantly
Useful resources: organ donation - the Guardian 18th november 2008
Further reading and organisations related to the donation debate
FAQ: Organ transplants - The Guardian 18th November 2008
How many people are on the waiting list for an organ transplant in the UK?
At the end of March 7,655 were on the active list. Most (7,006) were waiting for a kidney; 377 were waiting for a heart and/or lungs; 259 needed a liver.
PM defiant on automatic organ donation - The Independent 18th november 2008
Gordon Brown said he was still prepared to push ahead with new rules presuming people are happy to donate organs after death, despite the plans being rejected yesterday by an expert task force he appointed. The Prime Minister is backing a change in the law to assume patients have given automatic "presumed consent" for their body parts to be used after their death, unless they decide to opt out.
Selected Tags
Related Tags
Health (54)- News (54)
- UHN (49)
- Ethics (49)
- Transplantation Services (27)
- The Guardian (19)
- Young People (17)
- Surgery (10)
- Heart Diseases (10)
- The Times (9)
- The Observer (7)
- Legislation (7)
- Euthanasia (7)
- Jurisprudence (7)
- Child Protection (7)
- BBC Health News (6)
- Daily Mail (5)
- Medical Staff (5)
- Palliative Care (4)
Sponsored Links
Highlighter, Sticky notes, Tagging, Groups and Network: integrated suite dramatically boosting research productivity. Learn more »
Join Diigo