1 / 14

Health Sciences and Practice Subject Centre

Health Sciences and Practice Subject Centre. Ethics Special Interest Group 24 th April 2009 Lillian Neville Senior Lecturer, University of Salford. Fertility as a moral gymnasium. Examine the tensions between:. What is technically possible What is legally permissible

leigh
Download Presentation

Health Sciences and Practice Subject Centre

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Health Sciences and Practice Subject Centre Ethics Special Interest Group 24th April 2009 Lillian Neville Senior Lecturer, University of Salford Lillian Neville April 2009

  2. Fertility as a moral gymnasium Lillian Neville April 2009

  3. Examine the tensions between: • What is technically possible • What is legally permissible • What is socially acceptable • What is morally desirable Lillian Neville April 2009

  4. Mary Warnock’s vision: The HFEA • We stand on behalf of the ordinary person in the street…and patients, donor conceived people and their families, clinicians and researchers. • 20 members. 15 lay and 5 professional members. • Executive and staff x 80 people Lillian Neville April 2009

  5. HFEA – a reflexive arm of the law • Regulate research, storage and treatment involving human gametes and embryos • Issue licenses • Policy and guidance • Consultation – public, stakeholders • Committees – horizon scanning, ethics & law, audit. Lillian Neville April 2009

  6. Personhood: when does life begin to matter morally? • Conception onwards • Primitive streak • Sentience • Further on in pregnancy • Birth • Rationality • Not proven status • Process not event? Lillian Neville April 2009

  7. What sorts of parents? • The need for a father • Single sex parents • Surrogacy • Age limits • NHS limits – NICE guidelines • Those who can pay Lillian Neville April 2009

  8. What sorts of parents? • The notion that “all who want IVF should have access to it or contraception should be put in the water supply and all pregnancies regulated”. • Who should decide who can become a parent? • Length of storage – gametes, embryos. • Shortage of gamete donors. Lillian Neville April 2009

  9. What sort of children should we have? “Oh brave new world that has such people in it”. [Miranda in The Tempest (Shakespeare) on seeing Ferdinand.] Lillian Neville April 2009

  10. What sorts of children? • Saviour siblings • Sex selection • Embryo choice – the test • Designer babies • Unlicensed gametes • Impact on donor conceived children • Is this my grandson? • Singletons or octuplets Lillian Neville April 2009

  11. What sorts of research? • Hybrid embryos • Consent for research on your gametes • Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) • Pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) • Data from HFEA register • Stem cells – potential lack of regulation Lillian Neville April 2009

  12. Ethics and law advisory committeeRecent issues discussed • PGD • Modification of human embryos • Disclosure of register information • Supportive parenting • Ethnic communities and ART • Consent • All papers on website: www.hfea.gov.uk Lillian Neville April 2009

  13. So is it the best moral gymnasium? YES! Lillian Neville April 2009

  14. Contact Us Health Sciences and Practice Subject Centre http://www.health.heacademy.ac.uk info-hsap@kcl.ac.uk Higher Education Academy http://www.heacademy.ac.uk Lillian Neville April 2009

More Related