The 2011 Varsity Medical Debate, between Oxford and Cambridge Universities, brought students and faculty together to discuss the waiving of patents for antiretroviral therapies in the developing world. With an estimated 29.5 million infected by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in low- and middle-income countries and only 5.3 million of those being treated, the effective and equitable distribution of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) is an issue of great importance. The debate centred around three areas of contention. Firstly, there was disagreement about whether (...) patents were the real barrier to the access of anti-retroviral therapy in the developing world. Secondly, there were differing views on the effectiveness of a patent pool. Thirdly, concerns were raised over the impact of waiving patents on research to produce new and better anti retro-viral drugs. (shrink)

The 2012 Varsity Medical Debate between Oxford University and Cambridge University provided a stage for representatives from these famous institutions to debate the motion “This house believes that trainee doctors should be able to use the developing world to gain clinical experience.” This article brings together many of the arguments put forward during the debate, centring around three major points of contention: the potential intrinsic wrong of ‘using’ patients in developing countries; the effects on the elective participant; and the effects (...) on the host community. The article goes on to critically appraise overseas elective programmes, offering a number of solutions that would help optimise their effectiveness in the developing world. (shrink)

Departing from the debate about the importance of gender ideology in the integration of Muslim minorities in Western Europe, this article studies the association between Islamic religiosity and gender ideology among second-generation Turkish and Moroccan men and women in Belgium. Islamic religiosity is conceptualized as consisting of religious identification, religious practices, and belief orthodoxy. The comparability of this model across genders and national origin groups is tested with recently collected survey data. The association between Islamic religiosity and gender ideology is (...) analyzed with regard to gender and ethnic differences. Taking a number of control variables into account, the analysis reveals no significant differences between national origin groups. More importantly, Islamic religiosity is found to be only weakly negatively associated with gender egalitarianism; this association is somewhat stronger for men than for women. These results challenge the alleged strong connection between Islamic religiosity and traditional gender ideology and highlight the importance of taking gender differences into account when studying religiosity among Muslim minorities in Europe. (shrink)

Since at least the Karen Ann Quinlan case, the idea of autonomy has always been central to the discussion about whether to given life-prolonging treatment. Those on different sides of the debate may disagree strongly about some of the issues, but the importance of the patient's autonomy has been accepted by people of widely different points of view.

As of December 1991, the Patient Self-Determination Act mandated that health care institutions which receive funding from Medicare or Medicaid provide written information about persons rights to participate in medical decision-making and formulate advance directives. The PSDA required each state…acting through a State agency, association, or other private nonprofit entity develop a written description of the law of the State concerning advance directives that would be distributed by providers or organizations under the requirements of [the Act].

As of December 1991, the Patient Self-Determination Act mandated that health care institutions which receive funding from Medicare or Medicaid provide written information about persons rights to participate in medical decision-making and formulate advance directives. The PSDA required each state…acting through a State agency, association, or other private nonprofit entity develop a written description of the law of the State concerning advance directives that would be distributed by providers or organizations under the requirements of [the Act].