On Gestation and Motherhood

In English law, legal motherhood is allocated to the person who gestated. However, we argue that gestation—legally denoted as the “natural” source of parenting obligations—is often constructed as mothering, rather than the precursor to it. This means that women and pregnant people are treated as mothers prior to birth in legal and medical contexts. Since legal motherhood is an important status, defining the role an individual plays in a child’s life, the conflation of gestation and motherhood does not reflect that, legally, a fetus does not have personhood. This blurring between gestation and motherhood is metaphysically incoherent, as a fetus is not an entity that can be parented. This conflation poses a real harm to pregnant people’s autonomy, specifically those who do not intend to parent or who do not identify as women. More broadly, the medico-legal conflation of gestation and mothering is autonomy-limiting for all pregnant people as, resultantly, they may be coerced into obstetric intervention through legal processes. We argue for a better recognition of the differences between gestation and mothering, to promote autonomy and reflect the very different ways families may be formed

The Shape of Medical Devices Regulation in the United Kingdom? Brexit and Beyond

The United Kingdom’s Medicines and Medical Devices Act (MMD Act) 2021 received royal assent on 11 February 2021. In its passage through parliament, as well as in the accompanying Explanatory Notes, the Act was framed by the government as a necessary post-Brexit bill. Yet prior to this, it was widely presumed that existing statutory instruments, enacted in 2019 to address medical devices regulation in anticipation of a ‘No Deal Brexit’, would provide the United Kingdom (UK) with the necessary legal framework through the transition period and beyond. The European Union (EU) exit legislation included provisions aimed at aligning domestic law with the new EU Medical Devices Regulation (EU MDR) and In Vitro Devices Regulation (EU IVDR) (which were initially due to be implemented during the EU exit transition period). However, just over a year later, at the end of 2020, while the 2021 Act was in the final stages of its parliamentary journey, legislation was introduced that reversed the provisions of the domestic medical device regulations concerning alignment for Great Britain (GB: England, Wales, and Scotland). The result is that the UK now has a dual system of regulation, with Northern Ireland (NI) being governed by the new EU MDR and EU IVDR and GB by older pre-Brexit (yet still EU-derived) law.This article is an attempt to analyse the complex situation now in existence regarding the regulation of medical devices in the UK. To this end, we focus on three main issues. First, we examine the difficulties and challenges presented by the dual system of regulation between NI and GB, highlighting the potentially far-reaching consequences of regulatory divergence between different UK jurisdictions. Second, we ask whether, in the rush to new legislation in 2021, opportunities to properly reform the approach to medical devices were missed. Finally, we look to the future, focusing on the recent Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Consultation on the future of medical devices regulation in the UK and the challenges and opportunities that remain

Talent management as a facilitator of organizational intelligence

Talented workforce is a main key to survive in challenging surroundings and quickly volatile busi-ness circumstances. This paper examines the fostering effect of talent management on organizational intelligence at food companies in Jordan through a quantitative approach. Both reliability and validity of measurement scale are evaluated. The paper demonstrates that talent management acts as a sig-nificant antecedent to organizational intelligence. Findings confirm the importance of enjoying tal-ented employees and recommend practitioners and executives to develop and retain their talent pool through a strategic human resource management system in order to better capitalize on intellectual capital and drive it towards realizing the organizational missions

Surrogates’ and intended parents’ experiences of surrogacy arrangements: a systematic review

This commentary situates the recently published systematic review of empirical studies of surrogates’ and intended parents’ experiences of surrogacy by Kneebone, Beilby and Hammarberg within the context of increased international interest in legislative and regulatory reforms to surrogacy. The commentary evaluates the strengths of this systematic review, before turning to a discussion of how jurisdictions could introduce reforms aiming to facilitate domestic surrogacy arrangements, focusing on the UK and the Law Commission's recent proposal

Does organizational agility affect organizational learning capability? Evidence from commercial banking

Both organizational agility and learning capability are prerequisites for organizational survival and success. This study explores the contribution of agility practices to organizational learning capabilities at the commercial banks in Jordan. To examine the proposed model, a sample of 158 employees within top and middle managements was used. Structural Equation Modeling was conducted for assessing validity and reliability of measurement instrument, evaluating model fit, and testing hypotheses. This study recognizes agility as a key element of learning facilitators. Findings affirm the strategic value of agility and conclude that administrators working within ag-ile organizations would be able to acquire conditions that foster learning

Children's Voices in Surrogacy Law: Phase One Preliminary Report

Children’s Voices in Surrogacy Law (CVSL) is an empirical project that aims to gather and analyse children’s views on surrogacy law. This Report sets out the preliminary findings of the focus groups from PHASE ONE. PHASE ONE of the project involved children and young people with experience of surrogacy who were aged 8-17. The goal was to ascertain their views about the current law and the extent to which law reform is required. Three groups of children and young people were involved: 1. Children and young people born through surrogacy, 2. Children and young people whose mother had a child through surrogacy or was planning to do so, 3. Children and young people whose family member had a child through surrogacy. There were three topics chosen for consideration: 1. Parenthood, 2. Contributions to surrogates, 3. Origin information and contact. Data were collected in two forms: a) focus groups, and b) creative contributions (drawings, paintings, plasticine models, digital content) on the theme what surrogacy means to me. Participants were recruited through various methods. This included placing online calls on social media, sending emails to the four non-profit organisations recognised by the Department of Health and Social Care (COTS, SurrogacyUK, Brilliant Beginnings, My Surrogacy Journey), and contacting independent surrogates. FIGURE ONE (below) presents a sample advertisement placed via social media for focus group recruitment. Additionally, calls were placed through the websites and emailing lists of the Institute of Medical Ethics (IME), the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS), and the Socio-Legal Association (SLSA)