Proposals to introduce a Tribunal for Assisted Suicide in the UK

It is time that Parliament took the brave and audacious move to publically debate legalising assisted suicide in the UK. Even though a Private Members Bill has recently been introduced in Parliament, it has little hope of success without Government backing. The continual underlying objection of the fear of the slippery slope and the effect of legalising assisted suicide would have on the elderly and the vulnerable is a justifiable one; however, the patient’s autonomy must be respected and it will be argued it is possible to legislate in favour of assisted suicide whilst protecting the vulnerable. It will be argued that the introduction of a Tribunal style system to speedily and sympathetically consider each and every patient’s plea to end their lives should be introduced. This would enable a panel, comprising representatives from both the judiciary and the medical profession an opportunity to assess each case on its merits. It would seek to confirm whether the patient has a terminal condition from which they will die within 9-12 months and each patient will be given a cooling off period to explore options of palliative care. Each case will be recorded and each death reported. The Panel will ensure that the patient is not being unduly pressurised and the person who will assist has nothing to gain. Each case will be closely monitored and each patient treated as an individual. Society should temper paternalism with respect for a patient’s autonomy in order to end the imbalance between the right of a patient to refuse medical treatment where they will surely die as a result and the lack of respect for the self determination of a patient who is clear they wish to end their lifeNon peer reviewe

Debbie Purdy, her contribution to the law on assisted suicide, the present and the future

Non peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

With the forthcoming introduction of deemed consent in Wales in December 2015, is presumed or deemed consent the future for organ donation in England?

Non peer reviewe

Mitochondrial donation or the Reality of the Myth of 'Three parents, One Baby'

Date of Acceptance: 02/03/15In February 2015, MP’s debated a motion in the House of Commons to approve the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations 2015. Having passed that hurdle, the Regulations still require approval by the House of Lords before coming into force on the anticipated date of 29th October 2015. The objective of the Regulations is to permit the use of new assisted reproductive techniques which will avoid the transmission of serious mitochondrial diseasePeer reviewe

The Assisted Dying (No2) Bill 2015, a missed opportunity?

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Claudia Carr, 'The Assisted Dying (No2) Bill 2015, a missed opportunity?', Student Law Review, Vol. 77, pp. 54-56, February 2016.Non peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Three parents one baby? : The future of Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Non peer reviewe

Is presumed consent the future for organ donation in the UK?

Non peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

A Semi-Analytical Line Transfer (SALT) Model III: Galactic Inflows

We present calculations of ultraviolet spectra resulting from the scattering of photons by gas in-falling onto an isotropically emitting source of radiation. The model is based on an adaptation of the semi-analytical line transfer (SALT) code of Scarlata & Panagia (2015), and designed to interpret the inverse P-Cygni profiles observed in the spectra of partially ionized galactic inflows. In addition to presenting the model, we explore the parameter space of the inflowing SALT model and recreate various physically motivated scenarios including spherical inflows, inflows with covering fractions less than unity, and galactic fountains (i.e., galactic systems with both an inflowing and outflowing component). The resulting spectra from inflowing gas show spectral features that could be misinterpreted as ISM features in low resolution spectroscopy ($\sigma \approx 120$ $\rm{km }$ $\rm{s}^{-1}$), suggesting that the total number of galactic systems with inflows is undercounted. Our models suggest that observations at medium resolution ($R = 6000$ or $\sigma \approx 50$ $\rm{km }$ $\rm{s}^{-1}$) that can be obtained with 8m-class telescopes will be able to resolve the characteristic inverse P Cygni profiles necessary to identify inflows.Comment: Accepted by Ap