Archive - Ethics
Video clips on the work of the Medical Ethics Committee and how doctors can get involved, and on what the Mental Capacity Act in England means for doctors and patients.
Online video clips from the BMA’s Medical Ethics CommitteeConsent tool kit, 3rd edition
The tool kit, published in August 2007, consists of a series of cards relating to specific areas of consent such as providing treatment to children; consent and research; and obtaining consent for teaching purposes.Intimate body searches
Guidelines for doctors asked to perform intimate body searches of people in police custody, prisoners or people suspected by HM Customs and Excise of smuggling drugs or other goods. Joint guidance from the BMA and the Association of Police Surgeons, January 1994; revised April 1999.End of life decisions: BMA views
BMA views on contemporaneous and advance refusal of treatment, withholding and withdrawing life-prolonging medical treatment, and assisted dying - euthanasia and assisted suicide.Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill
Briefing papers, published in May 2008, on the BMA’s views on issues raised at the committee stage in the House of Commons of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.Treatment decisions for patients in persistent vegetative state - BMA guidelines
The persistent vegetative state presents particular medical, ethical and legal dilemmas because of the extreme nature of the condition, the difficulties associated with diagnosing it accurately and the risks of premature diagnosis. Current methods of diagnosing PVS cannot be regarded as infallible. In 2003 the Royal College of Physicians issued a useful checklist, and new technologies, including brain-imaging methods, can be helpful.