Characterization of health issues in young first-time blood donors.

Background And Objectives: Blood donors, especially young donors, are considered a healthy segment of the population. We sought to identify medical issues that may warrant medical referral in young first-time blood donors.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed in first-time donors ages 16-22 who presented in a system of nineteen regional United States blood centres over 10 years.

Lockdown and levelling down: why Savulescu and Cameron are mistaken about selective isolation of the elderly.

In their recent article, 'Why lockdown of the elderly is not ageist and why levelling down equality is wrong', Savulescu and Cameron argue for selective isolation of the elderly as an alternative to general lockdown. An important part of their argument is the claim that the latter amounts to 'levelling down equality' and that this is 'unethical' or even 'morally repugnant'. This response argues that they fail to justify either part of this claim: the claim that levelling down is always morally wrong is subject to challenges that Savulescu and Cameron do not consider; and a policy of maintaining general lockdown does not constitute levelling down, as it provides absolute benefits to those who would be worse off under selective isolation.

Does the heterogeneity of autism undermine the neurodiversity paradigm?

The neurodiversity paradigm is presented by its proponents as providing a philosophical foundation for the activism of the neurodiversity movement. Its central claims are that autism and other neurodivergent conditions are not disorders because they are not intrinsically harmful, and that they are valuable, natural and/or normal parts of human neurocognitive variation. This paper: (a) identifies the non-disorder claim as the most central of these, based on its prominence in the literature and connections with the practical policy claims that the paradigm is supposed to support; (b) describes the heterogeneity of autism at the behavioural and causal levels, and argues that at the behavioural level this encompasses ways of being autistic that are harmful in ways that cannot be not wholly attributed to discrimination or unjust social arrangements, challenging the claim that autism is not a disorder; (c) considers and rejects responses to this challenge based on separation of high- and low-functioning autism, separation of autism from co-occurring conditions, and viewing autism as part of an individual's identity.

Advance euthanasia directives and the Dutch prosecution.

In a recent Dutch euthanasia case, a woman underwent euthanasia on the basis of an advance directive, having first been sedated without her knowledge and then restrained by members of her family while the euthanasia was administered. This article considers some implications of the criminal court's acquittal of the doctor who performed the euthanasia. Supporters of advance euthanasia directives have welcomed the judgement as providing a clarification of the law, especially with regard to the admissibility of contextual evidence in interpreting advance euthanasia directives, but suggested that the law regarding advance euthanasia directives should be further relaxed to remove the requirement of current suffering and that an unfortunate consequence of the prosecution is that it is likely to deter doctors from performing euthanasia even in more straightforward cases.

Conscientious objection, professional duty and compromise: A response to Savulescu and Schuklenk.

In a recent article in this journal, Savulescu and Schuklenk defend and extend their earlier arguments against a right to medical conscientious objection in response to criticisms raised by Cowley. I argue that while it would be preferable to be less accommodating of medical conscientious than many countries currently are, Savulescu and Schuklenk's argument that conscientious objection is 'simply unprofessional' is mistaken. The professional duties of doctors should be defined in relation to the interests of patients and society, and for reasons set out in this article, these may support limited accommodation of conscientious objection on condition that it does not impede access to services.

Conscientious objection in healthcare: why tribunals might be the answer.

A recent focus of the debate on conscientious objection in healthcare is the question of whether practitioners should have to justify their refusal to perform certain functions. A recent article by Cowley addresses a practical aspect of this controversy, namely the question of whether doctors claiming conscientious objector status in relation to abortion should be required, like their counterparts claiming exemption from military conscription, to defend their claim before a tribunal. Cowley argues against the use of tribunals in the medical case, on the grounds that there are likely to be fewer unjustified claims to conscientious objection in this context than in the military, and that in any case tribunals will not be an effective way of distinguishing genuine and false cases.

Case report of a transfusion-associated hepatitis A infection.

Background: Documented transfusion-associated hepatitis A (TAHA) is rare, and blood donors in the United States are not routinely screened for this infection. We report a case of TAHA associated with a donation made 8 days after a donor returned from a trip to South America.

Study Design And Methods: This is a review of donor and recipient records and a review of the literature.