University

23 Jun 09

The debates are focusing on whether doctors should treat self-inflicted illnesses

'The NHS should not treat self-inflicted illness' is the focus of the University's latest Online Debate.

Proposer Dr Mark Sheehan argues that 'When someone freely chooses to live life in a particular way, he, not society must, at some point, shoulder the responsibility for those choices. It is not as though the relationship between the choices and the illnesses is uncertain'. Dr Sheehan is Oxford BRC Ethics Fellow at the University's Ethox Centre (www.ethox.org.uk) and a James Martin Research Fellow in the Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences.

The question is being opposed by Charles Foster, a barrister specialising in medical law. He restates the values of the NHS – universal, tax-funded and free at the point of need - and argues that 'We abandon or dilute them at our peril. Society should pay because, unless it does, the whole notion of society evaporates or becomes malignant'. Mr Foster has been involved in many key medical law cases - most recently the assisted suicide legislation in the House of Lords. He teaches medical law and ethics at the University, is attached to the Ethox Centre, and is an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College.

The debate is being moderated by Dr Paula Boddington, a philosopher who has for many years worked on a wide range of issues within medical ethics and the philosophy of medicine, and the implications of such issues for medical practice, research, and law. She is Senior Research Fellow in Ethics and Genetics at the Ethox Centre in the Division of Public Health and Primary Health Care at the University of Oxford.

The public can follow the debate and post comments at www.ox.ac.uk/debates, and voting takes place between 13-17 July.