JBI Dialogues

Please note this podcast contains references to people who have died.In this episode of JBI Dialogues, philosopher Professor Yolonda Wilson, medical anthropologist Dr Tessa Moll, and professor of law Thalia Anthony join us to discuss their work in the journal’s latest symposium “Institutional racism, whiteness and bioethics”.Professor Yolonda Wilson is a philosopher with interests in bioethics, social and political philosophy, race theory, and feminist philosophy. She is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Health Care Ethics, Philosophy, and African American Studies at Saint Louis University in the United States.Dr Tessa Moll is a medical anthropologist with a focus on assisted reproductive technologies in South Africa, race, and postcolonial medical research. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.Professor Thalia Anthony is a professor of law specialising in colonial legacies and systemic racism in the penal/criminal justice system. She is a professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney, in Australia.Links/resources The complete Journal of Bioethical Inquiry symposium Institutional Racism, Whiteness and BioethicsDirect links to articles mentioned in the episode:Biopower of Colonialism in Carceral Contexts: Implications for Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, by Thalia Anthony and Harry BlaggMedical Mistrust and Enduring Racism in South Africa, by Tessa MollBioethics, Race, and Contempt, by Yolonda Wilson

In this episode of JBI Dialogues, Dr Christopher Mayes talks about the journal's new symposium Institutional Racism, Whiteness, and the Role of Bioethics. Chris is a Research Fellow in the Alfred Deakin Institute at Deakin University and a Research-Affiliate in Sydney Health Ethics at the University of Sydney. He is an interdisciplinary scholar with disciplinary backgrounds in sociology and philosophy. He co-edited the Institutional Racism, Whiteness, and Bioethics symposium with Professor Yin Paradies and Dr Amanuel Elias. Yin is Professor of Race Relations and Amanual is a Research Fellow, also in the Alfred Deakin Institute at Deakin University, Australia.Lead essay extract: Institutional racism can be defined as differential access to power, resources, and opportunities by race that further entrenches privilege and oppression (Paradies 2016). Along with similar concepts such as systemic, structural, cultural, and societal racism, this form of racism profoundly shapes almost all aspects of our lives, including health and healthcare (Williams, Lawrence, and Davis 2019). Yet, racism more broadly and institutional racism in particular has been a neglected subject in bioethical discourse and scholarship (Danis, Wilson, and White 2016). Bioethics has the potential to make important contributions to anti-racist programmes and strategies addressing institutional racism, yet as scholars have argued, the “whiteness” of bioethics undermines its capacity to attend to institutionalized forms of racism (Mayes 2020; Russell 2016; Danis, Wilson, and White 2016). ... This symposium brings together scholars and researchers from a variety of disciplines to examine how racism has been institutionalized in healthcare, how whiteness manifests in healthcare, and what bioethics can contribute towards anti-racism. In October 2019, we invited researchers to consider the following questions:What are the historical and material processes that contributed to the institutionalization of racism in medicine and healthcare settings?What role can Indigenous knowledges play in de-centering whiteness and addressing racism?Does bioethics have a role in addressing racism or is it too entangled with histories of racism and whiteness?The articles in this issue respond to these questions and articulate the affective dimension of race in clinical spaces, the economic and social costs of racialized health inequalities, the continuing effects of colonialism and complicity of bioethics in institutional racism.Links / resources The complete Journal of Bioethical Inquiry symposium Institutional Racism, Whiteness and BioethicsDirect links to articles mentioned in the episode Symposium Lead Essay: Institutional Racism, Whiteness, and the Role of Critical Bioethics, by Christopher Mayes, Yin Paradies, Amanuel EliasWhite Medicine, White Ethics: On the Historical Formation of Racism in Australian Healthcare,  by Christopher Mayes (in the Journal of Australian Studies)Black bodies and Bioethics: Debunking Mythologies of Benevolence and Beneficence in Contemporary Indigenous Health Research in Colonial Australia, by Chelsea J. Bond, David Singh & Sissy Tyson Bioethicists Should Be Helping Scientists Think About Race, by Camisha Russell

In this episode of JBI Dialogues, Professor Ross Upshur, one of the co editors of the journal's COVID-19 symposium, talks with Professor Eunice Kamaara about her paper "Gambling with COVID-19 makes more sense: ethical and practical challenges in COVID-19 responses in communalistic resource-limited Africa, co-authored with Dr David Nderitu. Eunice is Professor of African Christian Ethics at Moi University in Kenya with a doctorate in African Christian ethics and a Master's degree in international health research ethics. Ross is a physician and bioethicist and heads the division of clinical public health at the University of Toronto in Canada.Article abstract:  Informed by evidence from past studies and experiences with epidemics, an intervention combining quarantine, lockdowns, curfews, social distancing, and washing of hands has been adopted as “international best practice” in COVID-19 response. With massive total lockdowns complemented by electronic surveillance, China successfully controlled the pandemic in country within a few months. But would this work for Africa and other communalistic resource-poor settings where social togetherness translates to effective sharing of basic needs? What ethical and practical challenges would this pose? How would communalism be translated in special contexts to be useful in contributing to the ultimate common good? This paper uses examples from the current situation of COVID-19 in Kenya to address these questions.LinksThe complete Journal of Bioethical Inquiry COVID-19 symposium Direct link to the #Free2Read articles discussed in the episodeGambling with COVID-19 makes more sense: ethical and practical challenges in COVID-19 responses in communalistic resource-limited Africa, by David Nderitu and Eunice KamaaraLearning Lessons from COVID-19 Requires Recognizing Moral Failures, by Maxwell Smith and Ross Upshur

In this episode of JBI Dialogues we welcome one of the authors of an article in the journal’s new symposium on the social and ethical implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Melanie Gentgall is founding CEO of PRAXIS Australia, an independent not-for-profit that was created to promote excellence in research and research ethics review, design and conduct in Australia and internationally.Together with Wendy Lipworth, Ian Kerridge, and Cameron Stewart, Melanie co-authored the article “Science at Warp Speed: Medical Research, Publication, and Translation During the COVID-19 Pandemic”. Here she talks about that work and recent developments, including new announcements made about the promise of multiple experimental COVID-19 vaccines.Article abstract: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a rapid growth in research focused on developing vaccines and therapies. In this context, the need for speed is taken for granted, and the scientific process has adapted to accommodate this. On the surface, attempts to speed up the research enterprise appear to be a good thing. It is, however, important to consider what, if anything, might be lost when biomedical innovation is sped up. In this article we use the case of a study recently retracted from the Lancet to illustrate the potential risks and harms associated with speeding up science. We then argue that, with appropriate governance mechanisms in place (and adequately resourced), it should be quite possible to both speed up science and remain attentive to scientific quality and integrity. Links / resourcesThe complete collection of the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry COVID-19 symposium articles -   Part 1 and Part 2 Direct link to the #Free2Read article discussed in the episode: Science at Warp Speed: Medical Research, Publication, and Translation During the COVID-19 Pandemic,  by Wendy Lipworth, Melanie Gentgall, Ian Kerridge, and Cameron StewartTherapeutic Goods Administration statement, 18 November 2020, COVID-19 vaccine provisional determinations Image:  Aldon Scott McLeod from FreeImages

In this episode of JBI Dialogues, Professor Ross Upshur, one of the co-editors of the journal’s new symposium on the social and ethical implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, talks with Professor Max Smith about their paper "Learning Lessons from COVID-19 Requires Recognizing Moral Failures". Max is a bioethicist and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Western University, Canada.  Ross is a physician and bioethicist and heads the division of Clinical Public Health at the University of Toronto, Canada.Article abstract: The most powerful lesson learned from the 2013-2016 outbreak of Ebola in West Africa was that we do not learn our lessons. A common sentiment at the time was that Ebola served as a “wake-up call”—an alarm which signalled that an outbreak of that magnitude should never have occurred and that we are ill-prepared globally to prevent and respond to them when they do. Pledges were made that we must learn from the outbreak before we were faced with another. Nearly five years later the world is in the grips of a pandemic of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It is therefore of no surprise that we are now yet again hearing that the COVID-19 pandemic serves as the “wake-up call” we need and that there are many lessons to be learned to better prepare us for future outbreaks. Will anything be different this time around? We argue that nothing will fundamentally change unless we truly understand and appreciate the nature of the lessons we should learn from these outbreaks. Our past failures must be understood as moral failures that offer moral lessons. Unless we appreciate that we have a defect in our collective moral attitude toward remediating the conditions that precipitate the emergence of outbreaks, we will never truly learn.Links / resourcesThe complete collection of the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry COVID-19 symposium articles -   Part 1 and Part 2 Direct link to the #Free2Read article discussed in the episode: Learning Lessons from COVID-19 Requires Recognizing Moral Failures,  by Max Smith and Ross UpshurImage: Chapman Chow on Unsplash

In this our first episode of JBI Dialogues we welcome the editors of the journal’s new symposium on social and ethical implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to their work in bioethics, Dr Michael Chapman and Professors Paul Komesaroff, Ian Kerridge, and Ross Upshur are all physicians working across palliative medicine, endocrinology, haematology, and clinical public health.  Here they talk about: the meaning and importance of bioethics,their motivations for starting this project and what they've subsequently learnt,the symposium themes and their significance,the case for why someone should make the time to read papers in this symposium,the paper/s they would suggest to start your symposium reading, and why, and what comes next. Transcript of episode 1Links / resourcesThe complete collection of the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry COVID-19 symposium articles -   Part 1 and Part 2 Direct links to articles mentioned in the episodeHumiliating Whistle-Blowers: Li Wenliang, the Response to COVID-19 and the Call for a Decent Society,  by Jing-Bao Nie and Carl ElliottImagining and Preparing for the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Justification for Taking Caring Responsibilities into Consideration when Allocating Scarce Resources, by Christopher F.C. Jordens The New Fear of One Another, by Alphonso Lingus Fast Violence, Revolutionary Violence: Black Lives Matter and the 2020 Pandemic,  by Claire ColebrookHope and Optimism: A Spinozist Perspective on COVID-19,  by Genevieve LloydNot all Bad: Sparks of Hope in a Global Disaster, by Paul KomesaroffGambling With COVID-19 Makes More Sense: Ethical and Practical Challenges in COVID-19 Responses in Communalistic Resource-Limited Africa, by David Nderitu and Eunice KamaaraImage: Adam Nieścioruk on Unsplash