Newsletters

September Issue 2019

Top stories in this newsletter:
Hong Kong Government’s consultation on proposals regarding advance directives and dying in place
Woman who suffered an eye injury during a Hong Kong protest challenges the
police’s refusal to provide a copy of the warrant for her medical records
How the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act protects against genetic discrimination in the United States
Impact of Japan’s deregulation of regenerative medicine

August Issue 2019

Top stories in this newsletter:
Parental order concerning surrogate children granted by the Hong Kong court after considering issues such as delay and breach of the law
US court ordered pharmaceutical giant to pay US$572 million in landmark opioid case

July Issue 2019

Top stories in this newsletter:
Part 2 of the Q & As on issues about doctor-patient confidentiality
Proposals of a Hong Kong law reform sub-committee for a new offence relating to abuse and lawmaker’s call to require doctors to report abuse

June Issue 2019

Top stories in this newsletter:
Q & As on issues about doctor-patient confidentiality raised by the arrest of alleged extradition bill protestors in Hong Kong hospitals
Research suggests that the gene-editing experiment of He Jiankui might have increased the subject babies’ risk of premature death

May Issue 2019

Top stories in this newsletter:
New book: Eastern and Western Perspectives on Surrogacy
New abortion bans in the States and their implications for the landmark abortion ruling
Hong Kong Medical Council decided to exempt non-locally trained specialist doctors
seeking a full registration from the internship requirement

April Issue 2019

Top stories in this newsletter:
English court held that prior court approval is not necessarily required before clini-
cally assisted nutrition and hydration can be withdrawn from a patient with a pro-
longed disorder of consciousness
Hong Kong’s first-ever government facility for keeping foetuses miscarried before 24
gestational weeks commissioned

March Issue 2019

Top stories in this newsletter:
Calls for a central registry of human genome editing research and a global moratorium
Hong Kong government launched a trust service for the parents, siblings and relatives of persons with special needs
Opt-out organ donation bill passed into law in England

February Issue 2019

Top stories in this newsletter:
Launch of the revamped CMEL website
Artificial intelligence in medicine – Hong Kong Hospital Authority’s plan, CMEL’s seminar on 14 March 2019 and more

January 2019 Issue

Top stories in this newsletter:
New Case Briefing: Singapore court allows gay man’s application to adopt biological son conceived through surrogate mother …

December 2018 Issue

Top stories in this newsletter:
The online application portal for the September 2019 intake of the Master of Laws in Medical Ethics and Law programme of the University of Hong Kong is now open. Applications will close on 28 February 2019 …

November Issue 2018

Top stories in this newsletter:
Conference – “Who Owns Your Body? – Beyond The Physical”

October Issue 2018

Top stories in this newsletter:
New Case Briefing: Supreme Court finds that receptionists at A&E departments owe a tortious duty of care to patients not to provide inaccurate/ misleading information regarding waiting times…

September Issue 2018

Top stories in this newsletter:
Hong Kong court decision – a baby’s negligence claim against the Hospital Authority for fail-ing to inform her mother at the time of the pregnancy of a chromosomal defect of the baby and the risk of the baby suffering associated disabilities was barred and not permitted.

August Issue 2018

Top stories in this newsletter:
Antibiotic-resistant superbugs found on train handrails of the Mass Transit Railway
in Hong Kong – In further news about antimicrobial resistance in Hong Kong, a team of researchers from the University of Hong Kong found the train handrails of the Mass Transit Railway (“MTR”) in Hong Kong dispersing superbugs with antibiotic-resistant genes. The results of the study suggest that there could be transmis-sion of superbugs across the border between Hong Kong and Shenzhen via the MTR system.

July Issue 2018

Top stories in this newsletter:
Travel alert for Pakistan issued by the US due to ongoing outbreak of typhoid superbug – In further news about antimicrobial resistance, the United States has issued a travel alert for Pakistan in light of the ongoing outbreak of an extremely drug-resistant new strain of typhoid fever which is resistant to five different antibiotics. The strain was first identified in November 2016, and since then, it has spread throughout the country, with 800 people infected and at least 4 dead.

June Issue 2018

Top stories in this newsletter:
New measures to be introduced in the UK to protect doctors – Following the case of Dr. Bawa-Garba, who was struck off the medical register after being found guilty of mistakes in the death of a 6 year old boy, UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced that there will be new measures introduced to protect doctors and nurses when mistakes are made. An important new measure is that the UK General Medical Council will no longer be able to appeal the results of doctors’ disciplinary hearings, as it did in the case of Dr. Bawa-Garba…

May Issue 2018

Top stories in this newsletter:
Doctor found guilty of misconduct by Medical Council – A doctor was found guilty of misconduct and banned from practicing medicine for a period of 6 months after a medical blunder involving a patient who underwent a permanent tracheostomy. A piece of gauze, taped on all sides, was found blocking the opening in the patient’s throat, which ultimately led to his death. The Medical Council ruled that the doctor had failed to prevent the nurses’ mismanagement of the patient’s tracheostoma.

April Issue 2018

Top stories in this newsletter:
CMEL April Events – CMEL had a very eventful April this year, with the introduction of our Continuing Medical Education series, our twin symposiums on ‘Policy and Regulatory Responses to New Genomic and Reproductive Technologies’ and ‘Privacy, Data Protection and Data-Sharing in Biomedical Research’, and lectures by Dr. Jeff Skopek and Mr. James Badenoch QC. A very big thank you to all our speakers, panelists and to all our participants for your support. Please stay tuned for a conference report on what was discussed at the symposiums…

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