Making do not attempt resuscitation decisions: do doctors follow the guidelines?

When do not attempt resuscitation orders are contemplated, guidelines exist to outline standards for planning patient care and decision making. These guidelines may not always be fully followed as ethical issues arise which may prevent doctors from doing so.     

International public health law: not so much WHO as why, and not enough WHO and why not?

To state the obvious, “health matters”, but health (or its equitable enjoyment) is neither simple nor easy. Public health in particular, which encompasses a broad collection of complex and multidisciplinary activities which are critical to the wellbeing and security of individuals, populations and nations, is a difficult milieu to master effectively. In fact, despite the vital importance of public health, there is a relative dearth of ethico-legal norms tailored for, and directed at, the public health sector, particularly at the international level. This is a state of affairs which is no longer tenable in the global environment. This article argues that public health promotion is a moral duty, and that international actors are key stakeholders upon whom this duty falls. In particular, the World Health Organization bears a heavy responsibility in this regard. The article claims that better health can and must be better promoted through a more robust interpretation of the WHO’s role, arguing that neither the WHO nor international law have yet played their necessary part in promoting health for all.

Conceiving Time? Women who do or do not conceive

This article explores the importance of time for an understanding of women's experiences of reproductive identity. In order to do this we draw on data from two separate qualitative research projects. The first project is concerned with the experiences of conception, pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood in primagravidae, whilst the second focuses on the experiences of individuals (especially women) who defined themselves (at the time of the fieldwork, or some time previously) as 'involuntarily childless' and/or 'infertile'. These two areas are usually treated as separate; this article, however, explores similarities between them in terms of time and medicalisation. Our central concern, then, is with exploring the similarities of experience for women who do or do not conceive.     

He said,she said,but what do they say?: young children’s perceptions of father involvement

One of the important implications of the rights given to children by Article 12 of UN Convention on the Rights of Children 1989 is the inclusion of children in research on issues related to their lives. However, studies on father involvement are still conducted for young children not with them and there are no data-gathering techniques available that can be used specifically with young children. Within this context the main aim of this study is to develop new techniques to gather qualitative data from children aged between 50 and 72 months to understand how they perceive their fathers’ involvement. Findings of the present study were consistent with the results of previous studies that depended on adult reports of father involvement. Both the findings and the techniques used with children in the present study have implications for future research into father involvement and its application.