CMEL Newsletter (July 2021)

The Centre for Medical Ethics and Law (CMEL) develops new ideas and solutions in response to the big ethical, legal and policy questions of medicine and health.

CMEL is the first cross-faculty interdisciplinary institution of its kind in the region. It was founded in 2012 by the LKS Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Law at The University of Hong Kong as a joint inheritor of their vibrant intellectual traditions dating back to 1887 and 1969 respectively.

Today, CMEL brings together bioethicists, academic lawyers, medical scientists, and other scholars to conduct cutting edge bioethical and legal research and contribute to policy development in flagship areas like population and global health, mental health and capacity, and digital health and emergent technologies.

Research, teaching and knowledge exchange—CMEL’s core initiatives—aim to ensure that developments in biomedicine and public health will be underpinned by ethical and legal considerations.

To view the latest newsletter, click: CMEL July Newsletter

EDITORIAL GRF GRANT TO STUDY BEST INTERESTS CMEL Deputy Director Daisy Cheung was recently awarded a research grant to study best interests determinations on behalf of persons deemed to be lacking mental capacity, a critical but largely neglected topic which falls under CMEL's flagship research area of "Mental Health and Capacity". The grant, awarded by the Research Grants Council General Research Fund, is entitled "Deciding what is best for you: Best interest determinations on behalf of persons without capacity in the Chinese context" and will support a three year project which will examine the use of the concept of "best interests" in decision-making on behalf of persons without mental capacity in the jurisdictions of Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. In addition, the project will also consider (i) the ethical underpinnings of the concept of "best interests" in the Chinese context, including the extent to which Confucian ethics and values have influenced the development of the concept and its utilisation in these jurisdictions; and (ii) the extent to which the concept of "best interests" is consistent with local and international human rights standards, including those of the CRPD. Daisy is also currently working on an edited monograph, which will be co-edited with Dr Michael Dunn from the Ethox Centre at the University of Oxford. This volume will examine the law and practice of advance medical directives in 17 jurisdictions across Asia, and is scheduled to be published with Cambridge University Press in 2022. In this month's newsletter, we are pleased to present new publications and a media interview. On the theme of Mental Health and Capacity, readers may wish to note Daisy's open-access journal article on Adult Guardianship. Readers are also welcome to participate in a webinar scheduled to be held by the Hong Kong Academy of Law on 19 August. CMEL Advisory Board Member Terry Kaan and Co-Director Calvin W. L. Ho will speak on the Future of Law in Medicine and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare. This webinar is open to members of the Law Society of Hong Kong only. LATEST CMEL RESEARCH JOURNAL ARTICLES "Bringing the Adult Guardianship Regime in Line with the UNCRPD: The Chinese Experience" [Open Access] By Daisy Cheung (CMEL Deputy Director) In International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family (2021) https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/ebab016 《使成人監護制度與聯合國〈殘疾人權利公約〉標準一致:香港與中國大陸的經驗》[免費閱覽] 作者: 張天目助理教授 (本中心副總監) 刊登於《國際法律、政策及家庭期刊》(2021) https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/ebab016 "Genetic Discrimination: Introducing the Asian Perspective to the Debate" [Open Access] By Hannah Kim, Calvin W. L. Ho (CMEL Co-Director), Chih-Hsing Ho (CMEL Research Fellow), P. S. Athira, Kazuto Kato, Leonardo De Castro, Hui Kang, Richard Huxtable, Hub Zwart, Jonathan Ives, Ilhak Lee, Yann Joly & So Yoon Kim In npj Genomic Medicine (2021) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41525-021-00218-4 《基因歧視：亞洲視角》[免費閱覽] 作者: Hannah Kim, 何維倫副教授(本中心總監), 何之行博士(本中心研究學者), P. S. Athira, Kazuto Kato, Leonardo De Castro, Hui Kang, Richard Huxtable, Hub Zwart, Jonathan Ives, Ilhak Lee, Yann Joly & So Yoon Kim 刊登於《npj基因組醫學》(2021) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41525-021-00218-4 POLICY PAPER "Ethical Framework for WHO's work in the ACT-Accelerator" [Open Access] The ACT-Accelerator is a collaboration to accelerate development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines. CMEL Co-Director Calvin W. L. Ho contributed to the drafting of this policy paper. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-ACT-Accelerator-Ethical_framework-2021.1?fbclid=IwAR0eG4sUapvh4Jy9_nT6vSyGecjxtcRTFcGbyA_yx9xMWoNfc_YIigerhAw 《世界衞生組織2019冠状病毒病應對工具加速器的倫理框架》[免費閱覽] 2019冠狀病毒病應對工具加速器 (ACT-Accelerator)是一個合作項目，旨在加速2019冠狀病毒病測試、治療及疫苗的發展、生產及公平獲得。 本中心總監何維倫副教授參與了草擬此政策文件的工作。 https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-ACT-Accelerator-Ethical_framework-2021.1?fbclid=IwAR0eG4sUapvh4Jy9_nT6vSyGecjxtcRTFcGbyA_yx9xMWoNfc_YIigerhAw KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE VACCINATION TARGETS AND THE RETURN TO PRE-PANDEMIC LIFE In an interview with the South China Morning Post, CMEL Co-Director Calvin W. L. Ho shared his views on setting targets of vaccination rates in the hope of returning to pre-pandemic life in Hong Kong. Click here for the article. 在《南華早報》的訪問中，本中心總監何維倫副教授分享了他對設立疫苗接種率目標以期讓香港回復疫情前的生活狀態的看法。 按此閱讀報道。 UPCOMING WEBINAR Webinar: "The Impact of Innovative Technologies and Contemporary Practices in Healthcare on Medical Law; Shared Decision-making and Mediation" Organiser: Hong Kong Academy of Law Date: 19 August 2021 (Thu) Time: 5pm - 7pm (Hong Kong Time) Speakers: Mr Terry Kaan (CMEL Advisory Board Member) Dr Calvin W. L. Ho (CMEL Co-Director) Dr James Chiu CPD Accreditation by the Law Society of Hong Kong: 2 point(s) Registration: Click here (Webinar open to members of the Law Society only) [網上研討會]「創新科技與當代醫療慣常做法對醫療法的影響; 共享決策和調解」 主辦: 香港法律專業學會 日期: 2021年8月19日(四) 時間: 下午5時至7時 (香港時間) 講者： 簡尚恆副教授 (本中心諮詢委員會成員) 何維倫副教授(本中心總監) 趙承平醫生 香港律師會持續專業進修學分: 2 報名: 按此 (只限香港律師會會員) UPCOMING CONFERENCE/ SYMPOSIUM Virtual Event: 11th National Paediatric Research Conference/ 2nd Paediatric Bioethics Symposium Organiser: International Medical University, Malaysia Date: 17-21 November 2021 CMEL Co-Director, Dr Calvin W. L. Ho, will be one of the speakers. He will speak on the topic "involving families and children in online research". Registration & Details: Click here [網上活動]「第十一屆國家兒科研究大會/第二屆兒科生物倫理學研討會」 主辦: 馬來西亞國際醫科大學 日期: 2021年11月17至21日 本中心總監何維倫副教授為講者之一，他的講題是《讓家庭和兒童參與線上研究》。 報名及詳情: 按此 EDITORIAL ON MEDICAL MANSLAUGHTER One of the presenters of CMEL’s April 2021 Gross Negligence Manslaughter webinar has recently published the following editorial on the subject: "Medical Manslaughter: The Role of Hindsight" [Open Access] By Prof Gilberto K. K. LEUNG In Hong Kong Medical Journal (2021) https://doi.org/10.12809/hkmj215117 本中心曾於2021 年 4 月舉辦關於嚴重疏忽誤殺的網上研討會，其中一名講者最近發表了相關社論文章如下: 《醫療誤殺: 後見之明的角色》[免費閱覽] 作者:梁嘉傑教授 刊登於《香港醫學雜誌》 (2021) https://doi.org/10.12809/hkmj215117