OxTalks will soon move to the new Halo platform and will become 'Oxford Events.' There will be a need for an OxTalks freeze. This was previously planned for Friday 14th November – a new date will be shared as soon as it is available (full details will be available on the Staff Gateway).
In the meantime, the OxTalks site will remain active and events will continue to be published.
If staff have any questions about the Oxford Events launch, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
Since late 2024, Westminster has debated whether and when English and Welsh patients may hasten their deaths. But what about the opposite situation? How should we handle situations when the patient wants to live but their clinicians determine that continuing life-sustaining treatment is inappropriate, non-beneficial, or therapeutically obstinate? These sorts of conflicts have long been common in NHS hospitals. Yet, they are increasingly prevalent as families dispute even long-settled medical concepts like brain death. Normally, clinicians defer to patients and families when the decision is value-laden and preference sensitive. But surely, clinicians need not comply with “any” demand that patients and families make. What are the proper limits to clinical deference? And how should those limits be adjudicated?
