Publications
Featured Writings & Publications
From lecture to book: a medical ethicist’s experience with self-publishing
Journal of Medical Ethics blog (21 July 2025)
From Error to Ethics: Five Essential Lessons from Teaching Clinicians in Trouble
Book (April 2025)
Why the General Medical Council should discipline doctors who misuse social media
BMJ (14 February 2025)
Acts of dishonesty: why medical students should think twice before acting unethically
BMJ (22 November 2024)
Osler’s valediction: how might physicians contribute to the effort to postpone human extinction?
BMJ (27 February 2024)
Comment on the junior doctors’ strike
Daily Express (13 April 2023)
Daily Express Daniel Sokol 12 April 2023
Our universities have a cheating problem – it’s time to bin online exams
The Independent (31 December 2022)
An ethicist’s view on the Archie Battersbee case: a bad situation made worse
BMJ (6 September 2022)
Should doctors be held to higher moral standards than others?
Journal of Medical Ethics blog (9 June 2022)
Guest post: the ethics of Wimbledon’s ban on Russian players
Practical Ethics Blog, University of Oxford (25 April 2022)
Law or medicine? A lawyer’s tips on how to choose (for students)
The Student Lawyer (14 March 2022)
Five common objections to mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers: a medical ethicist’s view
Medscape (27 January 2022)
Universities and plagiarism: who copied who?
Higher Education Policy Institute blog, 26 October 2021
Students accused of academic misconduct need better support
Times Higher Education, 4 October 2021
Universities and plagiarism: who copied who?
Higher Education Policy Institute blog, 26 October 2021
Surgical malpractice – the barrister’s perspective
Guest Editorial, Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons 2021:103: 542-543
The ethically astute neurosurgeon
Lecture to the British Paediatric Neurosurgical Group, 2nd June 2021
Watch the lecture here (approx. 18 mins long)
Sir William Osler and Sir Henry Newbolt: Admiral Death and Strains of Aequinimitas
The Oslerian, volume 22, issue 1 (June 2021), pp.8-11.
Book Review: Tough Choices
Journal of Perioperative Practice 2021, 31(3):58-59
Read the book review here Tough Choices March 2021 Book Review.
Remediating dishonesty: perspectives of a doctor and ethicist
Journal of Medical Ethics Blog (24 March 2021)
Universities must pay the legal costs of exposing their mistakes (with Bradley Talbot)
The Times Higher Education (11 March 2021)
The university justice system is in disarray (with Joshua Ellis)
The Times (21 Jan 2021)
The university justice system is in disarray
Developing an ICU Triage Protocol for COVID-19
Clinical Negligence Blog of 12 King’s Bench Walk (17 April 2020)
An interview with Dr Daniel Sokol on the COVID-19 ICU Triage Protocol
Hippocratic Post (11 April 2020)
ICU Triage Protocol: decision making for intensive care triage in COVID-19 emergency
(6 April 2020)
This document is available in Spanish and French (click on the titles below).
Toma de decisiones en materia de triage en Cuidados Intensivos en la emergencia del COVID-19
With thanks to the many doctors, lawyers and ethicists who have given their valuable feedback on the document.
Should we give priority care to healthcare workers in the covid-19 pandemic? (with Benjamin Gray)
BMJ (1 April 2020)
Ethics in these pandemic times may require us to endure sacrifices on our personal freedom or comfort
BMJ (17 March 2020)
Delaying decisions on student appeals unjustly prolongs distress
Times Higher Education (22 January 2019)
How I got into – and out of – academia
Times Higher Education (9 November 2018)
Why I left academia PDF
Reflections on Bawa-Garba – a symbol of the medical profession’s discontent
British Medical Journal (31st July 2018)
A database of cases with valuable lessons for clinicians
British Medical Journal (2nd March 2018)
Contract cheating and essay mills: how much proof do you need?
Times Higher Education (13th November 2017)
Should healthcare professionals breach confidentiality when a patient is unfit to drive?
British Medical Journal (31st March 2017)
Is it time for medical ethics experts in lack of consent cases?
PI Brief Update Law Journal (12th October 2015)
How to treat a Piraha: medical ethics and cultural difference
British Medical Journal (18th February 2015)
Lessons from the Ashya King case (with Aidan O’Brien)
British Medical Journal (10th September 2014)
When law and ethics diverge: the ethics of intimate body searches
British Medical Journal (22nd November 2013)
Best interests and futility under the judicial microscope
Journal of Medical Ethics (guest blog) (14th November 2013)
Students deserve a fair hearing from universities
Times Higher Education Supplement (24th October 2013)
How magic can help teach students about medical ethics
Journal of Medical Ethics (guest blog) (24th August 2013)
The ethical gift box: suggestions for improving the ethical conduct of doctors
British Medical Journal (25 March 2013)
Boxing, mixed martial arts, and other risky sports: is the BMA confused?
British Medical Journal (1 November 2011)
Ethical dilemmas in the acute setting: a framework for clinicians
British Medical Journal (13 September 2011)
The Ethics of Disaster Medicine
Matheson and Hawley (eds) ‘Making sense of disaster medicine’ (2010) London: Hodder Arnold, pp.268-296
Consultation activities of clinical ethics committees in the United Kingdom: an empirical study and wake-up call
Postgraduate Medical Journal, September 2009, 85:451-454
Informed consent is more than just a patient’s signature
British Medical Journal (27 August 2009)
Lives on the line? Ethics and practicalities of duty of care in pandemics and disasters
(with Dr Anita Simonds) European Respiratory Journal, August 2009 34 (2):303-309
General practitioners face ethico-legal problems too!
(with Professors Len and Lesley Doyal) Postgraduate Medical Journal, 2009, 85:393-394
Who wants to be the flu GP?
(modified version of BMJ article below for general reader) BBC Online (6 July 2008)
Balancing protection and respect in paediatrics
(with Professors Len and Lesley Doyal) Postgraduate Medical Journal, April 2009, 85 (1002):169-170
Just do as you’re told
(with Dr Deborah Bowman) Student British Medical Journal, April 2009, 17:b977
The death of DNR
Success from surgical checklists breeds idea for ethical checks
(article by Kevin O’Reilly on the use of ethical checklists in hospitals introduced in ‘Rethinking ward rounds’ BMJ 4 March 2009 – see below for that article) American Medical News 13 April 2009
Good medicine, human rights and the rights of doctors
(with Professors Len and Lesley Doyal) Postgraduate Medical Journal, March 2009, 85 (1001): 113-114.
Sweetening the scent: commentary on ‘what principlism misses’
Journal of Medical Ethics, April 2009, 35 (4): 232-233
Should medical schools have a say in how medical students dress?
Student BMJ (March 2009)
As submitted to the sBMJ.
Do we need a concept of intraoperative complication?
(with Dr James Wilson) World Journal of Surgery, February 2009 (Online First)
Secrets and lies
(with Dr Deborah Bowman) Student British Medical Journal, February 2009, 17: 50-51
The ethics of surgical complications
(with Drs S. Adedeji, T. Palser and M. McKneally) World Journal of Surgery, February 2009 (Online First)
Just having a laugh
(with Dr Deborah Bowman) Student British Medical Journal, January 2009, 17: 10-11
Medicine as performance; what can magicians teach doctors?
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (September 2008)
The ‘Four Quadrants’ approach to clinical ethics case analysis
Journal of Medical Ethics, July 2008.
The essence of medicine: an ethicist in the neurology department
British Medical Journal (24th May 2008)
Tricky exam questions; examination ethics for students
Student British Medical Journal (May 2008)
The ethical junior: a typology of ethical issues faced by house officers
(with Ros McDougall) Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, February 2008, 10:167-70
What is a surgical complication?
(with Dr James Wilson) World Journal of Surgery, February 2008 (Online First)
Inside the mind of the doctor
(review of Jerome Groopman’s How Doctors Think) BBC Online, 9th May 2007
Confidentiality and telephone consultations
Time for a password (with Dr Josip Car), Journal of Medical Ethics (December 2006)
An inconvenient truth; how poor handwriting remains a problem in medical practice
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (December 2006)
Virulent epidemics and scope of healthcare workers’ duty of care
Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, volume 8, issue 12, August 2006
Ethics in practice: a family’s request for deception (letter to the editor)
Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, volume 88, issue 8, August 2006
The trick of solving boredom on wards
BBC Online, 15th June 2006 (a modifiedless academic version of the article below)
A case of dubious consent
Junior Dr issue 2 (May 2006)
What is false hope?
Journal of Clinical Ethics, 2006, volume 17, issue 4, 367-368
Protecting confidentiality in telephone consultations in General Practice
(with Dr Josip Car) British Journal of General Practice (May 2006)
Truth-telling and deception in the doctor-patient relationship: a case analysis
Clinical Ethics vol. 1 issue 3130-134 – The PDF is the article’s proofs. The final version has no significant changes.
Calling a spade a spade: doctors, student doctors and medical students
British Medical Journal, 3rd September 2005
Life is like a tooth; Teaching medical humanities through literature
Clinical Teacher (June 2005)
The not-so-sweet science: the role of the medical profession in boxing
Journal of Medical Ethics (October 2004)
The double-edged sword of trust in medicine
Contributing editorial International Herald Tribune, 13th September 2004
The use of ethics in the EFL classroom
English Teaching Forum (October 2004)
Danger: white coats
The Independent, 2nd August 2004
Some ethical issues to think about Rapid Response to paper on SARS
British Medical Journal, 9th July 2004
Medical Ethics: Truth is not always the best medicine
International Herald Tribune, 29th June 2004
The ethics of face transplants
International Herald Tribune, 16th June 2004
The silence of the healers at Abu Ghraib
Contributing Editorial (with Ronald P. Sokol) International Herald Tribune 29/05/2004
Reflecting on our ‘yuk’
Think (Issue 9 Spring 2005)
In medicine, ’yuk’ is not a useful guide
International Herald Tribune, 18th May 2004
Take one Tolstoy with each meal
The Times, 14th March 2004
Can lies be good medicine?
The Globe and Mail (Canada), 7th February 2004
Trust me I’m a doctor
The Independent, 5th January 2004
The proliferation of cheerfulness
(Winner of the 3rd Oxfordshire Science Writing Competition 1999) Oxford Times, 26th March 1999
The duty to care and severe infectious disease
MSc thesis Imperial College London.
From anonymity to notoriety: a history of Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever
MSc thesis Oxford University.
