Welcome to The Augustine Bioethics Network
An international community of volunteers seeking a deeper shared understanding of the dignity and vulnerability of every human person.
Resource libraryWho we are
We are an international network administered and overseen by a company limited by guarantee based in the United Kingdom. The network is supported by a committee of which Prof Neil Scolding is chair and Prof David Albert Jones is secretary, and by an advisory board which includes two theological advisors (Rev Dr John O’Connor OP and Sr Margaret Atkins). The network is endorsed and actively supported by the Catholic Medical Association UK who have an appointed representative on the advisory board (Dr Dominic Whitehouse) and a member on the Committee (Dr Mike Delany). Our patron is the great philosopher and theologian, Augustine of Hippo.
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NICE Guideline on Critical Care in Adults: An Ethical Analysis
ABN Papers
February 11, 2026
Introduction This paper takes as its focus a guideline produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the national advisory body for rationing health and social care in England. It should be read together with the first COVID-19 Briefing Paper of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Resource allocation and ventilators: A statement of
Public Mental Health and the Ethics of COVID-19 Lockdowns
ABN Papers
February 11, 2026
Introduction Since the advent of the ongoing coronavirus crisis, mental health has emerged as a major talking point in the media. Pandemics are a time of heightened anxiety for the population at large, [1] and this anxiety is also fuelled partly by the relentlessness of media cycles, and exacerbated by the rapid spread of false, often alarming
Suicide Prevention: Does Legalising Assisted Suicide Make Things Better Or Worse?
ABN Papers
February 11, 2026
Summary Promoting euthanasia or assisted suicide (EAS) seems to contradict the principle that ‘every suicide is a tragedy’. It has also been argued that the normalisation of EAS might encourage non-assisted suicide. On the other hand, others argue that legalisation of EAS could help prevent suicide. This is because there are people with terminal illnesses who die by