George F. Winter

Midwifery and plant-based diets

In a study of over 250 women (both pregnant and non-pregnant) based in Ireland, De Benedictus et al (2022) evaluated dietary intake and the bioavailability of zinc, finding that ‘58.14% of women and...

The changing reproductive landscape

Fetal alcohol screening and ethics

Caesarean sections and ethics

Miscarriage

Semantics

Gender disappointment

Social egg freezing

Gestational diabetes

Compassion and kindness

Significant among the dispiriting catalogue of midwifery and obstetric issues that were identified in the review of 250 maternity services cases at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust, is...

COVID-19 and caesareans

In their recent systematic review of SARS-CoV-2 in pregnancy, Akhtar et al (2020) considered 22 studies, which identified 156 pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 and 108 neonatal outcomes. The most common...

How far does duty of care extend?

The impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on global health continues apace, generating widespread apprehension among the public and healthcare workers

Viability of newborns

Should we have on-call philosophers in midwifery? Philippa Foot (1920–2010) suggested that just as we summon a plumber to fix a leaking tap, a ‘jobbing philosopher’ could be called when ethical issues...

COVID-19: what are the physical and mental challenges?

The global emergence of COVID-19 a matter of months ago means that while its relatively thin evidence base expands, the need to interpret new findings with caution implies that the science of this...