In February 2018 the University of Bristol was awarded a major Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award for a cross-disciplinary project entitled ‘Balancing Best Interests in Healthcare, Ethics and Law' (BABEL).
The project is a collaboration between academics in the Centre for Ethics in Medicine and the Centre for Health, Law and Society (CHLS), investigating how the “best interests” of patients who are unable to make decisions for themselves because they lack mental capacity or competence should be understood. The patients include children and adults, including those with learning disabilities, dementia or prolonged disorders of consciousness.
Suzanne Doyle Guilloud will be joining the CHLS as Senior Research Associate in Healthcare Law on BABEL, having previously worked at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at NUI Galway in Ireland as well as having practiced as a barrister at the Bar of Ireland.
Suzanne’s doctoral thesis undertook a critical analysis of the right to liberty of persons with psychosocial disabilities under European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Commenting on collaborating on BABEL, Suzanne said:
"I'm delighted to be joining the Centre for Health, Law, and Society which is engaging in such important interdisciplinary work on issues of law and governance in the areas of health and well-being. I'm looking forward to contributing to the Centre's cross-sectoral engagement which ensures that its research informs law reform and policy development.
I'm particularly excited to work with our colleagues at the Centre for Ethics in Medicine on Balancing Best Interests in Healthcare, Ethics and Law (BABEL). This Wellcome Trust funded project interrogates how the ‘best interests’ standard is interpreted and applied in medico-legal decision-making.
The guidance and recommendations which will emerge from the findings of this research have the potential to shape the normative model in this area as well as provoking important debates on challenging ethico-legal questions which span the lifecourse."