Medical ethics

At 25, most people are wrestling with first mortgages, career choices or wedding plans; Annaliese Holland is deciding how, and when, her life will end. After growing up in and out of hospital with a rare neurological autoimmune disease that has left her in multi-organ failure and constant pain, the young South Australian has been …

When virologist Beata Halassy faced a third recurrence of breast cancer, she made a decision that defied standard medical protocols and terrified her colleagues. Unwilling to endure another round of chemotherapy, she turned to her own laboratory for a solution. Halassy cultivated specific viruses and injected them directly into her own tumor, becoming both the …