title: Medical ethics

text: In December 2019, the virus COVID-19 emerged as a threat to worldwide public health and, over the following years, ignited novel inquiry into modern-age medical ethics. For example, since the first discovery of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China and subsequent global spread by mid-2020, calls for the adoption of Open Science principles dominated research communities. Some academics believed that Open Science principles — like constant communication between research groups, rapid translation of study results into public policy, and transparency of scientific processes to the public — represented the only solutions to halt the impact of the virus. Others, however, cautioned that these interventions may lead to side-stepping safety in favor of speed, wasteful use of research capital, and creation of public confusion. Drawbacks of these practices include resource-wasting and public confusion surrounding the use of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as treatment for COVID-19 — a combination which was later shown to have no impact on COVID-19 survivorship and carried notable cardiotoxic side-effects — as well as a type of vaccine hesitancy specifically due to the speed at which COVID-19 vaccines were created and made publicly available. However, Open Science also allowed for the rapid implementation of life-saving public interventions like wearing masks and social distancing, the rapid development of multiple vaccines and monoclonal antibodies that have significantly lowered transmission and death rates, and increased public awareness about the severity of the pandemic as well as explanation of daily protective actions against COVID-19 infection, like hand washing.


title: Medical ethics

text: The ethics of COVID-19 spans many more areas of medicine and society than represented in this paragraph — some of these principles will likely not be discovered until the end of the pandemic which, as of September 12, 2022, is still ongoing.


title: Medical ethics

text: A common framework used when analysing medical ethics is the "four principles" approach postulated by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress in their textbook "Principles of Biomedical Ethics". It recognizes four basic moral principles, which are to be judged and weighed against each other, with attention given to the scope of their application. The four principles are:


title: Medical ethics

text: The principle of autonomy, broken down into "autos" (self) and "nomos (rule), views the rights of an individual to self-determination. This is rooted in society's respect for individuals' ability to make informed decisions about personal matters with freedom. Autonomy has become more important as social values have shifted to define medical quality in terms of outcomes that are important to the patient and their family rather than medical professionals. The increasing importance of autonomy can be seen as a social reaction against the "paternalistic" tradition within healthcare. Some have questioned whether the backlash against historically excessive paternalism in favor of patient autonomy has inhibited the proper use of soft paternalism to the detriment of outcomes for some patients.


title: Medical ethics

text: The definition of autonomy is the ability of an individual to make a rational, uninfluenced decision. Therefore, it can be said that autonomy is a general indicator of a healthy mind and body. The progression of many terminal diseases are characterized by loss of autonomy, in various manners and extents. For example, dementia, a chronic and progressive disease that attacks the brain can induce memory loss and cause a decrease in rational thinking, almost always results in the loss of autonomy.


title: Medical ethics

text: Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists are often asked to evaluate a patient's capacity for making life-and-death decisions at the end of life. Persons with a psychiatric condition such as delirium or clinical depression may lack capacity to make end-of-life decisions. For these persons, a request to refuse treatment may be taken in the context of their condition. Unless there is a clear advance directive to the contrary, persons lacking mental capacity are treated according to their best interests. This will involve an assessment involving people who know the person best to what decisions the person would have made had they not lost capacity. Persons with the mental capacity to make end-of-life decisions may refuse treatment with the understanding that it may shorten their life. Psychiatrists and psychologists may be involved to support decision making.


title: Medical ethics

text: The term beneficence refers to actions that promote the well-being of others. In the medical context, this means taking actions that serve the best interests of patients and their families. However, uncertainty surrounds the precise definition of which practices do in fact help patients.


title: Medical ethics

text: James Childress and Tom Beauchamp in "Principles of Biomedical Ethics" (1978) identify beneficence as one of the core values of healthcare ethics. Some scholars, such as Edmund Pellegrino, argue that beneficence is the "only" fundamental principle of medical ethics. They argue that healing should be the sole purpose of medicine, and that endeavors like cosmetic surgery and euthanasia are severely unethical and against the Hippocratic Oath.


title: Medical ethics

text: The concept of non-maleficence is embodied by the phrase, "first, do no harm," or the Latin, "primum non nocere". Many consider that should be the main or primary consideration (hence "primum"): that it is more important not to harm your patient, than to do them good, which is part of the Hippocratic oath that doctors take. This is partly because enthusiastic practitioners are prone to using treatments that they believe will do good, without first having evaluated them adequately to ensure they do no harm to the patient. Much harm has been done to patients as a result, as in the saying, "The treatment was a success, but the patient died." It is not only more important to do no harm than to do good; it is also important to "know" how likely it is that your treatment will harm a patient. So a physician should go further than not prescribing medications they know to be harmful—he or she should not prescribe medications (or otherwise treat the patient) unless s/he knows that the treatment is unlikely to be harmful; or at the very least, that patient understands the risks and benefits, and that the likely benefits outweigh the likely risks.


title: Medical ethics

text: In practice, however, many treatments carry some risk of harm. In some circumstances, e.g. in desperate situations where the outcome without treatment will be grave, risky treatments that stand a high chance of harming the patient will be justified, as the risk of not treating is also very likely to do harm. So the principle of "non-maleficence" is not absolute, and balances against the principle of "beneficence" (doing good), as the effects of the two principles together often give rise to a "double effect" (further described in next section). Even basic actions like taking a blood sample or an injection of a drug cause harm to the patient's body. Euthanasia also goes against the principle of beneficence because the patient dies as a result of the medical treatment by the doctor.


title: Medical ethics

text: "Double effect" refers to two types of consequences that may be produced by a single action, and in medical ethics it is usually regarded as the combined effect of beneficence and non-maleficence.


title: Medical ethics

text: A commonly cited example of this phenomenon is the use of morphine or other analgesic in the dying patient. Such use of morphine can have the beneficial effect of easing the pain and suffering of the patient while simultaneously having the maleficent effect of shortening the life of the patient through the deactivation of the respiratory system.


title: Medical ethics

text: The human rights era started with the formation of the United Nations in 1945, which was charged with the promotion of human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) was the first major document to define human rights. Medical doctors have an ethical duty to protect the human rights and human dignity of the patient so the advent of a document that defines human rights has had its effect on medical ethics. Most codes of medical ethics now require respect for the human rights of the patient.


title: Medical ethics

text: The Council of Europe promotes the rule of law and observance of human rights in Europe. The Council of Europe adopted the "European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine" (1997) to create a uniform code of medical ethics for its 47 member-states. The Convention applies international human rights law to medical ethics. It provides special protection of physical integrity for those who are unable to consent, which includes children.


title: Medical ethics

text: As of December 2013, the convention had been ratified or acceded to by twenty-nine member-states of the Council of Europe.


title: Medical ethics

text: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also promotes the protection of human rights and human dignity. According to UNESCO, "Declarations are another means of defining norms, which are not subject to ratification. Like recommendations, they set forth universal principles to which the community of States wished to attribute the greatest possible authority and to afford the broadest possible support." UNESCO adopted the "Universal Declaration on Human Rights and Biomedicine" (2005) to advance the application of international human rights law in medical ethics. The Declaration provides special protection of human rights for incompetent persons.


title: Medical ethics

text: Individualistic standards of autonomy and personal human rights as they relate to social justice seen in the Anglo-Saxon community, clash with and can also supplement the concept of solidarity, which stands closer to a European healthcare perspective focused on community, universal welfare, and the unselfish wish to provide healthcare equally for all. In the United States individualistic and self-interested healthcare norms are upheld, whereas in other countries, including European countries, a sense of respect for the community and personal support is more greatly upheld in relation to free healthcare.


title: Medical ethics

text: The concept of normality, that there is a human physiological standard contrasting with conditions of illness, abnormality and pain, leads to assumptions and bias that negatively affects health care practice. It is important to realize that normality is ambiguous and that ambiguity in healthcare and the acceptance of such ambiguity is necessary in order to practice humbler medicine and understand complex, sometimes unusual usual medical cases. Thus, society's views on central concepts in philosophy and clinical beneficence must be questioned and revisited, adopting ambiguity as a central player in medical practice.


title: Medical ethics

text: Autonomy can come into conflict with beneficence when patients disagree with recommendations that healthcare professionals believe are in the patient's best interest. When the patient's interests conflict with the patient's welfare, different societies settle the conflict in a wide range of manners. In general, Western medicine defers to the wishes of a mentally competent patient to make their own decisions, even in cases where the medical team believes that they are not acting in their own best interests. However, many other societies prioritize beneficence over autonomy. People deemed to not be mentally competent or having a mental disorder may be treated involuntarily.


title: Medical ethics

text: Examples include when a patient does not want treatment because of, for example, religious or cultural views. In the case of euthanasia, the patient, or relatives of a patient, may want to end the life of the patient. Also, the patient may want an unnecessary treatment, as can be the case in hypochondria or with cosmetic surgery; here, the practitioner may be required to balance the desires of the patient for medically unnecessary potential risks against the patient's informed autonomy in the issue. A doctor may want to prefer autonomy because refusal to respect the patient's self-determination would harm the doctor-patient relationship.


title: Medical ethics

text: Organ donations can sometimes pose interesting scenarios, in which a patient is classified as a non-heart beating donor (NHBD), where life support fails to restore the heartbeat and is now considered futile but brain death has not occurred. Classifying a patient as a NHBD can qualify someone to be subject to non-therapeutic intensive care, in which treatment is only given to preserve the organs that will be donated and not to preserve the life of the donor. This can bring up ethical issues as some may see respect for the donors wishes to donate their healthy organs as respect for autonomy, while others may view the sustaining of futile treatment during vegetative state maleficence for the patient and the patient's family. Some are worried making this process a worldwide customary measure may dehumanize and take away from the natural process of dying and what it brings along with it.


title: Medical ethics

text: Individuals' capacity for informed decision-making may come into question during resolution of conflicts between autonomy and beneficence. The role of surrogate medical decision-makers is an extension of the principle of autonomy.


title: Medical ethics

text: On the other hand, autonomy and beneficence/non-maleficence may also overlap. For example, a breach of patients' autonomy may cause decreased confidence for medical services in the population and subsequently less willingness to seek help, which in turn may cause inability to perform beneficence.


title: Medical ethics

text: The principles of autonomy and beneficence/non-maleficence may also be expanded to include effects on the relatives of patients or even the medical practitioners, the overall population and economic issues when making medical decisions.


title: Medical ethics

text: There is disagreement among American physicians as to whether the non-maleficence principle excludes the practice of euthanasia. Euthanasia is currently legal in the states of Washington, DC, California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. Around the world, there are different organizations that campaign to change legislation about the issue of physician-assisted death, or PAD. Examples of such organizations are the Hemlock Society of the United States and the Dignity in Dying campaign in the United Kingdom. These groups believe that doctors should be given the right to end a patient's life only if the patient is conscious enough to decide for themselves, is knowledgeable about the possibility of alternative care, and has willingly asked to end their life or requested access to the means to do so.


title: Medical ethics

text: This argument is disputed in other parts of the world. For example, in the state of Louisiana, giving advice or supplying the means to end a person's life is considered a criminal act and can be charged as a felony. In state courts, this crime is comparable to manslaughter. The same laws apply in the states of Mississippi and Nebraska.


title: Medical ethics

text: Informed consent refers to a patient's right to receive information relevant to a recommended treatment, in order to be able to make a well-considered, voluntary decision about their care. To give informed consent, a patient must be competent to make a decision regarding their treatment and be presented with relevant information regarding a treatment recommendation, including its nature and purpose, and the burdens, risks and potential benefits of all options and alternatives. After receiving and understanding this information, the patient can then make a fully informed decision to either consent or refuse treatment. In certain circumstances, there can be an exception to the need for informed consent, including, but not limited to, in cases of a medical emergency or patient incompetency. The ethical concept of informed consent also applies in a clinical research setting; all human participants in research must voluntarily decide to participate in the study after being fully informed of all relevant aspects of the research trial necessary to decide whether to participate or not. Informed consent is both an ethical and legal duty; if proper consent is not received prior to a procedure, treatment, or participation in research, providers can be held liable for battery and/or other torts. In the United States, informed consent is governed by both federal and state law, and the specific requirements for obtaining informed consent vary state to state.


title: Medical ethics

text: Confidentiality is commonly applied to conversations between doctors and patients. This concept is commonly known as patient-physician privilege. Legal protections prevent physicians from revealing their discussions with patients, even under oath in court.


title: Medical ethics

text: Confidentiality is mandated in the United States by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 known as HIPAA, specifically the Privacy Rule, and various state laws, some more rigorous than HIPAA. However, numerous exceptions to the rules have been carved out over the years. For example, many states require physicians to report gunshot wounds to the police and impaired drivers to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Confidentiality is also challenged in cases involving the diagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease in a patient who refuses to reveal the diagnosis to a spouse, and in the termination of a pregnancy in an underage patient, without the knowledge of the patient's parents. Many states in the U.S. have laws governing parental notification in underage abortion. Those working in mental health have a duty to warn those who they deem to be at risk from their patients in some countries.


title: Medical ethics

text: Traditionally, medical ethics has viewed the duty of confidentiality as a relatively non-negotiable tenet of medical practice. More recently, critics like Jacob Appel have argued for a more nuanced approach to the duty that acknowledges the need for flexibility in many cases.


title: Medical ethics

text: Confidentiality is an important issue in primary care ethics, where physicians care for many patients from the same family and community, and where third parties often request information from the considerable medical database typically gathered in primary health care.


title: Medical ethics

text: In increasing frequency, medical researchers are researching activities in online environments such as discussion boards and bulletin boards, and there is concern that the requirements of informed consent and privacy are not applied, although some guidelines do exist.


title: Medical ethics

text: One issue that has arisen, however, is the disclosure of information. While researchers wish to quote from the original source in order to argue a point, this can have repercussions when the identity of the patient is not kept confidential. The quotations and other information about the site can be used to identify the patient, and researchers have reported cases where members of the site, bloggers and others have used this information as 'clues' in a game in an attempt to identify the site. Some researchers have employed various methods of "heavy disguise." including discussing a different condition from that under study.


title: Medical ethics

text: Healthcare institutions' websites have the responsibility to ensure that the private medical records of their online visitors are secure from being marketed and monetized into the hands of drug companies, occupation records, and insurance companies. The delivery of diagnosis online leads patients to believe that doctors in some parts of the country are at the direct service of drug companies, finding diagnosis as convenient as what drug still has patent rights on it. Physicians and drug companies are found to be competing for top ten search engine ranks to lower costs of selling these drugs with little to no patient involvement.


title: Medical ethics

text: With the expansion of internet healthcare platforms, online practitioner legitimacy and privacy accountability face unique challenges such as e-paparazzi, online information brokers, industrial spies, unlicensed information providers that work outside of traditional medical codes for profit. The American Medical Association (AMA) states that medical websites have the responsibility to ensure the health care privacy of online visitors and protect patient records from being marketed and monetized into the hands of insurance companies, employers, and marketers. [40] With the rapid unification of healthcare, business practices, computer science and e-commerce to create these online diagnostic websites, efforts to maintain health care system's ethical confidentiality standard need to keep up as well. Over the next few years, the Department of Health and Human Services has stated that they will be working towards lawfully protecting the online privacy and digital transfers of patient Electronic Medical Records (EMR) under The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). [41]


title: Medical ethics

text: In the UK, medical ethics forms part of the training of physicians and surgeons and disregard for ethical principles can result in doctors barred from medical practice after a decision by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.


title: Medical ethics

text: To ensure that appropriate ethical values are being applied within hospitals, effective hospital accreditation requires that ethical considerations are taken into account, for example with respect to physician integrity, conflict of interest, research ethics and organ transplantation ethics.


title: Medical ethics

text: There is much documentation of the history and necessity of the Declaration of Helsinki. The first code of conduct for research including medical ethics was the Nuremberg Code. This document had large ties to Nazi war crimes, as it was introduced in 1997, so it didn't make much of a difference in terms of regulating practice. This issue called for the creation of the Declaration. There are some stark differences between the Nuremberg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki, including the way it is written. Nuremberg was written in a very concise manner, with a simple explanation. The Declaration of Helsinki is written with a thorough explanation in mind and including many specific commentaries.


title: Medical ethics

text: In the United Kingdom, General Medical Council provides clear overall modern guidance in the form of its 'Good Medical Practice' statement. Other organizations, such as the Medical Protection Society and a number of university departments, are often consulted by British doctors regarding issues relating to ethics.


title: Medical ethics

text: Often, simple communication is not enough to resolve a conflict, and a hospital ethics committee must convene to decide a complex matter.


title: Medical ethics

text: These bodies are composed primarily of healthcare professionals, but may also include philosophers, lay people, and clergy – indeed, in many parts of the world their presence is considered mandatory in order to provide balance.


title: Medical ethics

text: With respect to the expected composition of such bodies in the US, Europe and Australia, the following applies.


title: Medical ethics

text: The assignment of philosophers or religious clerics will reflect the importance attached by the society to the basic values involved. An example from Sweden with Torbjörn Tännsjö on a couple of such committees indicates secular trends gaining influence.


title: Medical ethics

text: Cultural differences can create difficult medical ethics problems. Some cultures have spiritual or magical theories about the origins and cause of disease, for example, and reconciling these beliefs with the tenets of Western medicine can be very difficult. As different cultures continue to intermingle and more cultures live alongside each other, the healthcare system, which tends to deal with important life events such as birth, death and suffering, increasingly experiences difficult dilemmas that can sometimes lead to cultural clashes and conflict. Efforts to respond in a culturally sensitive manner go hand in hand with a need to distinguish limits to cultural tolerance.


title: Medical ethics

text: As more people from different cultural and religious backgrounds move to other countries, among these, the United States, it is becoming increasingly important to be culturally sensitive to all communities in order to provide the best health care for all people. Lack of cultural knowledge can lead to misunderstandings and even inadequate care, which can lead to ethical problems. A common complaint patients have is feeling like they are not being heard, or perhaps, understood. Preventing escalating conflict can be accomplished by seeking interpreters, noticing body language and tone of both yourself and the patient as well as attempting to understand the patient's perspective in order to reach an acceptable option.


title: Medical ethics

text: Some believe most medical practitioners in the future will have to be or greatly benefit from being bilingual. In addition to knowing the language, truly understanding culture is best for optimal care. Recently, a practice called 'narrative medicine' has gained some interest as it has a potential for improving patient-physician communication and understanding of patient's perspective. Interpreting a patient's stories or day-to-day activities as opposed to standardizing and collecting patient data may help in acquiring a better sense of what each patient needs, individually, with respect to their illness. Without this background information, many physicians are unable to properly understand the cultural differences that may set two different patients apart, and thus, may diagnose or recommend treatments that are culturally insensitive or inappropriate. In short, patient narrative has the potential for uncovering patient information and preferences that may otherwise be overlooked.


title: Medical ethics

text: In order to address the underserved, uneducated communities in need of nutrition, housing, and healthcare disparities seen in much of the world today, some argue that we must fall back on ethical values in order to create a foundation to move towards a reasonable understanding, which encourages commitment and motivation to improve factors causing premature death as a goal in a global community. Such factors – such as poverty, environment and education – are said to be out of national or individual control and so this commitment is by default a social and communal responsibility placed on global communities that are able to aid others in need. This is based on the framework of 'provincial globalism,' which seeks a world in which all people have the capability to be healthy.


title: Medical ethics

text: One concern regarding the intersection of medical ethics and humanitarian medical aid is how medical assistance can be as harmful as it is helpful to the community being served. One such example being how political forces may control how foreign humanitarian aid can be utilized in the region it is meant to be provided in. This would be congruous in situations where political strife could lead such aid being used in favor of one group over another. Another example of how foreign humanitarian aid can be misused in its intended community includes the possibility of dissonance forming between a foreign humanitarian aid group and the community being served. Examples of this could include the relationships being viewed between aid workers, style of dress, or the lack of education regarding local culture and customs.


title: Medical ethics

text: Humanitarian practices in areas lacking optimum care can also pause other interesting and difficult ethical dilemmas in terms of beneficence and non-maleficence. Humanitarian practices are based upon providing better medical equipment and care for communities whose country does not provide adequate healthcare. The issues with providing healthcare to communities in need may sometimes be religious or cultural backgrounds keeping people from performing certain procedures or taking certain drugs. On the other hand, wanting certain procedures done in a specific manner due to religious or cultural belief systems may also occur. The ethical dilemma stems from differences in culture between communities helping those with medical disparities and the societies receiving aid. Women's rights, informed consent and education about health become controversial, as some treatments needed are against societal law, while some cultural traditions involve procedures against humanitarian efforts. Examples of this are female genital mutilation (FGM), aiding in reinfibulation, providing sterile equipment in order to perform procedures such as FGM, as well as informing patients of their HIV positive testing. The latter is controversial because certain communities have in the past outcast or killed HIV positive individuals.


title: Medical ethics

text: Leading causes of death in the United States and around the world are highly related to behavioral consequences over genetic or environmental factors. This leads some to believe true healthcare reform begins with cultural reform, habit and overall lifestyle. Lifestyle, then, becomes the cause of many illnesses and the illnesses themselves are the result or side-effect of a larger problem. Some people believe this to be true and think that cultural change is needed in order for developing societies to cope and dodge the negative effects of drugs, food and conventional modes of transportation available to them. In 1990, tobacco use, diet, and exercise alone accounted for close to 80 percent of all premature deaths and continue to lead in this way through the 21st century. Heart disease, stroke, dementia, and diabetes are some of the diseases that may be affected by habit-forming patterns throughout our life. Some believe that medical lifestyle counseling and building healthy habits around our daily lives is one way to tackle health care reform.


title: Medical ethics

text: Buddhist ethics and medicine are based on religious teachings of compassion and understanding of suffering and cause and effect and the idea that there is no beginning or end to life, but that instead there are only rebirths in an endless cycle. In this way, death is merely a phase in an indefinitely lengthy process of life, not an end. However, Buddhist teachings support living one's life to the fullest so that through all the suffering which encompasses a large part of what is life, there are no regrets. Buddhism accepts suffering as an inescapable experience, but values happiness and thus values life. Because of this suicide, and euthanasia, are prohibited. However, attempts to rid oneself of any physical or mental pain and suffering are seen as good acts. On the other hand, sedatives and drugs are thought to impair consciousness and awareness in the dying process, which is believed to be of great importance, as it is thought that one's dying consciousness remains and affects new life. Because of this, analgesics must not be part of the dying process, in order for the dying person to be present entirely and pass on their consciousness wholesomely. This can pose significant conflicts during end of life care in Western medical practice.


title: Medical ethics

text: In traditional Chinese philosophy, human life is believed to be connected to nature, which is thought of as the foundation and encompassing force sustaining all of life's phases. Passing and coming of the seasons, life, birth and death are perceived as a cyclic and perpetual occurrences that are believed to be regulated by the principles of "yin" and "yang""." When one dies, the life-giving material force referred to as "ch'i", encompassing both body and spirit, rejoins the material force of the universe and cycles on with respect to the rhythms set forth by "yin" and "yang."


title: Medical ethics

text: Because many Chinese people believe that circulation of both physical and 'psychic energy' is important to stay healthy, procedures which require surgery, as well as donations and transplantations of organs, are seen as a loss of "ch'i", resulting in the loss of someone's vital energy supporting their consciousness and purpose in their lives. Furthermore, a person is never seen as a single unit but rather as a source of relationship, interconnected in a social web. Thus, it is believed that what makes a human one of us is relatedness and communication and family is seen as the basic unit of a community. This can greatly affect the way medical decisions are made among family members, as diagnoses are not always expected to be announced to the dying or sick, the elderly are expected to be cared for and represented by their children and physicians are expected to act in a paternalistic way. In short, informed consent as well as patient privacy can be difficult to enforce when dealing with Confucian families.


title: Medical ethics

text: Furthermore, some Chinese people may be inclined to continue futile treatment in order to extend life and allow for fulfillment of the practice of benevolence and humanity. In contrast, patients with strong Daoist beliefs may see death as an obstacle and dying as a reunion with nature that should be accepted, and are therefore less likely to ask for treatment of an irreversible condition.


title: Medical ethics

text: Some believe Islamic medical ethics and framework remain poorly understood by many working in healthcare. It is important to recognize that for people of Islamic faith, Islam envelops and affects all aspects of life, not just medicine. Because many believe it is faith and a supreme deity that hold the cure to illness, it is common that the physician is viewed merely as help or intermediary player during the process of healing or medical care.


title: Medical ethics

text: In addition to Chinese culture's emphasis on family as the basic unit of a community intertwined and forming a greater social construct, Islamic traditional medicine also places importance on the values of family and the well-being of a community. Many Islamic communities uphold paternalism as an acceptable part of medical care. However, autonomy and self-rule is also valued and protected and, in Islamic medicine, it is particularly upheld in terms of providing and expecting privacy in the healthcare setting. An example of this is requesting same gender providers in order to retain modesty. Overall, Beauchamp's principles of beneficence, non-maleficence and justice are promoted and upheld in the medical sphere with as much importance as in Western culture. In contrast, autonomy is important but more nuanced. Furthermore, Islam also brings forth the principles of jurisprudence, Islamic law and legal maxims, which also allow for Islam to adapt to an ever-changing medical ethics framework.


title: Medical ethics

text: Physicians should not allow a conflict of interest to influence medical judgment. In some cases, conflicts are hard to avoid, and doctors have a responsibility to avoid entering such situations. Research has shown that conflicts of interests are very common among both academic physicians and physicians in practice.


title: Medical ethics

text: Doctors who receive income from referring patients for medical tests have been shown to refer more patients for medical tests. This practice is proscribed by the American College of Physicians Ethics Manual. Fee splitting and the payments of commissions to attract referrals of patients is considered unethical and unacceptable in most parts of the world.


title: Medical ethics

text: Studies show that doctors can be influenced by drug company inducements, including gifts and food. Industry-sponsored Continuing Medical Education (CME) programs influence prescribing patterns. Many patients surveyed in one study agreed that physician gifts from drug companies influence prescribing practices. A growing movement among physicians is attempting to diminish the influence of pharmaceutical industry marketing upon medical practice, as evidenced by Stanford University's ban on drug company-sponsored lunches and gifts. Other academic institutions that have banned pharmaceutical industry-sponsored gifts and food include the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University.


title: Medical ethics

text: The American Medical Association (AMA) states that "Physicians generally should not treat themselves or members of their immediate family". This code seeks to protect patients and physicians because professional objectivity can be compromised when the physician is treating a loved one. Studies from multiple health organizations have illustrated that physician-family member relationships may cause an increase in diagnostic testing and costs. Many doctors still treat their family members. Doctors who do so must be vigilant not to create conflicts of interest or treat inappropriately. Physicians that treat family members need to be conscious of conflicting expectations and dilemmas when treating relatives, as established medical ethical principles may not be morally imperative when family members are confronted with serious illness.


title: Medical ethics

text: Sexual relationships between doctors and patients can create ethical conflicts, since sexual consent may conflict with the fiduciary responsibility of the physician. Out of the many disciplines in current medicine, there are studies that have been conducted in order to ascertain the occurrence of Doctor-Patient sexual misconduct. Results from those studies appear to indicate that certain disciplines are more likely to be offenders than others. Psychiatrists and obstetrician-gynecologists, for example, are two disciplines noted for having a higher rate of sexual misconduct. The violation of ethical conduct between doctors and patients also has an association with the age and sex of doctor and patient. Male physicians aged 40–59 years have been found to be more likely to have been reported for sexual misconduct; women aged 20–39 have been found to make up a significant portion of reported victims of sexual misconduct. Doctors who enter into sexual relationships with patients face the threats of losing their medical license and prosecution. In the early 1990s, it was estimated that 2–9% of doctors had violated this rule. Sexual relationships between physicians and patients' relatives may also be prohibited in some jurisdictions, although this prohibition is highly controversial.


title: Medical ethics

text: In some hospitals, medical futility is referred to as treatment that is unable to benefit the patient. An important part of practicing good medical ethics is by attempting to avoid futility by practicing non-maleficence. What should be done if there is no chance that a patient will survive or benefit from a potential treatment but the family members insist on advanced care? Previously, some articles defined futility as the patient having less than a one percent chance of surviving. Some of these cases are examined in court.


title: Medical ethics

text: Advance directives include living wills and durable powers of attorney for health care. ("See also Do Not Resuscitate and cardiopulmonary resuscitation") In many cases, the "expressed wishes" of the patient are documented in these directives, and this provides a framework to guide family members and health care professionals in the decision-making process when the patient is incapacitated. Undocumented expressed wishes can also help guide decisions in the absence of advance directives, as in the Quinlan case in Missouri.


title: Medical ethics

text: "Substituted judgment" is the concept that a family member can give consent for treatment if the patient is unable (or unwilling) to give consent themselves. The key question for the decision-making surrogate is not, "What would you like to do?", but instead, "What do you think the patient would want in this situation?".


title: Medical ethics

text: Courts have supported family's arbitrary definitions of futility to include simple biological survival, as in the Baby K case (in which the courts ordered a child born with only a brain stem instead of a complete brain to be kept on a ventilator based on the religious belief that all life must be preserved).


title: Medical ethics

text: Baby Doe Law establishes state protection for a disabled child's right to life, ensuring that this right is protected even over the wishes of parents or guardians in cases where they want to withhold treatment.


title: Transporter 3

text: Transporter 3 (French: Le Transporteur 3) is a 2008 English-language French action-thriller film. It is the third and final installment in the original trilogy of the "Transporter" franchise. Both Jason Statham and François Berléand reprise their roles, as Frank Martin and Inspector Tarconi, respectively. The first film in the series to be directed by Olivier Megaton, it continues the story of Frank Martin, a professional "transporter" who has returned to France to continue his low-key business of delivering packages without question. It grossed over $109 million, making it the highest-grossing film in the trilogy.


title: Transporter 3

text: Frank Martin, having returned from Miami to the French Riviera, is unsuccessfully fishing with his friend, Inspector Tarconi when Tarconi receives a call about a black Audi A8 that sped past French customs and evaded the police in a car chase. While Tarconi returns to headquarters to give Frank's alibi, in Odessa, Ukraine, the Environmental Agency Minister, Leonid Tomilenko, receives a threat from corrupt Ecocorp official Jonas Johnson to reopen business negotiations.


title: Transporter 3

text: At night, the Audi crashes into Frank's home, with a wounded transporter, Malcolm Melville, whom Frank had referred when he declined a previous job. As paramedics take away Malcolm, Frank discovers a woman in the back seat of the Audi who warns him not to take her from the car – she shows him a metal bracelet she and Malcolm have been wearing which explodes if it gets too far from the vehicle. Frank rushes outside, but the ambulance, getting out of range, explodes and kills Malcolm. Frank is then knocked out by one of Johnson's henchmen.


title: Transporter 3

text: Johnson places an explosive bracelet on Frank, forcing him to take a package and the woman, Valentina, to Budapest. Tomilenko negotiates to postpone signing Ecocorp's agreement that would allow the ship with the chemicals into his country. While Tarconi researches into Johnson's motivations, Frank goes off-course, visiting a garage to try to deal with the bracelet, but as he fends off Johnson's men, his mechanic friend Otto cannot disarm the device on the car. In Budapest, Johnson tells Frank that he's fired. One of Johnson's men steals the Audi with Valentina inside, leaving Frank to chase him down by bicycle and retrieve them both.


title: Transporter 3

text: After Frank and Johnson agree to call it even, Johnson sends him to Bucharest, but Frank and Valentina are chased by a black Mercedes-Benz E-Class driven by Tomilenko's agents. After opening the package in the trunk, Frank realizes Valentina is the real package. She then seduces Frank by holding his car keys, resulting in them having sex. Valentina, who is revealed to be Tomilenko's daughter, explains that she was drugged in Ibiza and was transported by Malcolm in order for Johnson to blackmail her father.


title: Transporter 3

text: Johnson redirects him to Odessa, where he and his men surround them on a bridge. Although Valentina is delivered to Johnson and her bracelet removed, Johnson's men shoot at Frank's car. Frank drives off the bridge into the lake, fooling Johnson into believing that he is dead, but survives by using the air from the car's tires to inflate a buoying device. Aboard the train, Johnson lets Tomilenko talk to Valentina and gives him 15 minutes to sign the contract. After Tarconi and the Ukrainian police retrieve Frank and the Audi, Frank continues his chase and jumps the car on top of the train containing Johnson and his men. He takes out all of Johnson's men but cannot attack Johnson because he is too far from his car.


title: Transporter 3

text: After Johnson separates the train cabs, Frank jumps his car into the cab, and beats Johnson, strapping him with the bracelet and sending his car, which Johnson is restrained to, into reverse. Johnson breaks free, but is inevitably blown into pieces inside of the cab; Frank reunites with and kisses Valentina in the rubble. Upon hearing from Tarconi that Valentina is safe, Tomilenko tears up the Ecocorp contracts before heading for his business conference. The cargo ship is raided by police and sent away from Ukrainian shores.


title: Transporter 3

text: Frank and Tarconi return to fishing in Marseilles, still unsuccessful. Valentina, who is in the boat with them, suggests they eat out at a nearby restaurant instead.


title: Transporter 3

text: Natalya Rudakova was spotted by Luc Besson on the street as she hurried to her job at a New York City hair salon. He paid for 25 acting lessons over a six-month period, and brought her to audition in Paris, before she received the role. Roger Ebert noted the rarity of leading ladies who are heavily freckled.


title: Transporter 3

text: Shooting was initially expected to last for 16 weeks, in France. It was also filmed in Odessa, Ukraine.


title: Transporter 3

text: Unlike its predecessors, "Transporter 3" was released by Lionsgate Films instead of 20th Century Fox in the United States. On its opening weekend, the film opened at number 7 with $12 million. The film grossed $31.7 million in the United States and in Canada and $77.3 million in other countries, for a total gross of $109 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film in the "Transporter" trilogy. "Transporter 3" was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on March 10, 2009 in the United States. 1,108,030 units were sold, bringing in $19.7 million in revenue. Icon Films picked up the rights to distribute the film in the UK and Australia.


title: Transporter 3

text: Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a approval rating, based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus states: "This middling installment in the "Transporter" franchise is a few steps down from its predecessors, featuring generic stunts and a lack of energy." On Metacritic, it has an average score of 51 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Transporter 3

text: Roger Ebert gave praise to Megaton's direction for sidestepping the shaky cam for more stable visuals and found Statham to be a "splendid action hero," calling it "a perfectly acceptable brainless action thriller, inspiring us to give a lot of thought to complex sequences we would have been better off sucking on as eye candy." "Entertainment Weekly"s Lisa Schwarzbaum rated the film a B grade, noting how the plot is similar to previous efforts but said it "makes good on its formula with no pretensions." Marc Savlov of "The Austin Chronicle" said, ""Transporter 3" is terrifically stupid fun, in the very best (or worst, depending on your tolerance for this sort of thing) sense." "The A.V. Club"s Scott Tobias said the movie falls short of the standards set by the first two "Transporter" films but gave praise to the ""Speed"-like bracelet gimmick" for delivering on the action scenes and the decent chemistry between Statham and Rudakova, concluding that: "It's enough to pass the time, but just barely." Mike Mayo of "The Washington Post" called it "the best of the unapologetically ridiculous series", pointing out the "hyperactive editing" in the cartoonish vehicular stunts and fight scenes, concluding that: "Overall, the production has the polish and pace that producer/co-writer Luc Besson's work is known for. Any complaints about the lack of substance are pointless."


title: Transporter 3

text: Jim Vejvoda of "IGN" wrote that: ""Transporter 3" gets some points for a few cleverly handled action sequences, but the romantic subplot and nods to "Crank" ultimately undermine the film. Norman Wilner of "NOW" criticized the premise for lacking the "nice balance between car stunts and gymnastic punch-ups" from previous films and forcing Statham to perform more driving scenes than hand-to-hand combat ones, concluding that: "It's not the best use of his talents." Jeremiah Kipp of "Slant Magazine" was critical of the filmmakers utilizing the "ultra-slick, sexy-sheen, redundant style of car commercials" for their overall visual aesthetic and Statham's dry humor coming across like Sean Connery's James Bond in "Goldfinger". Peter Howell of the "Toronto Star" criticized the overall plot structure and monotonous pacing for betraying the film's "action status," saying: "You know a series is in trouble when it begins mocking its own premise." James Berardinelli called it "the most frustrating entry into a series that has never set the bar terribly high", commending Statham and the fight scenes he's in but was critical of the nonsensical plot trying to fit in with the action scenes and the car chases coming across as "empty amusement", concluding that: ""Transporter 3" is proof that brain-dead action movies can be found in theaters during Oscar season as well as during the summer. Fans of the first two "Transporter" films will likely find this one diverting, although it is a step in the wrong direction. Others will wonder how a movie this disjointed and poorly scripted could get made."


title: Transporter 3

text: Rudakova's performance was generally derided by critics. Berardinelli commended her sexual appeal, despite not being "conventionally attractive" for the role, but felt her English delivery came off like "phonetic readings." Vejvoda said she made "one of the most grating film debuts of all time," criticizing her romantic scenes opposite Statham as not "particularly charming or sexy." Conversely, Ebert said that "Rudakova is no Bonnie Hunt when it comes to personality. She skulks, pouts, clams up, looks out the window, and yet falls in love with the Transporter. Some perfectionists will no doubt criticize her acting. I say the hell with her acting. Look at those freckles. I can never get enough of freckles." Peter Hartlaub of the "San Francisco Chronicle" found her to be the "perfect woman" for the film, pointing out her "Dennis the Menace freckles, red hair and semi-crazy behavior," and lacking the "plastic hotness of your primped-up Bond girl."


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: Beta is a fictional character in the comic book series "The Walking Dead" and the television series of the same name, where he was portrayed by Ryan Hurst. In both universes, Beta is the second-in-command of the Whisperers, a group of survivors who wear walker (zombie) skin to hide their presence from actual walkers. He serves as Alpha's right-hand man and after her death, becomes de facto leader of the Whisperers.


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: Also in both universes, Beta is a famous celebrity before the apocalypse; in the comic books, he was a basketball player and an actor, and in the television series it was revealed in an episode of the companion series, "Fear the Walking Dead" (where Hurst made an uncredited cameo appearance), that he was a country musician as he was seen on the cover of an album that was released before the apocalypse, and it is later revealed in the main TV series that his stage name was "Half Moon".


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: Beta is Alpha's right-hand man who carries two knives. In an encounter with Michonne and Aaron, Beta stabs Aaron and attempts to kill Michonne until Dwight and several members of the Militia save them. Upon arriving at the Whisperers' camp, he confronts Negan for lying and attempts to kill him; however, Beta is thwarted by Alpha. In response to the untimely death of Alpha, Beta takes a leadership position and declares war on the communities. During the war, he kills Gabriel and several other members of the Militia. He eventually fights Negan in order to get revenge for Alpha's death, but is injured after Negan bashes "Lucille" on his back several times. Near the end of the war, he and few other Whisperers unleash a large herd of walkers on Alexandria. In a decisive fight, while Beta is fighting against Jesus, Aaron shoots him through the chest. He then blacks out as they pull off his mask and recognize him as a famous celebrity.


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: Beta appears for the first time in the episode "Guardians" when he discovers Henry following the Whisperers in order to save Lydia; he grabs Henry and presents the boy to Alpha. That night, Alpha orders her daughter to execute Henry with a knife to prove which side she is on, but Lydia refuses and Alpha then orders Beta to execute them both. Suddenly, the appearance of several walkers in the camp puts the camp in chaos; Alpha and Beta went to help the others. Moments later, Daryl and Connie, who created the distraction, arrive unnoticed to rescue Henry. However, they also take Lydia at Henry's insistence. In the episode "Chokepoint", Beta comforts a dying Whisperer, and then takes a group of Whisperers and walkers with him to go find Lydia on Alpha's orders. The next morning, the group manages to spot them in an abandoned building. Beta and his team quickly break in, and discover a trap meant to separate them from the dead. Soon after, Daryl and Beta have a one-on-one duel in which Beta announces that all he wants is "the girl". However, Daryl manages to shove Beta down an elevator shaft. Shortly after, Beta rises in pain and peers up, enraged, and covered in blood, with his bottom front teeth having been knocked out from the more than two-story fall. In the episode "The Calm Before", a group of walkers ambush Daryl, Michonne, Carol and Yumiko during the night; they take them out one by one until a group of Whisperers surround them. Beta, who managed to find a way out of the elevator shaft, emerges from the trees and orders the group to drop their weapons. He then approaches and growls at Daryl, who is taken by surprise since he thought Beta was dead, and reminds Daryl that all he had to do was hand over Lydia and that this initial deal is now off. Back at the camp, after Alpha showed Daryl what her people are capable of doing if they ever crossed their borders again, Beta approached Alpha to ask her about what happened with Lydia. He is only told by Alpha that she wanted to be left alone so that she can endure her pain by herself; Beta obeys and leaves her alone. In the season finale "The Storm", a few months have passed since the massacre at the fair. After surviving a great storm that swept through the Whisperers' entire territory, the Whisperers proceed to reassemble their camp while Beta privately meets with a disconsolate Alpha; he informs her that the time away has been good for the pack. When this new information assures her, Alpha reminds Beta that she will need to be strong for what comes next; he assures her that she will be. Alpha then hands Beta a branch and stretches her left arm out. Beta, without hesitation, begins to wound her by whipping her arm with the branch to make her stronger.


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: In the episode "We Are the End of the World", it is discovered in flashbacks the origin and past of a then unstable Beta, and what happened before he formed the Whisperers with Alpha, who he meets in an abandoned sanatorium along with Lydia. However, they distrusted each other as they were getting to know each other, but after Alpha discovered Beta's face, both began to develop a mutual trust. In the present, Alpha orders Beta to collect more walkers from a nearby parking lot and take the two sisters (Mary and Frances) with him. In the garage, Beta attracts the walkers successfully, but Frances, whom Alpha had forced to leave her newborn at the Hilltop Colony, believes she hears a baby crying nearby and enters into a panic, causing the walkers to turn against them. Beta then rescues Frances and returns to camp without the walkers. There, Beta is ready to execute Frances, but Alpha instead takes Frances to talk privately where Frances cries and regrets her actions. Beta then begins worrying why Alpha chose not to punish Frances for showing weakness and wonders why they have not attacked the other communities yet. Later, Beta follows Alpha and discovers that she has made a small shrine for Lydia. Alpha then admits to an angered Beta that she lied about killing Lydia and that she is still alive, and breaks down telling Beta that she couldn't bring herself to kill her daughter. She then destroys the shrine and pleads with him to keep secret about Lydia being alive; Beta promises that he will. In the episode "What It Always Is", after a Whisperer defies Alpha's strategies, Beta tries to kill him but is stopped by Alpha. She then cuts the Whisperer on his arm and leg, and hands the knife to Beta, who approaches the injured Whisperer and slashes him on the back of his neck to finish the job. That night, Beta and a group of Whisperers arrive at one of their borders after hearing the yells of a man—Negan. Beta confronts and throws Negan to the ground before he can keep killing their walkers. In the episode "Bonds", Beta and the Whisperers escort a blindfolded Negan, who is interested in joining the Whisperers, through the woods after capturing him. When Negan keeps talking and making jokes, Beta puts his knives to Negan's throat and demands him to be quiet as he told him that he is too loud. Negan apologizes and introduces himself, explaining that he has been a prisoner of their enemy for eight years and is willing to reveal their secrets. Upon arriving at their camp, Beta argues with Alpha that Negan should be killed because he could not be trusted and that he doesn't belong with them. Alpha notes that Beta has been questioning her rather often lately and asks if he is finally challenging her. Beta kneels in submission and vows that he will never challenge her; Alpha forgives him. Later that day, Beta forces Negan to do a series of tasks, including digging graves, skinning walkers and help hunt a wild boar to prove his worthiness. That night, Beta tells Negan that he has not earned the right to eat with them and throws him to the ground. He then notices in anger as another Whisperer shares some of his meal with Negan. A while later, Beta takes Negan to walk among one of their herds in the woods as his final task. However, after Beta unleashed anger again upon hearing more jokes from Negan, Beta assured Negan that he'll never be one of them because he's too loud and weak. Beta then kills the Whisperer that shared his meal with Negan in response and walks away, leaving Negan to fend for himself with only a pocket knife. The next morning, Beta returns to the camp and informs Alpha that Negan died because he was weak, but is suddenly left in shock when a blood-covered Negan arrives back and kneels in front of Alpha to introduce himself and offer his loyalty to her. He then watches Alpha as she accepts Negan.


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: In the mid-season premiere "Squeeze", while he was guarding the camp, Beta was informed by Alpha that the enemy had crossed the border to go to the national park where the entire horde was and listened carefully as their leader instructed Gamma to go to the border to inform his spies about the situation. However, when the girl never reached her destination, Alpha began to suspect that the traitor was actually her and ordered Beta to track her down, who alleged that he would murder her for what he had done but her wishes were quickly refuted by Alpha, who assured that she would personally punish her in front of the entire herd. In the episode "Stalker", Beta enters Alexandria in the middle of the night through an underground tunnel that one of his spies had created, Beta proceeded to brutally murder several Alexandrians who were in their homes and patiently waited for them to reanimate into walkers as a way to create a distraction to be able to search for Gamma without any problem. Locating the girl inside a cell, Beta ordered her to surrender ensuring that her death would be painless in case she did not fight him but before he could accomplish his task, Laura's arrival allowed Mary to escape and Beta was threatened by the woman with a spear. However, the whisperer managed to get rid of his adversary and quickly followed his prey to the Grimes' house, where he began to search for each room until he was shot down by Judith in the chest. Surviving the little girl's attack thanks to his bulletproof vest, Beta once again faced more of her enemies and while preparing to end Rosita's life, the man was interrupted when Mary threatened to commit suicide if he did not leave his opponent alone. And finally to avoid further slaughter, the girl accepted the fate that awaited her and surrendered to the big man. Despite having fulfilled his mission to capture the deserter, the trip back to the camp was nevertheless frustrated with the arrival of a group of Alexandrians, who without thinking twice opened fire on Beta and the whisperer had no choice but to leave Gamma back to save his life. In the episode "Morning Star", Beta has declared war on the communities, and was tasked with extracting sap from various trees and later commanded his men through the horde on their way to Hilltop. Once arrived at the community, Beta took full charge of his group's battle tactics, devising a clever plan that consisted of spraying their enemies with sap and using flaming arrows to set fire to everything in their path. In the episode "Walk with Us", Beta observes the remnants of the battle and wiping out the remaining survivors, Beta realized that Alpha was not satisfied with all the destruction he had caused because he had not found his daughter and personally offered to search for her in the surroundings. In the process, Beta found Mary wiping out a few walkers and quickly stabbed her in the belly, but she futilely tried to attack the deranged man by removing part of his mask and eventually died in his hands. What happened was contemplated by a whisperer, who confessed to Beta that he recognized him but before he could continue speaking, Beta killed him. Waiting for Mary to reanimate as a walker, Beta did not have time to take her with his group when Alden finished her off from a distance, and noting that he was at a disadvantage, he escaped in terror.


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: In the episode "Look at the Flowers", after finding Alpha's zombified head embedded in a pike, Beta flatly refused to occupy the woman's rank within The Whisperers and punished one of his companions who proclaimed him their leader. While walking through an abandoned town in search of new walkers for his horde, Beta entered a bar where several pieces of music were found and while inspecting him he found several memories of his time as a singer; destroying all traces that made him face his past. However, after reflecting on everything he had that made him remember his professional career, Beta decides to listen to a recording of one of his concerts on the record player and, in turn, took the opportunity to attract all the walkers who were in the zone. After thanking the walker Alpha for all she had done for him, Beta ended her miserable existence and removed part of the woman's face to replace the part of his mask that had been damaged; subsequently guiding the gigantic horde of walkers towards their enemies. In the episode "The Tower", Beta and the Whisperers as a new leader, has finally brought the horde to Alexandria, but finds it apparently empty. Meanwhile, as the horde sweeps Alexandria, Beta watches from the base of the mill. As he discusses his next assault with the other Whisperers, Beta hears voices in his head, then informed the other Whisperers that they will head towards Oceanside. Unbeknownst to him, Alden is checking him out from the top floor of the mill, who is communicating information to Aaron through signs. Beta almost discovers Alden, but finally decides to take the retreat. Beta is seen leading the horde towards Oceanside, but suddenly stops when he feels something is wrong. He complains that the survivors are not stupid and begins to suspect that they are leading them into a trap. Another Whisperer tries to reassure Beta, but in doing so, he accidentally calls him "Alpha". Despite her remorse, Beta prepares to kill the Whisperer, but the voice in his head stops him. Beta asks the voice to show him the way, but urges him to be patient and have faith in his strength. With that, Beta continues on with the horde, at the leadership of the horde and The Whisperers, Beta talks to himself and continues to hear voices in his head. Just then, he sees a cat crossing the street. The voice is now manifested in a walker marching alongside Beta, who tells him that faith will be rewarded. Beta laughs tortuously. Beta has finally arrived at the Tower with the horde and its minions. He begins to sing and hallucinates the walkers too.


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: In "A Certain Doom," Beta continues to lead the herd and the Whisperers, but Daryl and several others infiltrate the horde using the walker guts trick and draw the horde away with a sound system hooked up to a wagon. The Whisperers eventually manage to destroy the wagon, forcing Daryl's group to infiltrate the horde once again and take out the Whisperers one by one. Spotting Lydia steering the herd away, Beta begins to follow her, but is confronted by Negan. Taking the former leader of the Saviors down, Beta prepares to kill him in revenge for the death of Alpha, but is attacked by Daryl who stabs Beta through both eyes. Beta flashes back on his life as a Whisperer before he is devoured by the horde, a fate he gladly accepts. As Beta is devoured, his mask is ripped off, shocking Negan who recognizes who Beta really is, though Daryl simply calls him "nobody." With Beta and the Whisperers gone, Carol and Lydia are able to lead the horde over a cliff, ending their threat once and for all.


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: In a flashback in "Here's Negan," Negan's wife Lucille is wearing a "Half Moon" T-Shirt, revealing that Negan and his wife were fans of Beta when he was a musician.


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: In the episode "Today and Tomorrow", a photo of Beta, on his records, before the apocalypse is seen being carried by Daniel Salazar, but he is forced to abandon them after walkers attack.


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: Beta is portrayed by Ryan Hurst. The character entered the recurring cast of the credits beginning with the episode "Guardians" of the ninth season. However, Hurst was promoted to a series regular starting the tenth season.


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: Erik Kain of "Forbes" praised the development of Hurst, writing: "Beta is pretty awesome. Ryan Hurst was a great casting choice and I have high hopes for his character. That zombie-skinning scene was pretty gross also." In his review for "Chokepoint", Kain wrote that "Beta is terrifying" and "that whole fight scene was just phenomenal." He went on to say that "'Chokepoint' was, for the most part, a fantastic episode. It's certainly the first episode of 9B that had me on the edge of my seat. Mostly that's because of Beta ("Sons of Anarchy"s Ryan Hurst) who is just wonderfully scary and intimidating. The guy is huge, for one thing (at 6'4" he's got an inch on me) and in his trenchcoat and walker skin he's quite the striking figure, whether shambling slowly with his "guardians" or charging through a wall to attack Daryl." In a review of the episode "Look at the Flowers" Kain praised the development of Hurst's character and wrote: "This was mostly a very good episode. Beta is a very scary guy, and the end suggests that the full force of his wrath and vengeance is about to be unleashed on our heroes".


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: Ron Hogan writing for "Den of Geek" praised Hurst's work and wrote: "Ryan Hurst is an excellent goon for Alpha, because what she lacks in physical prowess, he more than makes up for. What he lacks in organizational management, she more than makes up for by being the face and voice of the organization." He also positively commented on Ryan Hurst as Beta by the episode "Stalker", stating that he "does a brilliant job of simply lurking in the background of scenes like a true Michael Myers type."


title: Beta (The Walking Dead)

text: Kirsten Acuna of "Business Insider" interviewed Hurst in which Hurst said: "Probably about a year ago, I had this premonition that I was going to be on the show. It was so strong that I actually called my agent and my manager, and I said, 'Hey, can you call over to "The Walking Dead" and tell them that I'd like to be on the show?'" Hurst said his agent and manager told him that's not exactly how it works, and that he needs to audition for the show, but Hurst was persistent. He then said: "'Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, but just cold call the producers and say,' 'Hey, Ryan Hurst would like to be on the show,' and they did. And the producers got back to them and they said, 'No, he can't be on the show right now. We'll let you know.'"


title: Count Orlok

text: Count Orlok (), commonly but erroneously known as Nosferatu, is the main antagonist and title character portrayed by German actor Max Schreck (1879–1936) in the silent film "Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens" (1922). He was based on Bram Stoker's character Count Dracula.


title: Count Orlok

text: In "Nosferatu", Count Orlok is a vampire from Transylvania, and is known as "The Bird of Death", who feasts upon the blood of living humans. He is believed to have been created by Belial, the lieutenant demon of Satan.


title: Count Orlok

text: Orlok dwells alone in a vast castle hidden among the rugged peaks in a lost corner of the Carpathian Mountains. The castle is swathed in shadows, and is badly neglected with a highly sinister feel to it. He is in league with the housing agent Knock, and wants to purchase a house in the (fictional) city of Wisborg, Germany. Local peasants live in terror of Orlok and never venture out after dark. Thomas Hutter scorns their fears as mere superstition, and ventures to the decrepit castle; however, the coach-driver will not take him over the bridge leading to it. A black-swathed figure in a black coach (Orlok in disguise) drives him the rest of the way. He is greeted by Orlok, who claims that as it is past midnight all his servants have gone to bed, and the two dine together and discuss Orlok's purchasing of the aforementioned house. Hutter accidentally cuts his thumb when slicing bread and Orlok is barely able to control himself from drinking from Hutter's wound. After Hutter collapses in a chair, Orlok feeds off of him, but this is not shown on screen: Hutter discovers two bites on his neck the next day but attributes them to mosquitoes, unaware at this point that his host is in reality, a vampire.


title: Count Orlok

text: Hutter only realises the horrific truth later in his chambers after further reading from "The Book of the Vampires", and he discovers that he is trapped in the castle with the Nosferatu. Orlok advances upon Hutter, and Hutter's beloved wife, Ellen, senses through telepathy that her husband's life is in mortal danger; she screams for him and somehow Orlok is powerless to touch him. The next morning Hutter searches the castle, and discovers to his revulsion that Orlok is "sleeping" in the basement in a filthy coffin filled with earth. Hutter then witnesses Orlok loading a cart with several coffins filled with soil, one of which he then hides in and they are driven off to be loaded onto a ship headed for Wisborg. This soil is later revealed to be unhallowed earth from Orlok's own grave; according to "The Book of the Vampires", Nosferatu must sleep by day in the unholy earth from their graves to sustain their power.


title: Count Orlok

text: On board the ship, he kills every crew member until only the captain and his first mate remain. Later when the first mate goes to the cargo hold to investigate, Count Orlok rises from his coffin, terrifying the first mate who jumps overboard in fear. The captain ties himself to the wheel of the ship and then Count Orlok creeps up on him and kills the captain. His journey by sea spreads plague throughout Europe.


title: Count Orlok

text: Upon his arrival in Wisborg, Orlok infests the city with rats that sleep in his coffins, and countless people fall victim to the plague, forcing the local authorities to declare a quarantine and provoking hysteria among the citizens. Rather than come back as vampires, however, his victims simply die. Ellen and Hutter know the causes of the plague but fear they are powerless to stop the vampire. Ellen watches sullenly as lines of coffins are carried through the empty streets, and she realises Orlok must be stopped. Ellen learns from "The Book of the Vampires" that – rather than a stake through the heart – the Nosferatu can only be vanquished if a woman pure in heart willingly allows him to feed off her long enough to prevent him from seeking shelter from sunrise. Ellen coaxes Orlok to her room and lies in bed whilst he drinks from her neck. The sun rises, and Orlok is burned away in a cloud of smoke. Knock is able to sense Orlok is dead. Ellen dies soon after.


title: M3 Bradley

text: The M3 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicle (CFV) is an American tracked armored reconnaissance vehicle manufactured by BAE Systems Land and Armaments (formerly United Defense). A member of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle family, the M3 CFV is used by heavy armored cavalry units in the United States Army.


title: M3 Bradley

text: The M3 Bradley CFV is very similar to the M2 Bradley IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) and is fielded with the same two-man 25-mm Bushmaster Cannon turret with a coaxial M240C 7.62-mm machine gun. It only varies from the M2 in a few subtle ways and by role. The M3 is classified as an armored reconnaissance and scout vehicle and does away with the firing ports found in the M2 series. The M3 also carries more TOW missiles as well as more ammunition for its 25-mm and 7.62-mm guns.


title: M3 Bradley

text: The Bradley family as a whole was originally intended to support the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC), but ended up replacing it in U.S. Army service altogether. Today, the Bradley is fielded in conjunction with the M1 Abrams series of main battle tanks and often accompanies infantry squads into combat. In the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Bradleys destroyed more enemy tanks than the M1 Abrams. Only three Bradleys were lost to enemy fire; however, at least 17 were lost to friendly fire. Improvements to the Bradley family have included enhanced identification features, as well as anti-tank missile countermeasures (for first generation wire-guided missiles only) and improved armor protection in the form of ERA.


title: M3 Bradley

text: The United States and United Kingdom worked jointly on the Future Scout and Cavalry System/TRACER in the 1990s. The U.S. Army's intended replacement for the M3 Bradley and up-armored Humvee reached the engineering and manufacturing development phase. It reached the engineering and manufacturing development phase before both partners terminated involvement in October 2001 to pursue other more urgent programs: the U.S. Interim Armored Vehicle and UK Future Rapid Effect System.


title: M3 Bradley

text: From 2003 Future Combat Systems (FCS) planned a successor to the M3 Bradley in the XM1201 Reconnaissance and Surveillance Vehicle. That too was canceled when FCS was terminated in 2009.


title: M3 Bradley

text: The U.S. Army intended the Ground Combat Vehicle replace the M2 Bradley and M113 by 2018, while the M3 Bradley could later be replaced by future variants of the GCV. The GCV project was cancelled in 2014.


title: M3 Bradley

text: All versions are equipped with two four-barreled M257 Grenade Launchers on the front of the turret for creating defensive smoke screens, chaff, and flares. It is also fitted with an engine smoke-generating system.


title: M3 Bradley

text: Armor for the hull and turret for all variants is steel, 5083 aluminum, and unique to the turret is 7039 aluminum.


title: M3 Bradley

text: The Bradley is highly capable in cross-country open terrain, in accordance with one of the main design objectives of keeping pace with the M1 Abrams. Whereas the M113 would float without much preparation, the Bradley was initially designed to float by deploying a flotation curtain around the vehicle. This caused some drownings due to failures during its first trials. Armor upgrades have negated this capability. The M3 Bradley was originally developed to accommodate a scout motorcycle. The idea was abandoned when it became apparent that the cycle's unprotected fuel tank could be hazardous to crew members.


title: M3 Bradley

text: This model is essentially a re-stowed M2 Bradley. The passenger compartment was occupied by two troopers and more ammunition and missiles. Because it did not carry a squad, the firing ports were covered. The M3 retained the three periscopes between the cargo hatch and entry ramp and the periscopes along the left side of the vehicle, while those on the right side were covered over as they would have been inaccessible due to the TOW missile stowage rack.


title: M3 Bradley

text: The M3A1 variant introduced a gas particulate filter system for NBC threats. Unlike the M2A1 Bradley, the NBC masks connected to the central filter for all five crewmen, instead of just the driver, gunner, and vehicle commander. This variant also introduced a fire suppression system. The three periscopes on the rear deck were omitted on the M3A1, and replaced by four periscopes in the cargo hatch itself.


title: M3 Bradley

text: The M3A2 incorporated enhanced armor upgrades, such as the ability to mount explosive reactive armor, from the M2A2 Bradley. After live fire testing, seating and ammunition stowage arrangements were also changed, with the observers moved to a bench on the left side of the vehicle and the missile stowage rearranged to enhance safety. After the Gulf War, other improvements including an eye-safe carbon dioxide laser rangefinder, global positioning system and compass, missile countermeasure device, combat identification system, and thermal viewer for the driver were incorporated into the M3A2-ODS.


title: M3 Bradley

text: The M3A3 model of the Bradley uses enhanced information and communication equipment, a central processing unit, and information displays for the vehicle commander and squad leader. The M3A3 is compatible with the inter-vehicular communication system of the M1A2 Abrams tank and AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter. The commander has an independent thermal viewer and a new integrated sight unit called the Improved Bradley Acquisition System (IBAS), which allows automatic gun adjustments, automatic boresighting, and tracking of dual targets. The roof is reinforced with titanium armor. Many M3A3s were converted from M3A2s.


title: M3 Bradley

text: The M3A4 model of the Bradley is fitted with a new engine. Electronic systems have been improved. Deliveries of upgraded vehicles commenced in 2020.


title: Debra Lafave

text: Debra Jean Williams ("née" Beasley; born August 28, 1980), better known under her former married name of Debra Lafave, is a convicted sex offender who formerly taught at Angelo L. Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida. In 2005, she pleaded guilty to lewd or lascivious battery against a teenager. The charges stemmed from a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old student in mid-2004. Lafave's plea bargain included no prison time, opting for three years of house arrest due to safety concerns, and seven years of probation.


title: Debra Lafave

text: From 1995 to 1996 Lafave dated Nick Carter, attended East Bay High School until 1996, graduated from Bloomingdale High School in 1998 and attended the University of South Florida, with a degree in English. After college graduation, she was hired as an English teacher at Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida. In 2003, following her first year of teaching, she married Owen Lafave.


title: Debra Lafave

text: Lafave had sexual intercourse and oral sex with a student on four occasions: once in her house, once in her classroom portable, and multiple times in her car. In May 2004, the boy, 14 at the time, and Lafave went to see his cousin in Ocala. His aunt was alarmed at seeing him in the company of a provocatively dressed woman, and alerted his mother. Under intense questioning from the boy's mother, he admitted that the woman was Lafave. Officers in Temple Terrace recorded conversations between Lafave and the boy, then arrested her at their next meeting. Two separate sets of charges were filed, because the alleged incidents occurred in both Riverview, in Hillsborough County, and Ocala, in Marion County. A trial date was set after the prosecution and defense could not agree on a plea bargain that involved prison time. Lafave faced a sentence of 5 to 15 years for each of the two counts of which she was accused.


title: Debra Lafave

text: Shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin, the victim's mother learned that Court TV was going to cover the first trial and would not agree to keep her son's identity private. The pretrial publicity was already taking a noticeable toll on him; he had a difficult time talking to an assistant prosecutor from Marion County. The victim's cousin also indicated that he was not willing to testify under the circumstances. Eventually, the victim's family decided that sending Lafave to prison would not be worth the emotional trauma of the proceedings, as well as the prospect of having to repeat the process two years later, since there would be separate trials in Tampa and Ocala. They asked the prosecutors to offer Lafave a deal that would avoid a trial. The defense was willing to agree to a plea deal, provided that Lafave would not have to serve jail time. Lafave pleaded guilty under the agreement and was sentenced to three years of community control (house arrest) and seven years of sex offender probation. Prosecutors defended the deal, saying that sex offender probation in Florida is quite difficult to complete; Lafave could have gone to jail if she violated any of the probation terms.


title: Debra Lafave

text: With Lafave's guilty plea, her teaching career came to an end. As part of her plea deal, she was required to surrender her teaching license and was banned from ever teaching in Florida again. Additionally, no state will grant a teaching license to anyone convicted of sexually related crimes. Under the terms of her probation, she had to be home by 10 p.m. every day, could not leave Hillsborough County without a judge's permission, and could not be around children. She also had to register as a sex offender. There was widespread skepticism as to whether a man guilty of lewd or lascivious battery would have received equally mild punishment.


title: Debra Lafave

text: On December 8, 2005, Marion County Circuit Judge Hale Stancil rejected the plea deal, claiming that any agreement that did not require Lafave to serve some prison time "would undermine the credibility of this court, and the criminal justice system as a whole, and would erode public confidence in our schools." He set a trial date for April 10, 2006. The Marion County state's attorney subsequently dropped the charges. In a statement, the prosecutors cited an assessment by psychologist Martin Lazoritz that found the victim would be so severely traumatized by a potential trial that it would take as long as eight years for him to recover. Stancil proposed closing the courtroom when the victim testified. However, prosecutors concluded that the victim's privacy would still be endangered if the case went to trial, since it would be nearly impossible to keep witnesses from mentioning his name in open court. They ultimately decided that putting Lafave on trial would not be worth the harm to the victim's well-being.


title: Debra Lafave

text: Lafave was arrested on December 4, 2007, for violating her probation by speaking with a 17-year-old restaurant co-worker. The court ruled, however, that the violation was neither willful nor substantial, and it did not revoke her probation.


title: Debra Lafave

text: Lafave's lawyer John Fitzgibbons stated, "To place Debbie into a Florida state women's penitentiary, to place an attractive young woman in that kind of hellhole, is like putting a piece of raw meat in with the lions." Suzanne Goldenberg of "The Guardian" states that Lafave's avoidance of jail time is due to a faulty belief among Americans that Lafave was "too pretty for prison". Ariel Levy, writing in "New York", called Fitzgibbons' statement "notorious", and Lafave's ex-husband criticized it. Commentators have claimed that the attention given to this particular case arises from Lafave's physical appearance. Provocative modeling photographs of Lafave have circulated on the Internet since she first gained notoriety.


title: Debra Lafave

text: The Temple Terrace Police Department came under scrutiny for taking graphic nude photos of Lafave while Lafave was in stirrups in a jail cell. John Gillespie, the lead detective who requested the nude photos of Lafave, was arrested before the trial in an unrelated prostitution sting.


title: Debra Lafave

text: Lafave later attributed her criminal actions to bipolar disorder, which is associated with intense and irregular mood swings, and with hypersexuality and poor judgement during manic episodes. She was also treated for bipolar disorder after allegedly being raped at age 13 by a classmate. At the time of her arrest her sister had also recently been killed by a drunk driver.


title: Debra Lafave

text: In July 2008, within the terms of her plea deal, Lafave petitioned to convert the remainder of her house arrest to probation, having satisfied other terms such as sex offender therapy and community service. Her petition was granted and her house arrest ended four months early. On October 29, 2009, Lafave was cleared to have unsupervised contact with some children. On September 22, 2011, Lafave moved to end her probation four years early, based upon having completed all other obligations and recently becoming a mother of twin boys. Her petition was granted and her probation ended that day. The victim's family stated that they would appeal the decision. The early termination of probation was reversed by the 2nd District Court of Appeals on August 15, 2012.


title: Debra Lafave

text: Lafave asked the Florida Supreme Court to reinstate her release from probation. On January 24, 2013, Lafave was ordered to continue her probation while the Florida Supreme Court waited to hear the case. In October 2014, the Florida Supreme court ruled in favor of Lafave.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home international match in 1877, and has hosted more Wales international matches than any other ground. The record attendance at the ground was set in 1957, when Wrexham hosted a match against Manchester United in front of 34,445 spectators.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: The Racecourse Ground is the largest stadium in north Wales and the fifth largest in Wales. The ground is sometimes used by the Football Association of Wales for home international games. The ground has also been used by North Wales Crusaders rugby league club, Scarlets rugby union club and Liverpool Reserves. In the early days, the ground was used for cricket and horse racing. Concerts returned to the Racecourse in 2016 when Stereophonics performed.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: Wrexham Football Club have played at the Racecourse Ground since being formed in the local Turf Hotel public house in October 1864. However, Wrexham played their home games in the 1881–82 and 1882–83 seasons at the Recreation Ground in Rhosddu due to an increase in rent from the then owners, Wrexham Cricket Club, while also changing the name to Wrexham Athletic for one season. Before the club was formed the ground was mainly used for cricket and occasionally, horse racing. The Racecourse was used extensively for flying before the First World War, with Gustav Hamel making public displays in August 1912 and June 1913. Wrexham Borough Council considered making the racecourse the town's municipal airport, however this was later developed at Borras.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: 1952 saw the laying down of concrete terracing on the ever-popular Kop end, which is now the oldest part of the ground. Five years later was to see the largest ever attendance at the Racecourse when 34,445 people gathered to witness an FA Cup fourth-round tie against Manchester United. On 30 September 1959, the Racecourse saw the switching-on of the newly installed floodlights.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: After promotion to the old Second Division in 1978 the Border Stand was built, taking its name from the Border Breweries which owned the ground. This part of the ground is now known as the Eric Roberts Builders Stand, where visiting supporters are normally seated.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: The latest addition to the ground was achieved in 1999 after Grant Aid from Sport Lot, the Welsh Development Agency and the Football Trust together with local sponsorship allowed for the construction of a new stand on the Mold Road side of the ground. The new structure was originally named the Pryce Griffiths Stand after the then chairman (but since renamed the Mold Road Stand after the then chairman sold the club to Alex Hamilton) has a capacity of 3,500 and also contains hospitality and conferencing facilities.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: The development also saw the Paddock areas of the Sainsbury's Stand and the Eric Roberts Builders Stand become all-seated, bringing the current capacity up to 15,500 and thus allowing international football and rugby union to once again be played at the Racecourse.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: In 2002 then Wrexham F.C. chairman William Pryce Griffiths secured a 125-year lease on the Racecourse with Wolverhampton Dudley Breweries for £750,000, and a peppercorn annual rent of £1. The club hosted TNS vs Liverpool in a UEFA Champions League qualifier in 2005.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: On 26 June 2002, the freehold to the Racecourse Ground was acquired by Wrexham A.F.C. from Wolverhampton Dudley Breweries for £300,000. On the same day, the ownership of the freehold was transferred by the chairman, Alex Hamilton, from Wrexham A.F.C. to another of his companies, Damens Ltd, for a nominal fee. After this controversial change in ownership, the 125-year lease on the Racecourse held by Wrexham F.C. was renegotiated. The new lease stated that Damens Ltd could evict Wrexham F.C. from the Racecourse Ground upon 12 months' notice and payment of £1,000,000. The new lease also saw the club's annual rent increase from £1 to £30,000. In 2004 Wrexham F.C. was given a years' notice to quit the ground; this triggered a furious reaction from fans – in a legal case running through to March 2006 the High Court ruled that the ownership of the freehold of the ground had been improperly transferred, and ownership of the ground reverted to the club's then-administrators (the club having gone into administration in December 2004 with debts of £2,600,000).


title: Racecourse Ground

text: On 19 May 2014, work began at the Racecourse; which included a new pitch and sprinkler system, and changing rooms for players and officials. The medical and treatment facilities were also upgraded, together with improved seating for disabled supporters, better floodlighting and removal of cambers at the ‘Kop’ end of the ground. The results mean the stadium has been reclassified to Category 3 level, meaning it is able to host international football matches.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: With the club's emergence from Administration in May 2006, ownership of the ground passed new company, Wrexham Football Club (2006) Ltd, owned by Geoff Moss and Ian Roberts. They passed ownership of the football ground to a new holding company Wrexham Village Ltd, which owned both the new football club company, and later purchased the rugby league club Crusaders from its owners in Bridgend, South Wales. Thus the new company had two tenants for the stadium.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: To put a permanent cash injection into the sporting clubs, Wrexham Village proposed in 2008 a joint venture development with a yet to be chosen third party, to develop a student village area near the site of the KOP stand. The £40 million project would be developed in conjunction with Glyndŵr University to house over 800 students, and take place in two phases. The club would benefit from either land-lease income, or joint ownership within the development and hence rental income direct from the tenants. However, due to the global recession, the company found it hard to find a development partner, and the land and project was eventually sold freehold in 2009 to another company owned by Moss and Roberts.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: In August 2011, after a period of instability at Wrexham Village Ltd, the owning company of the stadium and both the football and rugby league clubs, the company agreed to sell the stadium and associated training grounds to Glyndŵr University. The proposed deal, subject to completion and contract under the financial terms agreed by both parties, will allow both sporting teams to continue using the facilities. The purchase of the ground also resulted in the re-branding of the stadium, incorporating the university's name.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: In August 2016 Wrexham Glyndwr University and Wrexham A.F.C. signed a contract that signalled a new future for the Racecourse. The lease from the university was branded as "My Racecourse" ().


title: Racecourse Ground

text: The university, which purchased the landmark in 2011, saving it from possible extinction, handed operational control of the ground over to the football club as part a 99-year lease. After the takeover by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the club began talks with Wrexham Glyndwr University to purchase the freehold of the ground. On 29 June 2022, the club purchased the freehold of the stadium from the university.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: In 2022 Wrexham Council began a bid for 'levelling up' funding, a UK Government aiming to increase public investment outside of south-east England. The funding would be made available to the construction of a new Kop stand, improved media, broadcast, and floodlight facilities, a car park, and ground works for a convention centre and hotel. These upgrades would allow for a return of competitive Wales national football fixtures. Former Wales footballers Mickey Thomas and Malcolm Allen served as figureheads for the bid.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: The Kop: the all-standing home stand is named after the Battle of Spion Kop, as many grounds in the UK used to have ends named similarly. Behind the goal, it is known officially as the Crispin Lane End or "Town End". With a capacity of 5,000, the Spion Kop was the largest all-standing terrace in the English Football League. Since 2008, it has been unused on safety grounds. In November 2022, Wrexham Council's planning committee approved plans for a 5,500 capacity seater stand including a hospitality lounge, office and retail space for the club as well as further facilities for the club's community trust.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: Wrexham Lager Stand, capacity 4,200, backing onto where Yale College used to be. It was built in 1972 in preparation for the club's first venture into Europe, and also provided new dressing rooms, club offices and entertainment suites. The Centenary Club is also located here. The stand is officially sponsored by Wrexham Lager (Now a locally owned independent brewery). The club held a lottery during the 2009–10 season with the winner getting to name the stand for a season. The winning ticket resulted in the stand being called the Loyal Canadian Red Stand. For the 2010–11 season it has been renamed the Cash4Gold Stand.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: Wrexrent Stand: formerly the Marston's Stand/Tech End. It holds 2,800 spectators and provides the supporters with excellent views of the pitch and excellent acoustics. From the 2007–08 season home fans will be located in this stand and away fans moved to the wing of the Yale Stand, with the exception of games where a large away attendance is anticipated.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: Macron Stand: the newest stand, capacity 3,500, was secured with lottery funding, and built over the old Mold Road stand in 1999. The stand possesses a TV studio and eight fully equipped private boxes, and has a restaurant called "The Changing Rooms"; there is also a club shop which is run by the Supporters' Trust adjacent to the stand. The stand was initially named after the chairman Pryce Griffiths, but was renamed as the Mold Road Stand, following Pryce Griffith's endorsement of Alex Hamilton's redevelopment scheme. A family area, sponsored by Nando's was introduced in the 2009–10 season, located to the area of the stand nearest to the Kop. For the 2010–11 season, as part of the Crusaders presence, the stand was renamed the Greene King Stand


title: Racecourse Ground

text: Wrexham have 38 disabled places available at the front of the Mold Road Stand. There are 22 parking spaces in the Glyndwr University car park (next door) also two disabled toilets are available, plus low-counter refreshment kiosks, with steward assistance if required. Admission is £12 for disabled supporters (£5 concessions) and helpers are admitted free of charge.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: The stadium has eight allocated spaces for those who are visually impaired; the commentary provided is also broadcast to the local hospital.


title: Racecourse Ground

text: In October 2013, the stadium hosted the United Kingdom's first 'autism friendly' football match. A group of around 50 attended the Racecourse to watch the Reds play against Woking.