Publications
Understanding Health, Illness and Society: Towards a Patient-Centred Approach to Healthcare. Routledge. (Forthcoming 2026).
MacFarlane, H., Paton, A., Bush, J. (2025) A qualitative exploration of the interaction between mental illness stigma and preparedness for practice in pharmacy students. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning. 17(3):102271. doi: 10.1016/j.cptl.2024.102271.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877129724003034?via%3Dihub
Paton, A. (2024) Passport to medical freedom? Only for the lucky digitally enabled. British Journal of General Practice.
74 (749): 552-553. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp24X740049 (Available online at: https://bjgplife.com/passport-to-medical-freedom-only-for-the-lucky-digitally-enabled/#:~:text=An%20analogue%20to%20digital%20shift,in%20a%20digital%2Dfirst%20way.)
Cupit, C., Paton, A., Boyle, E., Pillay, T., Anderson, J. & Armstrong, N. (2024) Parenting through place‐of‐care disruptions: A qualitative study of parents’ experiences of neonatal care. Health Expectations. DOI:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hex.13933
Powell, K., Fox, NJ., Bhanbhro, S., Chauhan, A., Z, A. G., Jackson, K., Paton, A. & Salway, S. (2024) Sociologists in public health: marginal observers or mainstream collaborators? Perspectives in Public Health. DOI:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17579139231204245
Benoit, C., Jeffery, A., Cleary, S., Masood, A., Paton, A. & Burt, C. (2023) Health inequalities in Birmingham: Barriers encountered in underserved wards in East and West Birmingham. Available at: https://research.aston.ac.uk/en/publications/health-inequalities-in-birmingham-barriers-encountered-in-underse
Paton, A. et al. (2023) Organising work in neonatal transfer: Optimising place of care for babies born moderately preterm. Sociology of Health and Illness. DOI: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9566.13656
Paton, A. et al (2022) Managerial thinking in neonatal care: a qualitative study of place of care decision-making for preterm babies born at 27–31 weeks gestation in England. BMJ Open. 12, 6, e059428. **Note: This article is written in joint first-authorship with C. Cupit and can be written as either in first author position** https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/6/e059428
Paton, A. (2022). “The Surveillance of Pregnant Bodies in the Age of Digital Health: Ethical Dilemmas”. In: Routledge Handbook on Feminist Bioethics. https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Feminist-Bioethics/Rogers-Scully-Carter-Entwistle-Mills/p/book/9781032290393
Paton, A. (2022) Fair Is Fair, Right? Not When It Comes to Health. IJFAB. 5(1). 141-142. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/ijfab-15.1.20
De Proost, M. & Paton, A (2022) Medical versus social egg freezing: the importance of future choice for women’s decision-making. Monash Bioethics Review. doi: 10.1007/s40592-022-00153-9 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40592-022-00153-9
Paton, A. (2021) Is coronavirus treatment fair? Not in an unequal society. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/is-coronavirus-treatment-fair-not-in-an-unequal-society-152109
Paton, A. et al. (2021) Conversations for Ethically Complex Care. Guidance written for the Royal College of Physicians. Available at: https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/conversations-ethically-complex-care
Liberati, E.G, Tarrant, C., Willars, J., Draycott, T., Winter, C., Kuberska, K., Paton, A., et al. (2020). Seven features of safety in maternity units: a framework based on multisite ethnography and stakeholder consultation. BMJ Quality & Safety. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2020-010988 https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/30/6/444
Paton. A. et al. (2020) Parents’ decision-making following diagnosis of a severe congenital anomaly in pregnancy: Practical, theoretical and ethical tensions. Social Science and Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113362
Paton, A. (2020) Fairness, Ethnicity and COVID-19 Ethics: A discussion of how the focus on fairness in ethical guidance during the pandemic discriminates against people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs11673-020-09999-2
Fritz, Z., Huxtable, R., Ives, J., Paton, A., Slowther, A.M., Wilkinson, D. (2020) Ethical road map through the covid-19 pandemic. BMJ ; 369: m2033. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2033
Paton, A. et al. (2020) Submission of evidence on the disproportionate impact of COVID 19, and the UK government response, on ethnic minorities and women in the UK: https://publications.aston.ac.uk/id/eprint/41460/1/Submission_of_evidence_for_Select_Committee_Aston_University_pdf.pdf
Paton, A. et al. (2020) Ethical dimensions of COVID-19 for front-line staff. Guidance written for the Royal College of Physicians plus Appendices: https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/news/ethical-guidance-published-frontline-staff-dealing-pandemic
Paton, A. (2019) ‘Aftercare shouldn’t be an afterthought’. BMJ Opinion: https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2019/12/02/alexis-paton-aftercare-shouldnt-be-an-afterthought/
Paton, A. and Kotzee, B. (2019). “The fundamental role of storytelling and practical wisdom in facilitating the ethics education of junior doctors”. Health. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1363459319889102
Paton, A. (2019). “Being Guided”: What oncofertility patients’ decisions can teach us about the efficacy of autonomy, agency and decision-making theory in the contemporary clinical encounter, IJFAB. 12(2), 18-35. https://utpjournals.press/doi/10.3138/ijfab.12.2.02
Paton, A. (2018). “About time: how time influences and facilitates patient autonomy in the clinical encounter”, Monash Bioethics Review, 36, 68-85. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40592-018-0089-7
Paton, A. (2018). “‘It’s not just about having babies’: A socio-bioethical exploration of older women’s experiences of making oncofertility decisions in Britain.”, in Riesch, H., Emmerich, N. & Wainwright, S. (Eds). Philosophies and Sociologies of Bioethics. Springer. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-92738-1_6
Paton, A. (2017) “No Longer Handmaiden: The role of social and sociological theory in bioethics”, IJFAB, 10(1), 30-49. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/652834
Paton, A. (2017) “Getting Ethics, Getting Qualitative Research: The challenges of applying for NHS ethics approval”, SAGE Research Methods Case Study. https://methods.sagepub.com/case/ethics-qualitative-research-challenges-national-health-service-approval
Kotzee, B., Paton, A., and Conroy, M. (2016) “Towards an empirically informed account of phronesis in medicine”, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 59(3), 337-350. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/657719
THE INDEPENDENT
I write regularly for the Independent, writing on all things health, society and ethics. My columns can be found at:
https://www.independent.co.uk/author/alexis-paton