Social Session with Hazel McHaffie

Four year old Sebastian Zair has a rare blood condition that will soon prove fatal unless he receives a transplant of stem cells. Desperate to save her son, and with no one in their family matching his tissue type, Sebastian’s mother turns to the Pemberton Fertility Centre to create a donor embryo. But with the centre’s procedures coming under the scrutiny of both the authorities and pro-life campaigners, will both time and luck be on the side of Sebastian? How far would you go to save the life of your child?

Prior to becoming a writer of fiction, author of Saving Sebastian Hazel McHaffie started her career as a nurse and midwife, before gaining a doctorate in social sciences and becoming Deputy Director of Research at the Institute of Medical Ethics. Saving Sebastian is her seventh novel set in the world of medical ethics.

This relaxed evening will see Hazel in conversation with Dr Shawn Harmon, a former practising lawyer, now Lecturer in Regulation and Risk (specialising in health and medical research) at the University of Edinburgh. Join them over some refreshments as they discuss the issues and ethics explored in the book. Hazel will also read from the book and there will be opportunities to purchase signed copies of Saving Sebastian.

'There are very few novels which deal with the issues of contemporary medical ethics in the lively and intensely readable way which Hazel McHaffie’s books do.' – Alexander McCall Smith

'Problems in medical ethics are not just for doctors but for everyone. Hazel McHaffie has found a way to bring them before a wide public. You are gripped from the very beginning of her latest novel, but as you turn the pages, you are compelled to think about the issues. It is an excellent formula.' – Baroness Mary Warnock

This event is organised by the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum in association with Waterstones George Street. Saving Sebastian is published by Luath Press.

Text supplied by third party.