As I often say, euthanasia consciousness leads to the bottomless pit. Latest example: There is now pressure in Belgium to open euthanasia to children and people with dementia. From the story:

Teenagers should be given the right to medically assisted suicide and the parents of terminally ill younger children should be able to choose euthanasia under proposals from members of Belgium’s coalition government…Under existing Belgian laws, in place since 2002, patients, other than newborn babies, must be over 18 to qualify for assisted suicide, a situation that Bart Tommelein, leader of Belgium Liberals, wants changed.

Mr Tommelein, whose party is a key member of Belgium’s coalition government, has pledged to bring forward new legislative proposals extending euthanasia to children and old people suffering from such severe dementia that they are unable to choose for themselves.

So, we see that under euthanasia consciousness, even “choice” eventually takes a back seat to death as the answer to human suffering. It’s as plain as day: In the words of the late Dutch euthanasia opponent, Dr. Karl Gunning, once killing is seen as the answer to one problem, it soon becomes the answer to 100.

The indefatigable Alex Schadenberg, the head of Canada’s Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, has more analysis here at his new blog.

Journal of the American Medical Association (Vol. 299 No. 11, March 19, 2008) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:
“How to Interpret a Genome-wide Association Study” by Thomas A. Pearson; Teri A. Manolio, 1335-1344
“Epigenetics at the Epicenter of Modern Medicine” by Andrew P. Feinberg, 1345-1350
“Genetics and Genomics for Clinicians” by Phil B. Fontanarosa; Boris Pasche; Catherine D. DeAngelis, 1364-1365
“Genetics: the Basics” by Janet M. Torpy; Cassio Lynm; Richard M. Glass, 1388

Commentaries
“The Genome Gets Personal—Almost” by W. Gregory Feero; Alan E. Guttmacher; Francis S. Collins, 1351-1352
“Genomic Profiles for Disease Risk: Predictive or Premature?” by Kenneth Offit, 1353-1355
“Key Internet Genetics Resources for the Clinician” by Wendy R. Uhlmann; Alan E. Guttmacher, 1356-1358
“Centralized Biorepositories for Genetic and Genomic Research” by Geoffrey S. Ginsburg; Thomas W. Burke; Phillip Febbo, 1359-1361

Medical News & Perspectives
“New Screening Tool Reveals Genes Essential for Cancer Cells’ Survival” by Tracy Hampton, 1247-1248
“Randy L. Jirtle, PhD: Epigenetics a Window on Gene Dysregulation, Disease” by Bridget M. Kuehn, 1249-1250
“Researchers Create Artificial DNA Bases” by Tracy Hampton, 1251
“Intellectual Disability” by Joan Stephenson, 1252

Book and Media Reviews
“Principles of Developmental Genetics” by Martin Cheung; Danny Chan, 1366-1367
“Gene Therapy” by J. L. Mehta, 1367
“Gene Therapy for Cancer” by Prem Seth, 1367-1368
“Babies by Design: The Ethics of Genetic Choice” by Tony Miksanek, 1368-1369
“Enhancing Evolution: The Ethical Case for Making Better People” by John Collins Harvey, 1369-1370
“The Ethics of Bioethics: Mapping the Moral Landscape” by Alexander A. Kon, 1370-1371

Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy (Volume 11 Number 1) is now available online.

Articles include:
Editorial
“From clinical ethics to phenomenology” by Bert Gordijn, Wim Dekkers, October 25, 2007, 1

Scientific Contribution
“Research on clinical ethics and consultation. Introduction to the theme” by Stella Reiter-Theil, George J. Agich, October 18, 2007, 3 - 5
“A “little bit illegal”? Withholding and withdrawing of mechanical ventilation in the eyes of German intensive care physicians” by Sabine Beck, Andreas Loo, Stella Reiter-Theil, October 16, 2007, 7 - 16
“Clinicians’ evaluation of clinical ethics consultations in Norway: a qualitative study” by Reidun Førde, Reidar Pedersen, Victoria Akre, October 02, 2007, 17 - 25
“Does fear of retaliation deter requests for ethics consultation?” by Marion Danis, Adrienne Farrar, Christine Grady, Carol Taylor, Patricia O’Donnell, Karen Soeken, Connie Ulrich, October 16, 2007, 27 - 34
“Survey on the experience in ethical decision-making and attitude of Pleven University Hospital physicians towards ethics consultation” by Silviya Aleksandrova, October 02, 2007, 35 - 42
“Mind the gap! Three approaches to scarcity in health care” by Yvonne Denier, May 17, 2007, 73 - 87

Nursing Philosophy (April 2008 - Vol. 9 Issue 2) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:
Editorial
“Philosophy and palliative care” by John Paley, 75–76

Original papers
“Human nature: a foundation for palliative care” by Beverly J. B. Whelton PhD MSN RN, 77–88
“The dying person: an existential being until the end of life” by Mireille Lavoie RN PhD, Danielle Blondeau RN PhD and Thomas De Koninck PhD, 89–97
“A conversation on diverse perspectives of spirituality in nursing literature” by Barbara Pesut PhD RN, 98–109
“Palliative care for people with Alzheimer’s disease” by Margaret M. Mahon PhD, RN, FAAN and Jeanne M. Sorrell PhD, RN, FAAN, 110–120

Dialogues
“A reply to ‘Spirituality and nursing: a reductionist approach’ by John Paley” by Barbara Pesut PhD RN, 131–137
“Spirituality and nursing: a reply to Barbara Pesut” by John Paley MA, 138–140

Book reviews
“Talking about Spirituality in Health Care Practice: A Resource for the Multi-professional Health Care Team” by Jenny Hall, 141–142
“Technology and Nursing – Practice, Concepts and Issues” by Sofia Almerud, 143–144
“Death’s Dominion, Ethics at the end of life” by Steven Edwards, 145–146

American Journal of Transplantation (April 2008 - Vol. 8 Issue 4p2) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:
“2007 SRTR Report on the State of Transplantation” by Robert M. Merion, MDGuest Editor, 909–910
“Trends in Organ Donation and Transplantation in the United States, 1997–2006″ by F. K. Port, R. M. Merion, E. C. Roys and R. A. Wolfe, 911–921
“Organ Donation and Utilization in the United States, 1997–2006″ by R. S. Sung, J. Galloway, J. E. Tuttle-Newhall, T. Mone, R. Laeng, C. E. Freise and P. S. Rao, 922–934
“Pediatric Transplantation in the United States, 1997–2006″ by J. C. Magee, S. M. Krishnan, M. R. Benfield, D. T. Hsu and B. L. Shneider, 935–945
“Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation in the United States, 1997–2006: The HRSA Breakthrough Collaboratives and the 58 DSA Challenge” by A. B. Leichtman, D. Cohen, D. Keith, K. O’Connor, M. Goldstein, V. McBride, C. J. Gould, L. L. Christensen and V. B. Ashby, 946–957
“Liver and Intestine Transplantation in the United States, 1997–2006″ by R. B. Freeman Jr., D. E. Steffick, M. K. Guidinger, D. G. Farmer, C. L. Berg and R. M. Merion, 958–976
“Heart and Lung Transplantation in the United States, 1997–2006″ by M.S. Mulligan, T.H. Shearon, D. Weill, F. D. Pagani, J. Moore and S. Murray, 977–987
“Transplants in Foreign Countries Among Patients Removed from the US Transplant Waiting List” by R. M. Merion, A. D. Barnes, M. Lin, V. B. Ashby, V. McBride, E. Ortiz-Rios, J. C. Welch, G. N. Levine, F. K. Port and J. Burdick, 988–996
“Calculating Life Years from Transplant (LYFT): Methods for Kidney and Kidney-Pancreas Candidates” by R. A. Wolfe, K. P. McCullough, D. E. Schaubel, J. D. Kalbfleisch, S. Murray, M. D. Stegall and A. B. Leichtman, 997–1011
“SRTR Program-Specific Reports on Outcomes: A Guide for the New Reader” by D. M. Dickinson, C. J. Arrington, G. Fant, G. N. Levine, D. E. Schaubel, T. L. Pruett, M. S. Roberts and R. A. Wolfe, 1012–1026

If you’ve ever wanted to know just exactly how much DNA you share with your ridiculously tall brother or doppelganger best friend, you’ll soon be able to find out. 23andMe, a personal genomics startup in Mountain View, CA, is about to unveil a new social-networking service that allows customers to compare their DNA. The company hopes that the new offering will encourage consumers to get DNA testing, potentially creating a novel research resource in the process. (Technology Review)

The 3rd District Court of Appeals ruled that the punishment the state Pharmacy Examining Board handed down against pharmacist Neil Noesen did not violate his state constitutional rights, specifically his “right of conscience” to religiously oppose birth control. (Associated Press)

Embryo research has pitted scientists against bishops, caused a cabinet split and divided the country. Religion, politics, medicine and ethics all collide in a debate that boils down to the question above. (Independent)

Should deaf parents be prohibited from using reproductive technology to have a child with genes for deafness? Should an infertile couple be prohibited from using artificial sperm and eggs to have a child of their own? Should scientists be permitted to create hybrid embryos (animal eggs with human genetic nuclei) for research into human diseases? These are some of the highly controversial questions raised by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill currently being debated in the UK Parliament. (The Journal)

Enhancing Evolution will appeal to readers from the general, as well as professional, audiences, with Harris’s easy to follow tongue-in-cheek style. His text serves both as a response to critics of enhancement technologies and a positive argument in favor of the development and use of such technologies. The book is well organized and a fairly quick read. Each chapter is devoted to a specific argument or topic. The arguments are well laid out, and Harris has considerable skill in analytical reasoning. Still there are a few areas where his arguments were weak or could use improvement. (Metapsychology)

The largest-ever study of the long-term consequences of premature birth finds that children born early have higher death rates in childhood and are more likely to be childless in adulthood.

Experts called the research significant because it followed 1.2 million Norwegian births over decades. It also raises questions about future risks for even tinier babies saved today by modern medicine. (The Associated Press)

MANAGED CARE got a bad reputation in the 1990s. At its best, though, this method of organizing healthcare saves money while enhancing the quality of patients’ lives. In Massachusetts, the Commonwealth Care Alliance, which bills itself as a nonprofit care delivery system, is succeeding in its five-year-old experiment on whether treatment can be coordinated and improved for people with complicated medical histories. (Boston Globe)

Teenagers should be given the right to medically assisted suicide and the parents of terminally ill younger children should be able to choose euthanasia under proposals from members of Belgium’s coalition government. (Telegraph)

The state had problems documenting millions of dollars in grants it gave to mostly universities and hospitals to support stem cell research, an audit released Tuesday shows.

In 2005 Gov. Rod Blagojevich made the controversial move of inserting millions of dollars into the state budget for stem cell research without telling lawmakers in advance. (Pantagraph.com)

LB 606 prohibits the use of state money, facilities or resources to conduct research that destroys human embryos or that creates cloned embryos for research or reproduction.

The new law also will provide grants to encourage stem cell research by Nebraska institutions and researchers that does not use human embryos. The grants will be funded with $500,000 from the state’s tobacco lawsuit settlement funds. (Omaha World-Herald)

Gordon Brown was forced to retreat as he agreed to allow his ministers and MPs to vote against controversial new laws on embryos and fertilisation. (Telegraph)