Bioethics (OnlineEarly) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:
“DEADLY PLURALISM? WHY DEATH-CONCEPT, DEATH-DEFINITION, DEATH-CRITERION AND DEATH-TEST PLURALISM SHOULD BE ALLOWED, EVEN THOUGH IT CREATES SOME PROBLEMS” by KRISTIN ZEILER, 12-Jun-2008
“AGAINST THE INALIENABLE RIGHT TO WITHDRAW FROM RESEARCH” by ERIC CHWANG, 11-Jun-2008
“ADVANCING AN ADVANCE DIRECTIVE DEBATE” by CHRISTOPHER BUFORD, 11-Jun-2008
“MANAGING INTENTIONS: THE END-OF-LIFE ADMINISTRATION OF ANALGESICS AND SEDATIVES, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF SLOW EUTHANASIA” by CHARLES DOUGLAS, IAN KERRIDGE AND RACHEL ANKENY, 11-Jun-2008
“IS POST-MORTEM HARM POSSIBLE? UNDERSTANDING DEATH HARM AND GRIEF” by FLORIS TOMASINI, 28-May-2008
“THE FALLACY OF THE PRINCIPLE OF PROCREATIVE BENEFICENCE” by REBECCA BENNETT, 9-May-2008
“DEAF BY DESIGN: DISABILITY AND IMPARTIALITY” by DAVID SHAW, 8-May-2008
“ENHANCEMENTS, EASY SHORTCUTS, AND THE RICHNESS OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES” by MAARTJE SCHERMER, 25-Apr-2008
“WHY WE ARE NOT MORALLY REQUIRED TO SELECT THE BEST CHILDREN: A RESPONSE TO SAVULESCU” by SARAH E. STOLLER, 25-Apr-2008
“MEDICAL CONFIDENTIALITY: LEGAL AND ETHICAL ASPECTS IN GREECE” by STAVROULA A. PAPADODIMA, CHARA A. SPILIOPOULOU ANDEMMANOUIL I. SAKELLIADIS, 25-Apr-2008
“THE MEDICAL DECISION-MAKING PROCESS AND THE FAMILY: THE CASE OF BREAST CANCER PATIENTS AND THEIR HUSBANDS” by ROY GILBAR AND ORA GILBAR, 11-Apr-2008
“BEYOND ABORTION: THE LOOMING BATTLE OVER DEATH IN THE ‘CULTURE WARS’” by JAMES EVANS, 11-Apr-2008
“REASSESSING INSURERS’ ACCESS TO GENETIC INFORMATION: GENETIC PRIVACY, IGNORANCE, AND INJUSTICE” by ELI FEIRING, 11-Apr-2008
“ADMINISTRATIVE GATEKEEPING – A THIRD WAY BETWEEN UNRESTRICTED PATIENT ADVOCACY AND BEDSIDE RATIONING” by SIGURD LAURIDSEN, 11-Apr-2008
“CLARIFYING APPEALS TO DIGNITY IN MEDICAL ETHICS FROM AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE” by RIEKE VAN DER GRAAF AND JOHANNES JM VAN DELDEN, 4-Mar-2008
“HUMAN NATURE AND ENHANCEMENT” by ALLEN BUCHANAN, 4-Mar-2008
“OUTLINING ETHICAL ISSUES IN NANOTECHNOLOGIES” by ANTONIO G. SPAGNOLO AND VIVIANA DALOISO, 23-Jan-2008

Nursing Philosophy (July 2008 - Vol. 9 Issue 3) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:
“Critical realism: a philosophical framework for the study of gender and mental health” by Michael Bergin MMedSc BSc (Hons) RPN RGN; John S. G. Wells PhD MSc BA (Hons) PGDip(Ed) rpn rnt and Sara Owen PhD BA BEd RMN SRN RNT, 169–179
“Comments on ‘Spirituality and nursing: a reductionist approach’ by John Paley” by Robert W. Newsom III JD, 214–217
“Philosophical approaches to understanding pain” by Steven J. Palazzo mn, rn, ccrn, 220–220
“Do we need to redefine caring?” by Kara N. Mochan mn, aprn-bc, 221–221

Now Germany is surprised at the crassness of assisted suicide advocates. A German official assisted the suicide of an elderly woman–and a la Kevorkian, filmed it and then showed it on television. From the story:

As nuanced as that debate may be, though, the death of Bettina S., many are saying on Tuesday, crossed a clear line. The former X-ray technician, who never married and has no children, says in the video that one of her motivations to kill herself was that she was afraid of ending up alone in a nursing home. According to reports on Tuesday, she had also contacted the Swiss assisted suicide organization Dignitas before getting in touch with Kusch.

What clear line? There is no clear line! Media continue to refuse to open their eyes! Assisted suicide is not about terminal illness. That’s just a way to get people to accept the principle of death on demand.

Lest you doubt me, just consider this partial list:

- Switzerland’s Supreme Court has declared a constitutional right to assisted suicide for the mentally ill.

- Dutch euthanasia is not in the least about dying, nor necessarily, physical illness, and indeed, the Dutch Supreme Court has ruled that existential suffering can justify assisted suicide. Dutch doctors refer their patients to how to commit suicide data on the Internet if they don’t qualify for legal euthanasia.

- Assisted suicide for the mentally ill has been promoted in the Hastings Center Report.

- Most of Kevorkian’s victims were not dying and yet he enjoyed great poll numbers and Time invited him as a guest of honor at its 75th anniversary gala. Etc. ad nauseum.

- In Oregon, a patient received a lethal prescription nearly 2 years before dying naturally, meaning he wasn’t terminally ill under the law when the script was written. And, of course, the authorities did nothing.

How much more clear can it be????

The current conflict over embryonic stem cells throughout the world deals particularly with the ethical implications of this promising, but delicate subject and the scientific manipulation of human life in its early stages of development. It is a symbolic struggle over the whole future of developmental biology - over how we will proceed with a wide range of research on human development. (News-Medical)

“We’ve found that geography is often destiny,” says James N. Weinstein, D.O., director of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, where this field of study was pioneered. “It’s not that the rates of disease are different, it’s the way they’re treated that’s different — from prevention to diagnosis to long-term care.” (MSNBC)

This marks the third animal-human hybrid embryo licence to be issued by Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and the first since the Commons voted in favour of this controversial research last month. (Telegraph)

In recent years, stem cell researchers have become very adept at manipulating the fate of adult stem cells cultured in the lab. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies achieved the same feat with adult neural stem cells still in place in the brain. They successfully coaxed mouse brain stem cells bound to join the neuronal network to differentiate into support cells instead. (ScienceDaily)