November 30, 2009
JAMA (Volume 302, Number 20, November 25, 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “The Proposed Excise Tax on Employee Health Insurance: Good Idea, or Too Clever by 40%?” by Samuel Y. Sessions and Allan S. Detsky, 2252-2253. … Read More
November 30, 2009
Archives of Internal Medicine (Volume 169, Issue 21, November 23, 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Home is Where the Health Is: Advancing Team-Based Care in Chronic Disease Management” by Helene Levens Lipton, 1945-1948. “Bringing the FDA’s … Read More
November 30, 2009
SAVE THE DATE: May 6 & 7, 2010 The annual UAMS two-day Intensive Healthcare Ethics Workshop is set for May 6 & 7, 2010 in Little Rock, AR. This two-day workshop is designed for healthcare professionals interested in medical ethics … Read More
November 30, 2009
JAMA (Volume 302, Number 19, November 18, 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “FDA exercise new Authority to Regulate Tobacco Products, but Some Limits Remain” by Mike Mitka, 2078-2081. “Caring for the World: A Guidebook to Global … Read More
November 30, 2009
When patients are given the responsibility for medical decisions, they may be less willing to try a potentially risky treatment, a study published Monday suggests. (ABC News)
November 30, 2009
On Sunday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made a startling concession to medical ethics – one resisted by his predecessors. He said that when a player sustains a concussion, teams will now be required to seek advice from “independent” neurologists. He … Read More
November 30, 2009
A novel technology involving use of stem cells, developed by Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers, has been applied to provide better and rapid healing for patients suffering from complicated bone fractures. (PhysOrg)
November 27, 2009
Dr. Bernard Thébaud lives in two very different worlds. As a specialist in the Stollery Children’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, he cares for tiny babies, many of whom struggle for breath after being born … Read More
November 25, 2009
The notion that “the mind is what the brain does” is catching fire in academia, especially in the trendy area of neuroscience. In other words, you — your personality, your most intimate self, your dreams, your convictions — are electrical … Read More
November 25, 2009
In 2003, the idea that one might have a freedom to change one’s body and brain as one liked was being discussed in relation to the Transhumanist FAQ. This idea receives much less attention in the current FAQ, where it … Read More
November 25, 2009
The family of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who was artificially kept alive for 15 years, say they feel both heartbreak and vindication over the news this week that a Belgian man thought to be in a persistent vegetative state … Read More
November 24, 2009
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) would seem as unlikely a target for attack as Santa’s elves. For a quarter-century, this squeaky-clean, underappreciated group of doctors and nurses who are specialists in preventive medicine has toiled away in obscurity … Read More
November 24, 2009
Every medical study ever conducted has concluded that 100 percent of all Americans will eventually die. This comes as no great surprise, but the amount of money being spent at the very end of people’s lives probably will. Last year, … Read More
November 24, 2009
President Barack Obama today established a new presidential council to advise him on bioethical matters. It replaces the sometimes controversial council that advised President George W. Bush. (ScienceInsider)
November 24, 2009
On April 29-30, Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, MO will be hosting a symposium on Pediatric Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine. A full afternoon session will be dedicated to presentations and discussions revolving around the Ethical Issues related … Read More
November 23, 2009
The Johns Hopkins neurologist and his colleagues had autopsied the brains of people with autism who died in accidents and found evidence of neuroinflammation. This rare look inside the autistic brain had the potential to increase understanding of the mysterious … Read More
November 23, 2009
Earlier this month, Ohio prison officials announced they will abandon the three-drug cocktail for lethal injection in favor of a single injection of a massive dose of barbiturates. If the execution team is unable to find a suitable vein, the … Read More
November 23, 2009
Genetic screening of human embryos may eventually eradicate inherited diseases ranging from breast cancer to cystic fibrosis. Using a technique known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), specialists can select a couple’s healthy embryo for implantation in the womb and discard … Read More
November 20, 2009
Women can delay having their first Pap test for cervical cancer until they turn 21 and many can wait longer to go back for follow-up screenings, according to new guidelines released Friday by a major medical group. (Washington Post)
November 20, 2009
Beijing city government admits that the Chinese capital has a problem with illegal medical centres – known as black clinics. It closed down more than 3,300 of these unregulated and sometimes dangerous clinics last year alone. (BBC)
November 20, 2009
Embryonic stem cell therapy got a step closer to the clinic Thursday after US researchers said they filed a request for government approval of human trials. The trials would involve 12 patients losing their sight to a currently untreatable disease … Read More
November 20, 2009
In an unusual pushback against President Obama’s expansion of federal financing of human embryonic stem cell research, the University of Nebraska is considering restricting its stem cell experiments to cell lines approved by President George W. Bush. (New York Times)
November 20, 2009
Plastic surgeons shriek as Democrats consider an excise tax on elective cosmetic procedures to raise funds for health reform. (BusinessWeek)
November 20, 2009
IBM’s Blue Gene brain simulation has made gains in one of the most sophisticated tasks man has ever taken on—creating artificial intelligence (AI). With the true AI milestone comes the dawn of the singularity, when computers overtake humans. Contributing editor … Read More
November 19, 2009
Judy Illes has a dilemma. What happens when someone who has agreed to participate in a medical study undergoes a brain scan during which the researcher happens to discover an anomaly, a potential health risk? It’s a hypothetical quandary, but … Read More
