March 31, 2010
Among children with cancer who are enrolled in clinical research trials, most do not receive a clear explanation of their role in research from their parents and doctors, a new report suggests. (BusinessWeek)
March 31, 2010
Paying people for living kidney donations would increase the supply of the organs and would not result in a disproportionate number of poor donors, a study by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center … Read More
March 31, 2010
New three-year project funded by the European Commission studies privacy implications of emerging technologies such as new identification and surveillance technologies, biometrics, on-the-spot DNA sequencing. (DarkReading)
March 31, 2010
Grant Gillett traces a path through the ethical complexities of a person’s right to refuse treatment – even when that refusal might end in death. (Otago Daily Times)
March 31, 2010
Dr. Robert Colton, an internist in Boca Raton, Fla., has a problem, and he knows it. His patients come in wanting, sometimes demanding, tests and treatments that are unnecessary, just adding to the nation’s huge health care bill. He even … Read More
March 31, 2010
PERSONALISED medicine has proved an elusive dream. Since the decoding of the human genome, biotechnology companies have claimed that by matching a person’s genetic make-up with specialised treatments, they can tailor drugs to maximise benefits and minimise side effects. Alas, … Read More
March 30, 2010
It’s not quite the Fountain of Youth, but scientists have found a way to induce some of our cells to live forever. The purpose isn’t to make people immortal, but rather to create therapies that might one day treat or … Read More
March 30, 2010
As his patient lay unconscious in an emergency room from an overdose of sedatives, psychiatrist Damir Huremovic was faced with a moral dilemma: A friend of the patient had forwarded to Huremovic a suicidal e-mail from the patient that included … Read More
March 30, 2010
From celebrity gossip to natural disasters, social networking Web sites like Twitter have become powerful tools in the search for information and opinions. But when it comes to medical advice, a new study shows that such sites can be the … Read More
March 30, 2010
“Obama Attacks Wealth Inequality,” says the headline in the New York Times. Health care reform, college aid, and stimulus-funded jobs are evening out the distribution of resources. An age of equality is dawning. (Slate Magazine)
March 30, 2010
“The end of life debate seems particularly burdened by confusion over the term ‘euthanasia’,” writes Dr. Ken Flegel, Senior Associate Editor and Dr. Paul Hébert, Editor-in-Chief, Canadian Medical Association Journal. “Both sides use it to further their ideological views: one … Read More
March 30, 2010
‘Certain countries in Europe, France in particular, are trying to resist the ultra-liberal individualist ideology of the reproductive market. It’s too bad that some other countries have maintained a conspiracy of silence on that subject.’ (1) Guess who’s the villain … Read More
March 30, 2010
The brain is the body’s most complicated biological machine, and as such it can be very difficult to service when something goes wrong; after our neural wiring is put in place, at a very young age, altering or rebuilding it … Read More
March 30, 2010
How do we handle the ethical dilemmas of research on adults who can’t give their informed consent? In a recent article in the journal Bioethics, ethicist Stefan Eriksson proposes a new approach to the dilemma of including dementia patients and … Read More
March 30, 2010
When the University of Massachusetts Lowell launched its nanotechnology center six years ago, scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs were dreaming big dreams about small things, like miniature generators to replace batteries and microscopic robots to repair human tissues. (The Boston Globe)
March 30, 2010
In a ruling with potentially far-reaching implications for the patenting of human genes, a judge on Monday struck down a company’s patents on two genes linked to an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. (Washington Post)
March 29, 2010
This paper focuses on one objection to the use of reproductive genetic technologies (RGTs): the argument known as the expressivist objection. According to this argument, the choice to use reproductive genetic technologies to prevent the birth of individuals with disabilities … Read More
March 29, 2010
The beginning of the modern period in the pursuit of radical human enhancement and longevity can be traced to fin-de-siècle/early twentieth-century scientific and technological optimism and therapeutic activism. The works of several authors of the period – Fedorov, Stephens, Bogdanov, … Read More
March 29, 2010
She was homeless, her name unknown. She was brought into the University of Chicago Hospital’s emergency room with a large intracerebral hemorrhage, and her prognosis was very poor. Left untreated, such patients have a 90 percent chance of dying; with … Read More
March 29, 2010
Moves to combat “transplant tourism”, in which patients from rich countries pay large sums to have organ transplants in poor ones, are gaining pace, experts told an international conference. The World Health Organisation and the European Union have led the … Read More
March 29, 2010
For people outside the Netherlands, the most surprising thing about legally tolerated non-voluntary euthanasia of infants is that it happens at all. But for Dutch doctors, the surprise is that reports of it are far lower than the quota. In … Read More
March 26, 2010
Most patients who sought doctor-aided death in 2009 were white, dying of cancer and fearful of losing autonomy, state reports show. (American Medical News)
March 26, 2010
Of all states, New York has long had the most difficult legal standard for determining whether to withdraw or withhold treatment for dying patients who cannot decide for themselves. That changed on March 16, with the passage of the Family … Read More
March 26, 2010
Earlier this month, the Turkish Ministry of Health revised its regulations pertaining to assisted reproduction technologies (ARTs). The new regulatory structure considerably extends the specifications and requirements for the practice of ARTs in Turkey, and introduces a range of additional … Read More
March 26, 2010
Rack up some debt over spring break that you need to pay off? For women attending top universities with high SAT scores, an egg donation could earn you as much as $50,000. But is such payment ethical? (Washington Post)
