March 14, 2011
For years, ethical issues hampered progress in stem cell research. Now, experts believe that developments in reprogrammed ‘iPS’ cells will truly revolutionise the treatment of life-threatening illnesses. (The Guardian)
March 14, 2011
The unconscious man with no ID had been brought in the previous day after being found in a pool of blood. He had vomited an additional 5 liters of blood and his condition remained unstable. If he begins to bleed … Read More
March 14, 2011
For years people have known of the positive impact nurses can have on the physical and mental well-being of their patients. Now, research being done at the UCLA School of Nursing is showing that nurses can have a critical impact … Read More
March 14, 2011
The room-size robots store drugs in dozens of small boxes in a sterile environment. After the 12-hour prescription is received as a digital file, a robot arm finds the correct labeled drug, prepares the proper dose in bar-coded plastic bags … Read More
March 14, 2011
The operation was so risky and rare even the best neurosurgeons in the patient’s home province had performed it just a few times. But surgery was the only way to relieve the severe pain and numbness from the 50-year-old woman’s … Read More
April 9, 2010
Jennifer McLaughlin of Kirkwood held Anna and Sarah, her two young daughters, in her arms on Thursday evening. “They’ve got me well trained,†she said. A typical domestic scene involving two untypical three-month-old infants—the result of two implanted frozen embryos … Read More
April 9, 2010
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has advised two state governments to suspend a vaccination programme against cervical cancer following controversy over violation of guidelines during trials. (SciDev)
April 9, 2010
Supporters say this would expand mental health care access. Physicians say it would let psychologists practice beyond their expertise, jeopardizing patient safety. (American Medical News)
April 9, 2010
In “The Hostile Hospital,†from the Lemony Snicket “Series of Unfortunate Events†books, the three young orphans at the center of the story visit the fictitious Heimlich Hospital, where Babs, the head of human resources, asks them if they know … Read More
April 9, 2010
Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. (Article Ant)
March 16, 2010
Federal and provincial health officials have launched a sweeping review of Canada’s flu vaccination system in the wake of the H1N1 scare. In a notice sent to the drug industry yesterday, government officials signalled that they plan to overhaul the … Read More
January 6, 2010
Patients are having their health put at risk by staff who feed them through tubes unnecessarily because they are too busy to help them eat normally, a report has warned. (Telegraph)
November 18, 2009
We’ve got one brewing right now. Yuval Levin, who worked in the White House domestic policy staff as an aide to George W. Bush, now has got a gig writing news stories for Newsweek. The Nation’s Ari Melber, who got … Read More
October 27, 2009
Over the past 20 years or so, there has been a rise of 2 parallel movements, one toward the explicit use of clinical trial data to guide clinical practice (evidence-based medicine) and the other toward patient empowerment through explicit informed … Read More
August 20, 2009
Many practitioners, for instance, do not realize that their scientific research may have ethical ramifications, Grinnell said. When scientists repeat their experiments, they accumulate ten to fifteen notebooks with many sets of data that eventually become a paper. (Science Progress)
June 16, 2009
Scientists are placing adult stem cells on contact lenses, placing them on patients eyes and they’re seeing (no pun intended) dramatic improvements within weeks!
June 16, 2009
Dr. Oz explains to Oprah and Michael J. Fox why embryonic stem cell research is dangerous and won’t cure Parkinson’s, but Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell research will!
January 23, 2009
Patents on scientific knowledge may not be as useful — or valuable — as many claim them to be. The speed of the global economic collapse is provoking a widespread — many would say belated — realisation that many of … Read More
January 13, 2009
An advance digital version of the latest report from the President’s Council on Bioethics, “Controversies in the Determination of Death” is now available. You can download the white paper (in pdf form) by pasting the following link into your browser: … Read More
October 30, 2008
In this interview, Rita L. Marker, executive director of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, discusses I-1000, the physician-assisted-suicide initiative on the ballot in Washington state in the 2008 elections, as well as the history of physician-assisted … Read More
October 30, 2008
Courtney S. Campbell, the Hundere Professor in Religion and Culture at Oregon State University, is the author of the essay “Ten Years of ‛Death with Dignity’†in the Fall 2008 issue of The New Atlantis. In this interview, he discusses … Read More
October 30, 2008
The Oregon Death with Dignity Act (ODDA), which permits physicians to write a prescription for lethal drugs to qualified terminally ill patients, has been in effect for a little over a decade. It has, from October 1997 to the present, … Read More
August 27, 2008
Q: What recourse does a patient have when a health insurer or managed-care provider rejects a claim? A: A patient’s first step should be talking to the insurer. Most have a toll-free number or help line people can use to … Read More
August 18, 2008
SINGAPOREANS are divided over the idea of allowing scientists to mix the genetic material of animals and humans, according the latest findings of an ongoing public consultation. (Straits Times)
April 1, 2008
Scientists at Newcastle University have created part-human, part-animal hybrid embryos for the first time in the UK, the BBC can reveal. The embryos survived for up to three days and are part of medical research into a range of illnesses. … Read More