October 21, 2008
Some organ transplant doctors and ethicists continue their campaign to get the people to accept killing for organs. This time the scene is Australia. A transplant physician now says that brain death can’t be known, nor heart death. The answer, … Read More
October 20, 2008
This is how the culture of death moves toward cultural hegemony: The first step is to claim that killing (which is descriptive and accurate in that it means “to end life”) will be reserved for the very rare case. But … Read More
October 20, 2008
President Bush’s use of federal funding restrictions to induce creative thinking into ethical ways of deriving pluripotent stem cells continues to be a major triumph, in my opinion, with the astonishing progress that continues to be made in adult stem … Read More
October 17, 2008
The International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide has studied the millions flowing into WA to legalize assisted suicide. Most of the bounty is from out of state euthanasia groups or rich ideologues like former Governor Booth Gardner. From … Read More
September 24, 2008
With the national financial artery severed due to moronic mortgage mismanagers–even I knew these no interest, no down payment mortgages would result in foreclosures, so why didn’t the big salaried?–it seems to me that any chance for a fully funded … Read More
September 23, 2008
I reported a little while ago about Joanne Hill, who murdered her daughter with cerebral palsy. Now, she has been found guilty. From the story: A mother who drowned her disabled daughter in a bath after drinking wine was convicted … Read More
September 18, 2008
This story out of the UK illustrates the ugliness of medical futility. Under the theory, medicine is being devolved from a life-saving enterprise to a life-saving enterprise if we approve of your life’s quality. But if we don’t and you … Read More
September 17, 2008
According to a UK study, the concerted drive to prenatally detect Down syndrome or other anomalies through genetic testing aimed at eugenic abortion is also causing the deaths of babies who have no disabling condition through miscarriage. From the story: … Read More
September 10, 2008
Dumb move: Senator Joe Biden has implied that Sarah Palin doesn’t care as much as he does about special needs children because she does not support embryonic stem cell research. From the story: “I hear all this talk about how … Read More
September 4, 2008
Belgium’s legalization of euthanasia doesn’t get enough attention. But little escapes Alex Schadenberg, head of the Canadian-based Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. In this blog entry, based on a translation of Belgian policy, he notes that doctors in that country must either … Read More
August 25, 2008
So now some UK doctors are withholding information from patients about possible cancer treatments due to NHS funding polices. From the story: Cancer patients are being denied information about treatments that could help them live longer by their own doctors, … Read More
August 21, 2008
This shouldn’t be a surprise because scientists have worried about it all along, but ES cells injected in mice clearly stimulated the kind of immune rejection seen with transplanted organs. From the Scientific American story: The much-ballyhooed human embryonic stem … Read More
August 20, 2008
An interesting ESCR success was published in the journal Blood. ES cells were morphed into blood, offering the potential of greatly easing blood shortages and making transfusions safer for patients. From the story: In the new study, researchers were able … Read More
August 19, 2008
This is a new angle on the right of patients to demand treatment and when doctors can say no. This time it involves a religious objection to providing artificial insemination for a lesbian. The doctor believed it was immoral to … Read More
August 1, 2008
One of benefits of human cloning, we were told, would be the ability to clone someone with a disease like ALS (Lou Gehrig’s in America, motor neurone disease in the UK and elsewhere), to obtain stem cells from the embryo … Read More
July 31, 2008
This is a tale of two stories: I have long said that what I call the “egg dearth” will stymie the drive by biotechnologists to engage in human cloning research. That is happening now, and the scientists are none too … Read More
July 29, 2008
The family of Janet Rivera wants her to live. The doctors wanted her to die. The County Conservator sided with the doctors. He ordered her respirator and feeding tube removed. She didn’t die over more than ten days. The family … Read More
July 28, 2008
I have reported here at SHS that due to the “NHS meltdown,” tens of thousands of UK patients travel abroad to receive care they should be able to receive close to home. Now, the concept is apparently spreading in the … Read More
July 25, 2008
I have been very critical of Advanced Cell Technology, believing it to be a publicity seeking enterprise that used press releases to raise venture capital for morally problematic research into human cloning, ESC, the like, while at the same time, … Read More
July 24, 2008
I told you all this was coming, and here it is. A California woman named Janet Rivera, age 46, who we are told is unconscious, has a family who want her to continue to receive food and water. Her husband … Read More
July 24, 2008
Good news: Will Saletan is blogging at “Human Nature: The Blog.” (This might not be new, but it is news to me.) I like Will’s work, even though I often disagree with his positions. But people interested in what we … Read More
July 24, 2008
Scientific American, an anything goes pro-cloning magazine, has two articles out dealing with the future of human cloning. The focus is on Ian Wilmut, who administered the team that cloned Dolly, who planned to pursue human SCNT cloning but then … Read More
July 21, 2008
I read an op/ed column in today’s SF Chronicle by a pundit I don’t know, Tom Teepen, that ranted hysterically about something called the Colorado “Human Life Amendment” that will appear on November’s ballot. From his column: There will be … Read More
July 3, 2008
The Delaware House of Representatives has passed a resolution in support of protecting the life of Loren Richardson, who like Terri Schiavo before her, is the subject of a bitter court fight over removing her feeding tube. The resolution states: … Read More
July 2, 2008
Big money is out there for the brightest minds to shove utilitarianism and the goal of human enhancement down our throats. Australian Professor Julian Savulescu (now in the UK)–who I have seen debate and believe me he is one scary … Read More
