December 19, 2024
(Science) – A brace of new studies probes benefits and risks for an understudied group Profound feelings of unity, transcendence, ineffability, and awe—as well as improved mental health. Those were among the testimonials in a recent survey of 233 people … Read More
December 19, 2024
(The Atlantic) – For people with developmental disabilities like Michael, however, using chatbots brings particular and profound risks. His parents and I were acutely afraid that he would lose track of what was fact and what was fiction. In the … Read More
December 16, 2024
The Journal of Medicine & Philosophy (vol. 49, no. 6, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
December 12, 2024
(The New Yorker) – A new kind of prosthetic limb depends on carbon fibre and computer chips—and the reëngineering of muscles, tendons, and bone. Surgeons traditionally sew down residual muscles when they amputate a limb. There are good reasons for … Read More
December 11, 2024
(Aftermath) – Embodied, maker of the AI robot called Moxie, is shuttering. With their closing, parents have to explain to their kids that Moxie is dead. AI company Embodied announced this week that they would be shutting down following financial … Read More
December 6, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – Patients who leave Medicare plans run by private insurance companies in favor of traditional Medicare end up costing the government much more than typical patients, according to a new analysis by health-policy nonprofit KFF, raising the … Read More
November 25, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – Actress Liz Carr warns that no society can permit assisted suicide without endangering the disabled. When an able-bodied person says something like that about himself, it’s a tragedy, and society seeks to prevent suicide. Plaques offering … Read More
November 21, 2024
(NPR) – Nearly 15 years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Georgia for unnecessarily segregating people with developmental disabilities and mental illness. The state settled the case and agreed to a massive overhaul of the services it offers to … Read More
November 20, 2024
(New York Times) – Her fight for disability rights included founding a group called Not Dead Yet, which protested the work of Dr. Jack Kevorkian and others. Diane Coleman, a fierce advocate for disability rights who took on Dr. Jack … Read More
November 19, 2024
(National Academies) – The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) asked the National Academies to convene a committee of experts to evaluate how contemporary conceptions of sex and gender in medicine and current clinical guidelines impact disability determinations. The resulting report … Read More
November 15, 2024
(Aeon) – As a hearing parent of a deaf baby, I’m confronted with an agonising decision: should I give her an implant to help her hear? In a recent interview with the news site Truthout, the Deaf philosopher Teresa Blankmeyer … Read More
November 12, 2024
(Nature) – Through brain implants, neural interfaces and skin grafts, researchers are starting to restore sensation for paralysed or amputated limbs. Back in 1985, a car crash shattered three of Imbrie’s vertebrae and severed 70% of his spinal cord, leaving … Read More
October 28, 2024
(Associated Press) – Some Apple AirPods wireless headphones can be used as hearing aids with a new software update available Monday. It’s a high-profile move that experts applaud, even if they only reach a small portion of the millions of … Read More
October 21, 2024
(9 News) – An 86-year-old with terminal lung and heart problems has applied to end his own life because of blown-out wait times for federal government assistance. Cyril Tooze is one of 70,000 elderly Australians left waiting to receive at-home … Read More
October 15, 2024
The New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 391, no. 12, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
October 3, 2024
(The Times Weekly) – Since our health care system does not treat everyone equally, the practice of physician – assisted suicide raises the risk for those who often do not get the same access and treatment as others. This includes … Read More
September 27, 2024
(Associated Press) – For Pearson, that means something a little different than most. Since he was a young boy, Pearson has had neurofibromatosis, a condition that covers much of his face with benign skin tumors. But far from allowing that … Read More
September 25, 2024
(Washington Post via MSN) – Bannister cried out for help, and before long, a stranger approached and called 911. They were told a search and rescue team would arrive in five hours. “It wasn’t very encouraging,” Bannister said. “I asked … Read More
September 18, 2024
(Plough) – If only her parents had been spared the terrible freedom of having to choose whether to have a child with a disability. “My husband and I decided that it was a loving decision not to bring her into … Read More
September 13, 2024
(CBS News) – Apple AirPods Pro 2 can soon be used as hearing aids, after they received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance, in what experts call a game changer for the hearing aid market. The FDA on Thursday authorized a piece … Read More
September 9, 2024
(The Verge) – Apple has announced a batch of hearing health updates coming to the AirPods Pro 2, including a new “clinical grade” hearing aid feature for users with mild to moderate hearing loss. The iPhone maker says the hearing … Read More
August 29, 2024
(MIT Technology Review) – When someone loses part of a leg, a prosthetic can make it easier to get around. But most prosthetics are static, cumbersome, and hard to move. Now a new neural interface developed by MIT researchers and … Read More
August 23, 2024
(Undark) – Debate over Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying law shows the need to rethink the biological model of mental illness. I was horrified by the news of the law’s latest expansion — a reaction that surprised me. Having grown … Read More
August 23, 2024
(MIT Technology Review) – There are plenty of reasons to be wary of AI, but let’s not dismiss the possibilities it offers for improving accessibility. While the New York Times sues OpenAI over ChatGPT’s scraping of its content and everyone … Read More
August 19, 2024
(Undark) – In a June essay in The New England Journal of Medicine, Hendriks and a co-author, Christine Grady, outlined some of the thorny ethical questions related to brain research: What is the best way to protect the long-term interests … Read More
