July 10, 2025
(The New Atlantis) – “We aren’t defective, just different” was the 1990s rallying cry of deaf activists who rejected medical fixes. Why have transgender activists argued that only medical tech can make them who they really are? As it happens, … Read More
June 24, 2025
(New York Times) – Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of health and human services, is correct that reported autism rates have exploded in the last 30 years — they’ve increased roughly 60-fold — but he is dead wrong about the … Read More
June 24, 2025
(Aeon) – The misunderstood story of Phineas Gage shows that we need a new way of understanding the experiences of brain injury survivors We mostly used the term ‘disinhibition’ as a mitigation: an invitation to think creatively about how to … Read More
June 24, 2025
(National Post) – There is a lot of concern internationally within the disability rights community about what’s happening in Canada around euthanasia,’ a Conservative MP said (Read More)
June 20, 2025
(NPR) – In the United States, caregiving is largely a private matter rather than a public concern. Americans caring for elderly or disabled adults cobble together help from nonprofits, community groups, church, friends and family — and even though there … Read More
June 20, 2025
(Associated Press) – The resulting film, “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore” is an intimate look at her life: Growing up in a hearing family; winning the best actress Oscar at 21 for her first movie role in “Children of a … Read More
June 18, 2025
(Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) – There are also ethical standards that guide media outlets in reporting on suicide, in order to minimize the risk of glamorizing or idealizing it. These guidelines are based on research showing that the media … Read More
June 17, 2025
Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy (vol. 28, no. 1, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
June 12, 2025
(ABC News) – The Supreme Court sided with a teenage girl with a rare form of epilepsy on Thursday in a unanimous ruling that could make it easier for families like hers to go to court over access to education. … Read More
June 2, 2025
(New York Times) — When Canada’s first MAID law, Bill C-14, passed in 2016, it was reserved for those who were over 18, eligible for health care and mentally competent to consent to death. They needed to have a “serious … Read More
June 2, 2025
(Daily Mail) — A controversial amendment allowing assisted suicide is making its way through the Illinois state legislature as representatives snuck the measure into a bill on sanitary food preparation. Illinois House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel, a Democrat representing Evanston, … Read More
May 30, 2025
(The Guardian) – I’ve thought a lot about why I’m writing this. I know that I’m repelled by the kind of spiritual vultures who might scour Max’s story for shareable aphorisms, and that ideally, I’d like to slap them with … Read More
May 22, 2025
(The Critic) – The potential for inhuman cruelty that it contains is vast The supporters of the assisted dying bill did not merely dismiss or ignore the incredibly cogent and powerful arguments made by its critics, they seemed not even … Read More
May 20, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – In the next 12 months, the number of people with a brain-computer interface is set to double A high-stakes technology race is playing out in the human brain. Brain-computer interfaces are already letting people with paralysis … Read More
May 14, 2025
(Unherd) – Last September, I found myself — confused, groggy, and irritable — staring into the surgical dome light of my local hospital’s emergency room. The doctor and my parents at my bedside informed me that I had been found … Read More
May 12, 2025
Hastings Center Report (vol. 55, Issue 2, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
May 5, 2025
(Unherd) – On 31 January, 2024, Wade was running out of time. He had tried everything to persuade his 28-year-old daughter, Marge, that she could get better. But Marge had been scheduled to die by assisted suicide at 2 p.m. … Read More
April 22, 2025
(Harper’s Magazine) – Over dozens of phone calls, in rants that often strayed some distance from the subject at hand, Frank told me his story. Following his discharge from the Air Force, he was homeless for nearly twenty years, all … Read More
April 7, 2025
(CNET) – Scientists used a brain implant and generative AI to give a woman her voice back and help her talk in near real time. It’s one example of how generative AI tools — using the same underlying technology that … Read More
April 7, 2025
(BBC) – April was born with spina bifida and was later diagnosed with tumours at the base of her spine which she says have left her in constant, debilitating pain. She’s been taking strong opioid painkillers for more than 20 … Read More
March 28, 2025
(KFF Health News) – Millions of Americans rely on physical and occupational therapists to regain strength and motor skills after operations, diseases, and injuries. But recoveries are routinely stymied by a widespread constraint in health insurance policies: rigid caps on … Read More
March 21, 2025
(NBCU) – In March, Jenna Bainbridge will be the first wheelchair user to play the role of Nessarose in “Wicked” on Broadway. Her announcement comes months after Marisa Bode, who also uses a wheelchair in real life, portrayed Nessa in … Read More
March 20, 2025
(Wired) – The company has partnered with Nvidia to develop “cognitive AI,” which it says will allow people with severe physical disabilities to have more natural interactions with the world around them. Neurotech company Synchron has unveiled the latest version … Read More
March 12, 2025
(ProPublica) – When an at-risk sleep apnea patient needed his breathing machine replaced, Lincare, a $2.4 billion behemoth with a decadeslong history of regulatory and legal problems, acted slowly. The result was disastrous. Lincare, a giant respiratory-device supplier with a … Read More
February 13, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – Rodriguez and his wife, Maria Fernandez, who live in Miami, thought they would never hear his voice again. Then they re-created it using AI. After feeding old recordings of Rodriguez’s voice into a tool trained on … Read More