September 22, 2025
(AZ Family) – According to the Donor Network of Arizona, more than 2,500 people removed themselves from the Donor Registry in July. It was the largest single-month removal in the network’s history. The big question is why? The number of … Read More
September 18, 2025
(New York Times) – Federal officials will for the first time fire one of the organizations responsible for coordinating organ donations in the United States, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Thursday. It is an escalation in the … Read More
September 16, 2025
(New York Times) – The taboo against pork is deeply entrenched in both religious traditions. But the prohibition is not absolute. It has not always been entirely clear whether the religious prohibitions on pigs apply strictly to consumption, and neither … Read More
September 12, 2025
(Kaiser Health News) – Black, his 22-year-old patient, had arrived at the hospital after getting shot in the head on March 24, 2019. A week later, he was taken to surgery to have his organs removed for donation — even … Read More
September 10, 2025
(Medpage Today) – A self-described science nerd is the latest American to get an experimental pig kidney transplantopens in a new tab or window, at a crucial point in the quest to prove if animal organs really might save human … Read More
September 5, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – “With the developments of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted, and people can live younger and younger, and even achieve immortality,” Russia’s Vladimir Putin, also 72, is reported to have replied. There’s a striking contrast … Read More
September 1, 2025
Journal of Medical Ethics (vol. 51, no. 8, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
August 25, 2025
(Science News) – Scientists have, for the first time, transplanted a genetically engineered pig lung into a human. The lung tissue remained alive for nine days after the transplant despite early signs of inflammation, researchers report August 25 in Nature … Read More
August 18, 2025
Journal of Bioethical Inquiry (vol. 22, no. 2, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
July 31, 2025
(New York Times) – But by artificially circulating blood and oxygen, the procedure can reanimate a lifeless heart. Some doctors and ethicists find the procedure objectionable because, in reversing the stoppage of the heart, it seems to nullify the reason … Read More
July 28, 2025
(CBS News) – After 10 years on dialysis, and just days after the story of her long wait for a transplant was featured on “CBS Sunday Morning,” LaQuayia “LQ” Goldring, 35, has a new kidney. Before receiving her transplant, Goldring … Read More
July 21, 2025
(New York Times) – People across the United States have endured rushed or premature attempts to remove their organs. Some were gasping, crying or showing other signs of life. That’s when the doctors discovered her heart was beating. She appeared … Read More
July 16, 2025
(ABC News) – Two university hospitals are pioneering new ways to expand lifesaving heart transplants for adults and babies — advances that could help recover would-be heart donations that too often go unused. The new research aims to overcome barriers … Read More
July 11, 2025
(Hastings Center) – A multisite research team has issued ethical and policy recommendations for first-in-human clinical trials involving the transplantation of pig kidneys into humans. The first trial has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and could … Read More
June 24, 2025
(CBS News) – For months, the 58-year-old waited, often receiving painful shocks from her LVAD and pacemaker as they tried to keep her heart functioning. Her body was also producing too many antibodies, which put her at high risk for … Read More
June 23, 2025
(ProPublica) – When Joe DeMayo’s donated kidney started to fail earlier than expected, he didn’t know that the drug he was taking could’ve left him vulnerable — and that one of the most formidable drug regulators in the world may … Read More
June 13, 2025
(Nature) – The hearts started to beat in the pig–human hybrids, which survived for 21 days. Researchers have reported growing hearts containing human cells in pig embryos for the first time. The embryos survived for 21 days, and in that … Read More
June 9, 2025
(Wired) – A federal investigation found a Kentucky nonprofit pushed hospital workers toward surgery despite signs of revival in patients. Four years ago, an unconscious Kentucky man began to awaken as he was about to be removed from life support … Read More
May 30, 2025
(New York Times) – Dr. Robert K. Jarvik, the principal designer of the first permanent artificial heart implanted in a human — a procedure that became a subject of great public fascination and fierce debate about medical ethics — died … Read More
May 20, 2025
(New York Times) – Surgeons in Southern California have performed the first human bladder transplant, introducing a new, potentially life-changing procedure for people with debilitating bladder conditions. The operation was performed earlier this month by a pair of surgeons from … Read More
April 23, 2025
Journal of Medical Ethics (vol. 51, no. 4, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
April 15, 2025
(ABC News) – U.S. researchers will soon test whether livers from a gene-edited pig could treat people with sudden liver failure — by temporarily filtering their blood so their own organ can rest and maybe heal. The first-of-its-kind clinical trial … Read More
April 14, 2025
Public Health Ethics (vol. 18, no. 1, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
April 11, 2025
(Associated Press) – An Alabama woman who lived with a pig kidney for a record 130 days had the organ removed after her body began rejecting it and is back on dialysis, doctors announced Friday – a disappointment in the … Read More
April 7, 2025
(BBC) – A “miracle” baby girl has become the first child in the UK to be born to a mother using a donated womb. The baby’s mum, Grace Davidson, 36, was born without a functioning uterus, and received her sister’s … Read More
