April 23, 2025
A New Edition of Journal of Medical Ethics Is Now Available
Journal of Medical Ethics (vol. 51, no. 4, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
Organ Donation / Transplantation
April 15, 2025
FDA OKs trial of pig livers as dialysis-like treatment for liver failure
(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
A New Edition of Public Health Ethics is Now Available
Public Health Ethics (vol. 18, no. 1, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
April 11, 2025
Doctors remove pig kidney from an Alabama woman after a record 130 days
(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
‘A little miracle’: First baby born in UK to woman with transplanted womb
(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
March 31, 2025
Ethically Sourced “Spare” Human Bodies Could Revolutionize Medicine
(MIT Technology Review) – Although it may seem like science fiction, recent technological progress has pushed this concept into the realm of plausibility. Pluripotent stem cells, one of the earliest cell types to form during development, can give rise to … Read More
March 28, 2025
First Gene-Modified Pig Liver Transplanted Into a Human
(Medscape) – A multidisciplinary team from China has successfully transplanted a gene-modified pig liver into a human recipient diagnosed with brain death. During a 10-day observation period, the porcine liver produced bile and porcine albumin, maintained stable blood flow, and … Read More
March 27, 2025
Michigan Resident Dies From Donated Kidney Tainted With Rabies
(Gizmodo) – Only a handful of rabies cases tied to organ transplantation have ever been reported in the U.S. A normally life-saving procedure has ended in a incredibly rare kind of death. According to local health officials and the Centers … Read More
March 26, 2025
Chinese researchers report a pig kidney transplant and a first-step liver experiment
(NBC News) – Chinese researchers are reporting new steps in the quest for animal-to-human organ transplants — with a successful pig kidney transplant and a hint Wednesday that pig livers might eventually be useful, too. A Chinese patient is the third person in world … Read More
March 17, 2025
His Death Was Interrupted, Just as He Planned
(New York Times) – THE TELEPHONE CALL that interrupted Brendan’s death was about extending lives, though not his. Just as he had planned. The caller was from LiveOnNY, the nonprofit organization federally designated to coordinate organ donations in the New … Read More
March 13, 2025
Man lives for 100 days with artificial titanium heart in successful new trial
(CNN) – An Australian man lived for 100 days with an artificial titanium heart while he awaited a donor transplant, the longest period to date of someone with the technology. The patient, a man in his 40s who declined to … Read More
March 12, 2025
For Patients Needing Transplants, Hope Arrives on Tiny Hooves
(New York Times) – Some scientists are confident that organs from genetically modified pigs will one day be routinely transplanted into humans. But substantial ethical questions remain. They are delivered by C-section to protect them from viruses that sows can … Read More
February 28, 2025
Pig organs in people: The future of cross-species transplants
(Knowable Magazine) – Can genetically modified animals help ease the shortage of organs? After years of research into xenotransplantation, the field is at a turning point — yet risks and ethical issues remain. Over the past few years, a handful … Read More
February 27, 2025
Organ Transplant System ‘in Chaos’ as Waiting Lists Are Ignored
(New York Times) – The sickest patients are supposed to get priority for lifesaving transplants. But more and more, they are being skipped over. For decades, fairness has been the guiding principle of the American organ transplant system. Its bedrock, … Read More
February 25, 2025
A Kidney Transplant Came With an Unwelcome Hitchhiker: A Deadly Tick Germ
(Gizmodo) – Health officials in Wisconsin and Minnesota have documented a rare case of donor-derived ehrlichiosis. A person’s precious organ donation came with an unexpected visitor. In a new paper out this month, scientists have documented an unconventional way of … Read More
February 17, 2025
Doctors and Hospitals Look to Drones to Deliver Drugs, Supplies—and Even Organs
(Wall Street Journal) – If you need a prescription filled in the coming years, don’t be surprised if it flies in and lands in your backyard. Hospitals and doctors are increasingly experimenting with the use of drones to deliver medications, … Read More
February 12, 2025
Family says Cincinnati Children’s won’t put unvaccinated daughter on heart transplant list
(Cincinnati Enquirer) – An Indiana family says Cincinnati Children’s won’t put their 12-year-old daughter on its heart transplant waiting list because of her vaccination status. Janeen Deal, who is related by marriage to Vice President JD Vance’s half-siblings, said the hospital requires her daughter … Read More
February 10, 2025
New Hampshire man is 2nd person known to be living with a pig kidney
(Associated Press) – A New Hampshire man fought for the chance at a pig kidney transplant, spending months getting into good enough shape to be part of a small pilot study of a highly experimental treatment. His effort paid off: … Read More
February 7, 2025
Surgeons Transplant Engineered Pig Kidney Into Fourth Patient
(New York Times) – Surgeons in Boston successfully transplanted the kidney of a genetically modified pig into a 66-year-old man with kidney failure last month, Massachusetts General Hospital announced on Friday. It was the fourth pig kidney transplant in the … Read More
February 3, 2025
F.D.A. Approves Studies of Pig Organ Transplants for Kidney Patients
(New York Times) – The research offers hope to tens of thousands of patients with kidney failure who are on a long waiting list for an organ transplant. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given the green light to … Read More
January 30, 2025
Recipient of pig kidney transplant reaches a milestone
(NPR) – Towana Looney is waiting to check in with her doctors at NYU Health Langone when it registers that she’s passing a major milestone in her recovery from a kidney transplant. In late November she became the first person … Read More
January 27, 2025
The only person in the world with a functioning pig organ is thriving after a record 2 months
(Associated Press) – An Alabama woman passed a major milestone Saturday to become the longest living recipient of a pig organ transplant – healthy and full of energy with her new kidney for 61 days and counting. “I’m superwoman,” Towana … Read More
January 17, 2025
A New Edition of Hastings Center Report Is Now Available
Hastings Center Report (vol. 54, Issue 6, 2024) is available online by subscription only.
December 27, 2024
Pig kidney transplants, new schizophrenia drug: Here are 5 of the biggest medical breakthroughs in 2024
(ABC) – From a pig kidney transplant to restoring genetic deafness, 2024 was a year full of medical breakthroughs. The breakthroughs include the discovery of a cause of an autoimmune disease, the development of a “game-changing” drug and potential hope … Read More
December 23, 2024
Ohio State Wexner sets record-breaking kidney ‘donation chain,’ transforming 10 lives
(The Columbia Dispatch) – On Dec. 13, Samantha Fledderjohann donated one of her kidneys to a stranger in need, and in the process, transformed 10 lives. The 46-year-old was the first of a record-breaking “chain” of 20 surgeries over a … Read More
