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
March 31, 2025
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
