December 28, 2015
(Reuters) – Islamic State has sanctioned the harvesting of human organs in a previously undisclosed ruling by the group’s Islamic scholars, raising concerns that the violent extremist group may be trafficking in body parts. The ruling, contained in a January … Read More
December 23, 2015
Journal of Medical Ethics (vol. 42, no. 1, 2016) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “The Role of Emotion in Ethics and Bioethics: Dealing with Repugnance and Disgust” by Mark Sheehan “Is Moral Bioenhancement Dangerous?” by Nicholas Drake “Smiling … Read More
December 22, 2015
Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine (vol. 10, no. 13, 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Doctor Can I Buy a New Kidney? I’ve Heard It Isn’t Forbidden: What is the Role of the Nephrologist when Dealing with … Read More
December 21, 2015
(San Francisco Gate) – UCSF’s suspension of its living donor program for kidney transplants this week after the death of a donor highlights a rare but potential complication for a procedure that’s typically an altruistic gift by a friend or … Read More
December 17, 2015
(The Epoch Times) – The New York Times had noticed that in the first year under the new regime of not using organs from executed prisoners, China’s organ supply had not decreased. How could this be possible? The New York … Read More
December 16, 2015
(The Guardian) – The University Health Network, Canada’s largest research hospital, handles more live liver transplants than any other institution in North America. Most of these are between family members or friends, but in recent years, doctors have witnessed several … Read More
December 16, 2015
Hastings Center Report (vol. 45, no. 6, 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Engineering the Brain: Ethical Issues and the Introduction of Neural Devices” by Eran Klein, et al. “Taking Science Seriously in the Debate on Death and Organ … Read More
December 10, 2015
HEC Forum (vol. 27, no. 4, 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “WTF WHO?” by James Stacey Taylor “The Gift Relationship Revisited” by Jeremy Frank Shearmur “Errors and Omissions: Donor Compensation Policies and Richard Titmuss” by Joshua Penrod … Read More
December 9, 2015
South African Journal of Bioethics and Law (vol. 8, no. 2, 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Ethical Guidelines for Military-Based Health Research: An Unmet Need in Africa?” by Julius Mbekem Nwobegahay, et al. “Moral Challenges in Managed Care” … Read More
December 7, 2015
(Salon) – The situation in Syria today is nothing short of catastrophic. More than half of the entire population has been displaced in a civil war now approaching its fifth year, and almost 4.3 million Syrian refugees are registered with … Read More
December 7, 2015
(Daily Mail) – An international kidney racket busted in the Akola district of Maharashtra has led to the arrest of two men, who forced debt-ridden farmers to sell off their organs to repay their loans. The incident has triggered a … Read More
December 4, 2015
(The Conversation) – The clinical potential and ethical difficulty posed by gene-editing technology, which can “find and replace” targeted genes, is seemingly endless. But while public attention is focused on whether we should use it to change the genes of … Read More
November 25, 2015
Neuroethics (vol. 8, no. 3, 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “The Ethics of Deep Brain Stimulation for the Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa” by Hannah Maslen, Jonathan Pugh, and Julian Savulescu “Cognitive Enhancement and the Principle of Need” … Read More
November 20, 2015
(The Conversation) – In the last 30 years, almost every country in the European Union has implemented new organ donor laws that are either explicit consent or presumed consent. Studies have shown that countries with presumed consent have the highest … Read More
November 19, 2015
(Science Daily) – Scientists have succeeded in growing functional vocal cord tissue in the laboratory, a major step toward restoring a voice to people who have lost their vocal cords to cancer surgery or other injuries. Experts from several disciplines … Read More
November 18, 2015
(Forbes) – One key reason all these new forms of transplantation are revolutionary is that they involve non-life-saving organs. Unlike heart, liver, kidney and lung transplants, they are being done to enhance the quality of life or to palliate suffering. … Read More
November 17, 2015
(New York Times) – It seemed to end a decades-long form of human exploitation in which hundreds, perhaps thousands, of organs of executed prisoners were harvested each year. But organs from prisoners, including those on death row, can still be … Read More
November 12, 2015
(New York Times) – Six doctors swarmed around the body of the deceased organ donor and quickly started to operate. The kidneys came out first. Then the team began another delicate dissection, to remove an organ that is rarely, if … Read More
November 12, 2015
(Washington Post) – When Apple visionary Steve Jobs got a liver transplant in 2009 many wondered why the operation took place in Tennessee — more than 2,000 miles away from his home in Northern California. The answer has to do … Read More
November 12, 2015
Journal of Medical Ethics (vol. 41, no. 11, 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Directed Altruistic Living Donation: What is Wrong with the Beauty Contest?” by Greg Moorlock “‘What’s Psychology Got to Do with It?’ Applying Psychological Theory … Read More
November 11, 2015
(Nature) – Robin Pierson heads the Maryland lab, which has performed about 50 pig-to-primate transplants like this one to test different combinations of genetic modifications in the pig and immune-suppressing drugs in the primate. Even so, the team has not … Read More
November 11, 2015
Health & Social Work (vol. 40, no. 4, 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “‘When Things Are Really Complicated, We Call the Social Worker’: Post-Hip-Fracture Care Transitions for Older People” by Joanie Sims-Gould, et al. “Qualitative Study: Exploring the … Read More
November 10, 2015
(Eurekalert) – Registering with more than one organ transplant center appears to give an edge to wealthy patients over those with the most medical need, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2015. Researchers studied the … Read More
November 9, 2015
(Eurekalert) – Traveling abroad to receive a kidney from a paid living donor at a commercial transplant center carries considerable risks, according to a study that will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2015 Nov. 3-8 at the San Diego … Read More
November 6, 2015
(Thrive Wire) – While 3D printers have recently been used to solve a lot of problems, they had, until now, built things out of almost exclusively plastic and metal — inorganic materials that don’t necessarily adapt well to the human … Read More
