June 20, 2019
Multimedia Resources
February 11, 2019
An Overview of State Abortion Laws
(NPR) – This week, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Louisiana from enforcing a restrictive abortion law. The court will likely hear a challenge to the merits of that law this fall. Many states are moving to pass a number of … Read More
October 17, 2018
‘Disease’ vs. ‘Difference’: A Question of Eugenics
(The Atlantic) – A new video from Jill Rosenbaum at Retro Report, in association with American Experience, premiering on The Atlantic today, depicts some major bioethics quandaries that have resulted from advances in genetic screening technology. With prenatal and carrier … Read More
August 24, 2018
Meth-Addicted Mothers and Child Abuse
(The Atlantic) – Newman’s short documentary, Motherhood and Meth, focuses on the drug’s frequently overlooked and arguably most vulnerable victims: children. Although no scientific research has been conducted that directly correlates meth addiction to child abuse or neglect, many experts … Read More
October 26, 2017
‘No One Is Coming:’ Investigation Reveals Hospices Abandon Patients at Death’s Door
(TIME) – The investigation analyzed 20,000 government inspection records, revealing that missed visits and neglect are common for patients dying at home. Families or caregivers have filed over 3,200 complaints with state officials in the past five years. Those complaints … Read More
October 24, 2017
Palliative Care Is about the Life That’s Left, Not the End of Life
(Medscape) – It’s a common confusion and misconception. The short answer is that all hospice is palliative care, but not all palliative care is hospice. That is the elevator speech version. The more nuanced version is that the Medicare Hospice … Read More
October 10, 2017
Seeing Hope: FDA Panel Considers Gene Therapy for Blindness
(ABC News) – On Thursday, U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers will consider whether to recommend approval of a gene therapy that improved vision for these three youths and some others with hereditary blindness. It would be the first gene … Read More
October 4, 2017
Hollywood Special Effects Are Helping Surgeons Practice Brain Surgery
(Quartz) – Brain-surgery training can be very different from the real experience in an operating room. Cadavers are expensive and so neurosurgeons-in-training typically watch videos of the surgeries, then practice on fruits and vegetables. Doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital wanted … Read More
September 8, 2017
Rough Translation: American Surrogates
(NPR) – Wealthy Chinese woman are hiring Americans to be surrogate moms. We explore how the relationship between a Chinese woman and her American surrogate changed during a particularly difficult pregnancy.
August 11, 2017
A Physician Explores ‘A Better Path’ to the End of Life
(NPR) – My guest is a critical care and palliative care physician who is among the health care professionals trying to find a more humane approach to helping people as they reach the ends of their lives. Dr. Jessica Nutik … Read More
June 20, 2017
Pressure for IVF Success Obscures Ethical Issues
(PBS Newshour) – In vitro fertilization has grown to a $3 billion industry in the U.S. that is responsible for more than 1 million babies. But implanting several embryos under pressure for success often obscures potential complications and added responsibilities … Read More
January 16, 2017
Invisible Lives: A Legacy of China’s Family Planning Rules
(Aeon) – In 1979 China introduced one of the largest social engineering efforts in human history – the ‘one-child policy’ – to combat population growth. In addition to leaving the country with problematic demographic imbalances, this family planning policy has created an underclass of … Read More
January 9, 2017
Gripping Interview: How One Addicted Doctor Recovered
(Medscape) – Hi. I am Art Caplan, head of the Medical Ethics Division at the New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City. Typically, I use these blogs to talk about an issue, give my opinions, or draw … Read More
January 4, 2017
Critics Worry New Law Will Weaken FDA Regulation
(NPR) – The 21st Century Cures Act promised more money for medical research, but some worry it will make patients more vulnerable. Ailsa Chang talks to Dr. Jerry Avorn about possible changes under the law.
September 27, 2016
Contraception: Past, Present and Future And Why It Matters
(World Health Organization) – Despite the positive global trends there are large differences among and within countries. Over 200 million women worldwide would like to avoid a pregnancy but are not using an effective method of contraception. Reasons for this … Read More
July 1, 2016
Stem Cell Study for ALS Patients Shows Promise, Yet Causes Pain
(CNN) – Stem cell research can run the gamut from Nobel Prize-winning scientists to hucksters in lab coats making a buck off desperate, seriously ill people. The results of one new study may be less than hoped for, but the … Read More
June 23, 2016
HIV Organs and Transplants
(News-Medical) – The risk of HIV infection as a result of receiving an organ transplant is low. All organ donors undergo screening for HIV risk factors and are tested for the infection. However, although HIV testing is very accurate, the … Read More
April 19, 2016
Wendell Wallach, Angels and Demons of A.I.
Bioethicist Wendell Wallach talks about the moral challenges of Artificial Intelligence. http://www.thirteen.org/openmind/science/angels-and-demons-of-a-i/5395/
March 3, 2016
Physician-Assisted Death on the Rise: Cause for Concern?
(Med Page Today) – New data from Europe demonstrate that the number of physician-assisted deaths is increasing. In a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine, a group reports that the rate of assisted suicide in German-speaking regions of Switzerland more … Read More
February 23, 2016
Medical Ethics vs. The Law: Get It Right
(Med Page Today) – The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the treat of ISIS, have presented an ongoing series of challenges to medical ethics, whether it involved the “role” of psychiatrists and psychologists in interrogations or questions … Read More
November 20, 2015
This Guy Has a Thought-Controlled Robotic Arm
(Bloomberg) – The history of prosthetics is a history of compromises. Uncomfortable devices, limited movement. And while amazing advances have been made, none is more stunning than Johnny Matheny’s arm. Amputated in 2008 because of cancer, the arm has worn a … Read More
September 23, 2015
Time to Get It Right at the End of Life
(Med Page Today) – How can physicians better navigate the alphabet soup of end-of-life care forms? That was the question on the mind of Ferdinando Mirarchi, DO, of UPMC Hamot in Eerie, Pa., when he approached Michael Barton, MD, of … Read More
September 10, 2015
Genome Pioneer: We Have the Dangerous Power to Control Evolution
(The World Post) – J. Craig Venter is the pioneering cartographer of the human genome, the sequence of which he and other scientists mapped in 2000. The WorldPost recently spoke with this modern Prometheus about the promises and perils of … Read More
August 24, 2015
Cyborg Man, Who Sees Colour as Sound, Calls for Cyborg Rights – Video
(The Guardian) – Neil Harbisson, the world’s first certified cyborg, speaks to the media in Brisbane. Harbisson, who is completely colour blind, has an antenna with a camera at its end permanently implanted in his head that allows him to … Read More
July 21, 2015
Second Planned Parenthood Video Surfaces Showing Alleged Selling of Fetal Tissue
(CNN) – An anti-abortion group says a second under cover video proves that Planned Parenthood is selling the body parts of aborted fetuses, a practice that is illegal and that the group denies doing. The Center for Medical Progress, an … Read More
