March 12, 2007
It looked like Maryland legislators had stepped back from their support of embryonic stem cell research by striking the word “embryo” and replacing it with the nonspecific phrase “certain material” in a 2006 bill meant to fund such work. (Baltimore … Read More
March 12, 2007
Scientists have grown a beating “miniature heart in a dish” in a world first that offers hope to millions of cardiac patients. (Daily Mail)
March 12, 2007
When historians of the future try to identify the moment that neuroscience began to transform the American legal system, they may point to a little-noticed case from the early 1990s. (New York Times)
March 12, 2007
A single, specific memory has been wiped from the brains of rats, leaving other recollections intact. (Nature)
March 12, 2007
The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine has just released a position statement on the issue of physician-assisted suicide, in which it abdicates its core professional responsibility. On the impropriety of permitting doctors to help kill their patients, the … Read More
March 12, 2007
Our friends at DoNoHarm: The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics — AKA stemcellresearch.org — send the following invitation
March 11, 2007
This story is a warning: Six developmentally disabled people have died in the UK, apparently, due to medical neglect, according to “Death by Indifference,” a report published by MENCAP, a Mental Disability Charity. From the Telegraph story: Dr Roger Banks, … Read More
March 10, 2007
I wrote a post a few days ago criticizing the decision by the board of directors of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine to assume a position of “studied neutrality” on the crucial moral issue of physician-assisted suicide. … Read More
March 10, 2007
The Oregon Department of Human Services has issued its ninth, virtually meaningless report on assisted suicide (PDF). I say virtually meaningless because its statistical analysis depends almost entirely on death doctor self-reporting. Little noted in the media, which regurgitates these … Read More
March 10, 2007
In mice, Israeli scientists have apparently created a “miniature heart” using embryonic stem cells. If the story is right, the stem cells were morphed into the building blocks of heart cells, after which the scientists found a way of persuading … Read More
March 9, 2007
HumanLife Matters, Mark Pickup’s blog, is back after experiencing technical difficulties. Today, Mark riffs on how the culture of death is really discrimination against the weakest and most vulnerable among us.
March 9, 2007
This is the proper response to the legalization of assisted suicide: complete non participation by medical professionals at every level of care. Zurich University Hospital does not permit assisted suicides on premises. That is the honorable approach. If A.B. 374 … Read More
March 9, 2007
This is so ridiculous. Ethical guidelines are being drafted to protect humans from robot abuse and robots from human abuse. First, robots are inanimate objects. I don’t care how sophisticated or “intelligent” they become, they could no more be abused … Read More
March 9, 2007
Missouri’s universities will not have a life sciences building project funded due to the potential that the buildings would be used to conduct human cloning and embryonic stem cell research. While the media rails against cloning opponents, the real fault … Read More
March 9, 2007
I often describe the blatant biased reporting about the ESCR debate. But much of the problem isn’t bias–it is ignorance. Say a general beat reporter is directed by his or her editor to do a stem cell story. He or … Read More
March 9, 2007
Prison inmates in South Carolina could get up to six months shaved off their sentences if they donated a kidney or their bone marrow, under a proposed bill before the state Senate. “We have a lot of people dying as … Read More
March 9, 2007
If not for umbilical cord blood, Jessica Berry of Macomb Township is convinced her 5-year-old daughter, Olivia, wouldn’t have survived. Born four months premature, Olivia weighed only 1 pound, 2 ounces. She required more than 10 blood transfusions, heart surgery … Read More
March 9, 2007
Imagine lying inert, unmoving, totally paralyzed — and your only way of telling people “I’m not dead!” is the tiny blink of one eye. Imagine hearing the doctors call you a vegetable, and you can’t even whisper back, “I’m still … Read More
March 9, 2007
Doctors have long advised that a good night’s sleep is important for memory – but researchers now say a familiar scent wafting in the bedroom might help sometimes, too. The caveat: In the study, being published Friday in the journal … Read More
March 8, 2007
Yes, we have a shortage of transplantable organs. But that does not in the least excuse this legislation in South Carolina to give reduced sentences to prisoners in return for agreeing to be an organ or bone marrow donor. No, … Read More
March 8, 2007
DoNoHarm: The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics (stemcellresearch.org) has just posted a PDF entitled “75 New Reasons to Reconsider the Alleged Need for Stem Cell Research that Destroys Human Embryos.†It is a catalog of recent advances in adult … Read More
March 8, 2007
Christa Lilly, the Colorado woman diagnosed with persistent vegetative state who woke up and began talking, has relapsed into an unresponsive state. Her mother promises to care for her no matter what. Good. Lilly’s moral worth and intrinsic value as … Read More
March 8, 2007
There is so much going on in the fields of adult/umbilical cord blood stem cell research, that I can’t possibly post it all, much less read it all. Happily, these advances are collected by the inestimable Richard Doerflinger, and published … Read More
March 8, 2007
The National Bioethics Committee will convene Friday to discuss such contentious issues as human egg donation, which is important in experiments with cloned embryos. The gathering aimed at ironing our differences between committee members is expected to show whether the … Read More
March 8, 2007
An ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa, is being drawn up by South Korea. (BBC)
