February 15, 2010
Archives of Internal Medicine (Vol. 170; No. 3; February 8, 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Providing Patients with Global Cardiovascular Risk Information: Is Knowledge Power?” by Tariq Ahmad and Samia Mora, 227-228. “Impact of Health Disparities … Read More
February 15, 2010
No one cares about the untold numbers of cells our bodies slough off every day. But imagine that someone got hold of your cells — and the DNA they contain — and used them to cure a disease, or somehow … Read More
February 15, 2010
With the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games under way, leading sporting bodies continue to be embroiled in one of sport’s biggest controversies – the gender verification testing of female athletes. (BBC)
February 15, 2010
Lawmakers in at least 30 states have introduced bills or constitutional amendments in the last year largely aimed at blocking any future requirement that individuals have health insurance — a key provision in Democrats’ stalled national health system reform legislation. … Read More
February 15, 2010
Benedict XVI is affirming that bioethics, with all of the scientific developments it takes into account, needs the principles of natural law so as to uphold human dignity. (ZENIT)
February 15, 2010
In the last 20 years, it’s become more likely that a patient will survive an injury to the brain. But with better lifesaving techniques has come a pressing need to find out just how well the brain is functioning — … Read More
February 15, 2010
Medical ethics rest on four basic principles: beneficence (do good), non-maleficence (do no harm), autonomy (respect your patient as a rational individual) and justice (be fair). In the modern era, with information-savvy and potentially litigious patients expecting more from a … Read More
February 15, 2010
An estimated 500,000 frozen embryos are stored nationwide as the byproducts of advanced fertility treatments, commonly known as in vitro fertilization, or IVF. Although most who create the embryos will use all of them in an attempt to have a … Read More
February 14, 2010
Nursing Inquiry (Volume 17, Issue 1, March 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Health and Vulnerability in a Time of Economic Uncertainty” by KristÃn Björnsdóttir and Sioban Nelson, 1-1. “Public Health Nursing Practice with ‘High Priority’ Families: … Read More
February 14, 2010
The American Journal of Bioethics (Volume 10, Issue 2, February 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Transplant Tourism in China: A Tale of Two Transplants” by Rosamond Rhodes and Thomas Schiano, 3-11. “The Transplant Surgeon and Transplant … Read More
February 12, 2010
“Embryonic” and “senescent” aren’t supposed to go together any more than “good” and “grief” or other oxymorons, which is why biologist Robert Lanza was “devastated” when he saw what was happening with the human stem cells he and colleagues were … Read More
February 12, 2010
Legislatures debate tighter restrictions on relationships with industry and limiting drugmakers’ access to prescribing data. (American Medical News)
February 12, 2010
One of the requirements in the Dutch regulation for euthanasia and assisted suicide is that the doctor must be satisfied ‘that the patient’s suffering is unbearable, and that there is no prospect of improvement.’ In the notorious Chabot case, a … Read More
February 12, 2010
The first draft of the new psychiatric manual — the DSM-V, to be finalized in 2013 — makes major changes in how a wide range of mental illnesses will be diagnosed. Nothing is set in stone, says the American Psychiatric … Read More
February 12, 2010
A first head-to-head comparison of human embryonic stem cells with ones grown from skin cells, reported Thursday by biologists, revealed early aging and other abnormalities in the less-controversial alternatives. (USA TODAY)
February 11, 2010
Drugmakers are starting to get into bed with information technology companies as they struggle to prove the value of their medicines to governments and insurers. (Reuters)
February 11, 2010
With comprehensive health reform stalled, there is growing pressure to enact more modest health insurance reforms. These efforts have an understandable practical and political appeal. Denials of coverage, cancellations of policies, preexisting condition exclusions, lifetime caps on benefits, and other … Read More
February 11, 2010
Catholic hospitals, which boast a long and admirable history of caring for the seriously ill and indigent in the United States, have for many years finessed the challenges of serving two disparate and often incompatible masters. On the one hand, … Read More
February 11, 2010
The top health authority has launched a nationwide mental health program, requesting each province to set up at least one psychological counseling hotline by the end of the year, according to a notice from the Ministry of Health yesterday. (China … Read More
February 10, 2010
Starving to death in a hospital bed is a horrible way to die, says an expert on the ethics of death, and it may be time to allow more overt ways of ending the lives of the terminally ill. (Healthzone.ca)
February 10, 2010
In what could be the first-of-its-kind initiative in the city, medical practitioners have joined hands with NGOs to safeguard patients’ rights. To this end, doctors’ associations, the Federation of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (FOGSI) and Indian Medical Association (IMA), have collaborated … Read More
February 10, 2010
Removing part of the brain can induce inner peace, according to researchers from Italy. Their study provides the strongest evidence to date that spiritual thinking arises in, or is limited by, specific brain areas. (Scientific American)
February 10, 2010
Dr. Bruce White has been named director of the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College. He replaces Glenn McGee, who founded the institute but was removed from his position in May 2008. (TheAlbany Business Review)
February 9, 2010
Journal of Medical Ethics (Volume 36, Issue 2, February 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Are Physician’s Obligated Always to Act in the Patient’s Best Interests?” by David Wendler, 66-70. “Tailor-made Finance Versus Tailor-made Care. Can the … Read More
February 9, 2010
JAMA (Vol. 303; No. 5; February 3, 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Electronic Health Records in the Age of Social Networks and Global Telecommunications” by Aviv Shachak and Alejandro R. Jadad, 452-453.
