March 22, 2010
Windpipe transplant success in UK child
A 10-year-old British boy has become the first child to undergo a windpipe transplant with an organ crafted from his own stem cells. (BBC)
Monthly Archives: March 2010
March 22, 2010
Numerous factors weighed when patients cannot make their own decisions
Living wills and surrogate decision makers account for only a portion of the many factors weighed by physicians when making medical decisions for hospitalized patients lacking the capability to make their own decisions, according to a recently published study. (EurekAlert)
March 22, 2010
Brides turn to doctors to help them look better for big day
Some physicians have responded by targeting their services to this niche market. But ethicists say doctors must be careful in their approaches. (American Medical News)
March 22, 2010
Patients left in the dark over life-saving drug tests
Red tape means that too few have access to details of clinical trials. (The Guardian)
March 22, 2010
Pakistan: President signs transplantation of human organs bill
Seeking help from the masses in countering illegal organ trade, President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday said no law could be effective without public support. (Daily Times)
March 19, 2010
New Issue of Journal of Medical Ethics is Now Available
Journal of Medical Ethics (Volume 36, Issue 3, March 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Homeopathy is Where the Harm Is: Five Unethical Effects of Funding Unscientific ‘Remedies’” by David M. Shaw, 130-131. “Evolution of Hospital Clinical … Read More
March 18, 2010
When Listening to the People: Lessons from Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) for Bioethics
Complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) have become increasingly popular over recent decades. Within bioethics CAM has so far mostly stimulated discussions around their level of scientific evidence, or along the standard concerns of bioethics. To gain an understanding as to … Read More
March 18, 2010
A miracle salve or another stem cell fraud?
‘Stem cell cosmetics’ don’t actually contain any human stem cells. Still, the potential but unproven benefits, many doctors say, don’t outweigh the risks. (JoongAng Daily)
March 18, 2010
The ethics of paying kidney donors
The researchers studied people’s willingness to donate a kidney with or without a cash incentive. Penn assistant professor Scott Halpern says his study suggests that financial incentives would increase the number of organs available for transplant without exploiting low-income people. … Read More
March 18, 2010
The Moral Problem of Health Disparities
Health disparities exist along lines of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic class in US society. I argue that we should work to eliminate these health disparities because their existence is a moral wrong that needs to be addressed. [Premium (American Journal of … Read More
March 18, 2010
Future bio-nanotechnology will use computer chips inside living cells
Continuing miniaturization has moved the semiconductor industry well into the nano realm with leading chip manufacturers on their way to CMOS using 22nm process technology. With transistors the size of tens of nanometers, researchers have begun to explore the interface … Read More
March 18, 2010
Stem cell hope for hip replacements
A team from the universities of Southampton and Nottingham believe that introducing a patient’s own skeletal stem cells into the hip joint during bone grafting would encourage more successful regrowth and repair. (The Press Association)
March 17, 2010
Stem Cell Cures Any Closer?
Twelve years after the discovery of the human embryonic stem cell, research is finally picking up steam. Over the past 7 years, the National Institutes of Health have almost tripled its investment in stem cell research to more than $1 … Read More
March 17, 2010
Ethics at the end of life | Minnesota Public Radio NewsQ
A recent study of dying children in Boston suggests doctors ended their lives with morphine, sometimes at the urging of parents. Bioethicist Jeffrey Kahn talks about the dilemmas faced by doctors who are in a position to assist a suicide … Read More
March 17, 2010
Should we be able to buy our dream baby?
As an IVF clinic ‘raffles’ a human egg to promote a way of paying for eggs from the US, we hear from experts on both sides of the controversy. (The Mirror)
March 17, 2010
Euthanasia’s Slippery Slope
Once assisted suicide is legalized, it becomes impossible to limit the justifications for its use. (THE MARK)
March 17, 2010
As universities tighten ethics policies, drug firms turn to private physicians to promote products
When looking for a doctor to travel the country and tout its costly prescription fish oil pill, GlaxoSmithKline didn’t select a heavyweight university researcher. Instead, it wrote checks to Tara Dall, a Delafield primary-care doctor who entered private practice in … Read More
March 17, 2010
New Focus on Averting Errors: Hospital Culture
Errors made by doctors, nurses and other medical caregivers cause 44,000 to 98,000 deaths a year. Hospital infections, many considered preventable, take another 100,000 lives. And mistakes involving medications injure 1.3 million patients annually in the U.S., according to the … Read More
March 17, 2010
Amnesty International Report on U.S. Maternal Health
Amnesty International may be best known to American audiences for bringing to light horror stories abroad such as the disappearance of political activists in Argentina or the abysmal conditions inside South African prisons under apartheid. But in a new report … Read More
March 16, 2010
Assisted Suicide’s New Face
Despite criminal charges in both states, the head of a radical right-to-die group insists his work is compassionate and necessary. (Newsweek)
March 16, 2010
Australia: Catholic Church funds stem cell research
The Catholic Church is again funding research into the medical use of adult stem cells. The Sydney Archdiocese announced a $100,000 grant on Tuesday, “to support and foster research on the therapeutic potential of adult stem cells”. (Sydney Morning Herald)
March 16, 2010
Canada: Officials look to overhaul vaccine-supply model
Federal and provincial health officials have launched a sweeping review of Canada’s flu vaccination system in the wake of the H1N1 scare. In a notice sent to the drug industry yesterday, government officials signalled that they plan to overhaul the … Read More
March 16, 2010
Exorcising Sin from Synthetic Bio
Synthetic biology has arrived. In recent years, the subject has been bandied about through blogs, on science and opinion pages, and in trade publications and niche magazines across the globe. Debaters from every conceivable point of view have hailed it … Read More
March 16, 2010
The Human Egg Trade
In the spring of 2006, Heather Cox got an unexpected phone call from a Toronto fertility clinic. Three years earlier, she had donated eggs anonymously to a gay couple through the clinic. Now the same couple wanted a full sibling … Read More
March 16, 2010
Cells in amniotic fluid become stem cells
Scientists at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York say they’ve found skin cells in human amniotic fluid can become embryonic-like stem cells. The researchers led by Assistant Professor Katalin Polgar found when compared to cultured adult skin … Read More
