April 26, 2010
Scientists may be one step closer to being able to generate any type of cells and tissues from a patient’s own cells. In a study that will appear in the journal Nature and is receiving early online release, investigators from … Read More
April 26, 2010
What ethical concerns will arise from new technology and medicine that can reveal our thoughts and enhance our brains? To comment on this issue, please use our forum. Back in the 1980s – in a place long ago and far … Read More
April 26, 2010
The health ministry has asked a panel of experts to investigate allegations of ethical violations in a study in which 24,000 girls in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat received a vaccine against a virus that can cause cervical cancer. Several women’s … Read More
April 26, 2010
Dr. Jack Kevorkian appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher Friday night on HBO. He blasted the medical profession and religion, much to the agreement of the host. The interview with the man known as “Dr. Death” occurred a night … Read More
April 23, 2010
One afternoon several years ago, I found myself faced with an unexpected challenge while seeing patients in clinic. The hospital had just put in effect an electronic medical records system, or EMR, and along with the dozens of shiny new … Read More
April 23, 2010
The Vatican will finance new research into the potential use of adult stem cells in the treatment of intestinal and possibly other diseases, officials announced Friday. The project is at a very preliminary phase and it will be years before … Read More
April 23, 2010
The fascinating thing about the emerging field of commercial genomics is how it ties together so many different areas of research — from biology to computer science, and just about everything in between. Progress in all these disciplines is deeply … Read More
April 22, 2010
At 2am on a Thursday last December computer technicians working on a software upgrade at Waikato Hospital realised the District Health Board’s IT network was under attack. One of the world’s most prolific computer menaces, the Conficker virus, had wormed … Read More
April 22, 2010
It has been two weeks since the White House announced the members of its bioethics commission. Here, the authors argue for a progressive approach to bioethics, because the core idea of progress is closely associated with the modern idea of … Read More
April 22, 2010
The Council of Medical Specialty Societies’ new ethical code aims to limit drug and device company influence over patient care. (Medical Meetings)
April 21, 2010
even years ago, the Havasupai Indians, who live amid the turquoise waterfalls and red cliffs miles deep in the Grand Canyon, issued a “banishment order†to keep Arizona State University employees from setting foot on their reservation — an ancient … Read More
April 21, 2010
Reprogramming cells from your own body could give them the therapeutic power of embryonic stem cells, without the political controversy. (Scientific American)
April 20, 2010
During a discussion of ethics classes being trialled in 10 New South Wales primary schools, Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen said he didn’t believe ethics without religion was possible but is it and, if so, how do you create rules for … Read More
April 20, 2010
Cash incentives and the payment of funeral expenses are two ideas being put forward to encourage people to donate human organs and tissue. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is asking the public if it is ethical to use financial incentives … Read More
April 20, 2010
Nature Biotechnology (Vol. 28, No. 4, April 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “US Pharmacies Broaden Access to Pharmacogenetic Tests” by Malorye Allison, 299-300. “Stem Cells to Order” by Jennifer Rohn, 303.
April 20, 2010
JAMA (Vol. 303; No. 13; April 7, 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “The Challenge of Multiple Comorbidity for the US Health Care System” by Anand K. Parekh and Mary B. Barton, 1303-1304. “Moving Reform to the … Read More
April 19, 2010
Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy (Volume 13; Number 2; May 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Clinical Essentialising: A Qualitative Study of Doctors’ Medical and Moral Practice” by Kari Milch Agledahl, Reidun Forde, and Age Wifstad; 107-113. … Read More
April 19, 2010
It was 17 years in the making, but the state of New York has become the latest to enact legislation setting out who makes health care decisions for patients incapable of making their own. (CMAJ)
April 19, 2010
Doctors in southern China are working around the clock to fulfil a government goal to sterilise — by force if necessary — almost 10,000 men and women who have violated birth control policies. Family planning authorities are so determined to … Read More
April 17, 2010
The New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 362; Issue 13; April 1, 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “The Specter of Financial Armageddon – Health Care and Federal Debt in the United States” by M. E. Chernew, … Read More
April 17, 2010
Journal of Medical Ethics (Volume 36, Issue 4, April 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Responsibilities in International Research: A New Look Revisited” by Solomon R Benatar and Peter A Singer, 194-197. “The Use of Methylphenidate Among … Read More
April 16, 2010
Big test coming up? Having trouble concentrating? Try a little estrogen. Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, report in a recent study that hormone fluctuations during a woman’s menstrual cycle may affect the brain as much as do substances … Read More
April 16, 2010
Without concrete proof of a DNR, there’s no hesitation. Click, klang, and the patient has a tube down her throat within seconds. I do the chest compressions. On the monitor, she is flat-lining — no heartbeat. (NPR)
April 15, 2010
The Australasian Journal on Ageing (Volume 29, Issue 1, 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: Book Review: “Decision-making, Personhood, and Dementia: Exploring the Interface” by Colleen Doyle, 50-50.
April 15, 2010
The New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 362; Number 12; March 25, 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Untangling the Web- Patients, Doctors, and the Internet” by R. Hartzband and J. Groopman.
