January 10, 2011
The new health law encourages doctors, hospitals and insurers to team up in treating patients, but these groups already are at odds as they urge the government to set rules protecting their financial interests. (Washington Post)
January 10, 2011
In the past decade, the U.S. military’s interest in human enhancement technologies has waxed and waned. An initial surge of interest, fueled by a desire to create the “Future Force Warrior†has given way, over time, to the more mundane … Read More
January 10, 2011
he organs of about 8 percent of infants who suffer cardiac death in newborn intensive care units (NICUs) would be eligible for donation and could help save the lives of other infants and young children, according to a new study. … Read More
January 10, 2011
In attempting to identify illnesses online we are undermining the role of the GP. (The Observer)
January 10, 2011
Is it ever ethical to do research on human subjects without their consent? The Nuremberg Code, written in the aftermath of the atrocities perpetrated by Nazi doctors, makes the voluntary consent of the human subject “absolutely essentialâ€. Understandable as the … Read More
January 7, 2011
Authorities are struggling to control the underground sperm donation to women desperate to become mothers. The internet-based baby-making business has boomed since laws introduced in 2005 banned sperm donors from remaining anonymous. (The Daily Telegraph)
January 7, 2011
Late in 2007 I found myself riveted by a case playing out at the University of California, Los Angeles, the medical center where I trained and had once worked as a transplant surgeon. A 17-year-old girl named Nataline Sarkisyan was … Read More
January 7, 2011
The much-discussed cover story of last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine introduced us to the “twiblings” – writer Melanie Thernstrom’s two children, born a few days apart to different surrogates who carried IVF embryos created from the eggs of one … Read More
January 7, 2011
As technology advances, are we destined to become cyborgs with mechanical replacements for lost or damaged limbs? Or will we become creatures of the mind with smart pills to enhance our cognitive abilities? (The Irish Times)
January 7, 2011
While a much hailed communication intervention works for families making decisions for chronically-ill loved ones in medical intensive care units, Case Western Reserve University researchers found the intervention was less effective for surgical and neurological ICU patients. (PhysOrg)
January 5, 2011
I respect honest disagreements about policy. You think health care reform is a bad idea? That it will run up the deficit or make it harder to find a doctor? I think you’re wrong, but that’s a reasonable debate and … Read More
January 5, 2011
Want to know your chance of having a baby through in-vitro fertilization? There’s an app for that. (Reuters)
January 5, 2011
The Obama administration, reversing course, will revise a Medicare regulation to delete references to end-of-life planning as part of the annual physical examinations covered under the new health care law, administration officials said Tuesday. (New York Times)
January 5, 2011
One in five patients who receive the heart-shocking, life-saving devices known as implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, or ICDs, may be getting them unnecessarily, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Tuesday. (ABC News)
January 5, 2011
This bill seeks to return common sense to the Australian patent system and apply the law by legislating to ban the patenting of human genes and other naturally occurring biological materials, either isolated or naturally occurring. The bill will not … Read More
January 5, 2011
Anyone who has been broadly dissatisfied by the bioethical response to human biotechnologies will want to check out sociologist Amitai Etzioni’s penetrating critique [PDF] of the field’s failure to deal adequately with the the essential tension these technologies raise. (CGS)
January 5, 2011
A Supreme Court ruling placing much of Canada’s burgeoning fertility industry under provincial control leaves an enormous gap in the regulation of artificial procreation and exposes women who use the technologies and the children born from them to potential harm, … Read More
January 5, 2011
Tony Award-winning playwright Warren Leight is developing a drama about medical ethics for Fox, according to deadline.com. (Playbill)
January 5, 2011
Advanced Cell Technology said on Monday it had won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to try out human embryonic stem cells for treating macular degeneration, a common cause of vision loss. (Reuters)
January 4, 2011
In his recent book, NIH Director Francis Collins refers to DNA and the new science of genomics as “the language of life.†Thanks to the mapping of the human genome, says Collins, virtually all biomedical researchers agree “that their approach … Read More
January 4, 2011
The acquittal of a doctor accused of euthanasia has rekindled the debate on assisted suicide in Switzerland, ahead of votes at the cantonal level on the issue. (SwissInfo)
January 4, 2011
The Great Recession changed the way many people live—and its repercussions appear to be altering how some people choose to die. (Scientific American)
January 4, 2011
In a 1958 editorial, C.S. Lewis commented on the questions: “Is man progressing today?†and “Is progress even possible?†Lewis feared the prospect of a “planned stateâ€â€”a “technocracy†in which the government “must increasingly rely on the advice of scientists, … Read More
January 3, 2011
Confronted with a patient suffering from pain or a chronic disease for which no drugs are effective, doctors sometimes prescribe a sugar pill or vitamin. Although these “medications” have no active ingredients, patients often feel better. It’s called the “placebo … Read More
January 3, 2011
What to do about biohackers in the garage? The apparent answer from the US Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, whose first task has been to examine the emerging field of synthetic biology, is “prudent vigilance.†(The Scientist)
