May 16, 2012
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Tuesday asked the agency to let an HIV test be sold in retail stores so consumers don’t have to go to a health facility to get tested for the virus. Â (The Wall … Read More
May 16, 2012
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering a move that would allow patients to obtain prescription medications without ever seeing a doctor. Instead, patients would use technology to evaluate their needs. Â (amednews)
May 16, 2012
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback [official website] has signed a bill [SB 62 materials] allowing pharmacists to refuse to dispense drugs that they “reasonably believe” might result in the termination of a pregnancy, his office announced [press release] Monday. Critics of … Read More
May 16, 2012
Several states, including Kansas and New Jersey, are debating so-called “wrongful birth” laws that would prevent parents from suing a doctor who fails to warn them about fetal problems. Â (NPR News)
May 16, 2012
Shannon Brownlee’s recent post, “Don’t discard shared decision making on the basis of PSA testing,â€Â couldn’t ring more true. The crux of shared decision making is that the patient must decide, with his or her physician, which tests or procedures make … Read More
May 16, 2012
Patients see potential benefits from direct-to-consumer genetic testing, but are also concerned about how the test results will be used, and generally are unwilling to pay more than $10 or $20 for them, according to focus groups conducted by researchers … Read More
May 15, 2012
The Journal of the American Medical Association (Volume 307, Issue 16, April 2012) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Sharing Clinical Data Electronically: A Critical Challenge for Fixing the Health Care System” by Julia Adler-Milstein and Ashish K. … Read More
May 15, 2012
Camilla Grondahl asked genetics researcher Gholson Lyon a simple, heartbreaking question: Was she carrying a lethal gene that might kill her unborn baby?  Grondahl, 29, didn’t want to terminate her pregnancy, which began in 2010. She just wanted to know … Read More
May 15, 2012
A 2011 law that put restrictions on drugs used to induce abortions has been tossed out in Oklahoma County District Court. Â The court found that House Bill 1970 is “an unconstitutional law in violation of the fundamental rights of women … Read More
May 15, 2012
While a great deal of the potential for nanotechnology to improve cancer therapy lies with the ability of nanoparticles to deliver drug payloads directly to tumors, an equally important consideration is whether nanoparticles can then get their drug payload to … Read More
May 15, 2012
The number of Washington state residents who died of physician-assisted suicide rose to 70 in 2011, up from 51 in 2010 and 36 in 2009, when the state’s Death With Dignity Act took effect. The Washington State Dept. of Health … Read More
May 15, 2012
The founder of the pro-life movement says for the first time in many years, he has hope that he could see the end of abortion before he dies, because of a bill in Ohio that would outlaw abortion, however supposed … Read More
May 15, 2012
Dr. Darja Marolt, an Investigator at The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Laboratory, is lead author on a study showing that human embryonic stem cells can be used to grow bone tissue grafts for use in research and potential … Read More
May 15, 2012
A controversial fertility doctor has raked in £25million in a single year. Mohamed Taranissi and his wife received the colossal sum through their IVF clinic, giving fresh evidence to critics who say that the creation of human life has become … Read More
May 15, 2012
Aggressive fertility treatments practised at IVF clinics in the UK are putting women and babies at risk, experts say. Â (The Telegraph)
May 15, 2012
IVF clinics in the UK are practising aggressive fertility treatments that are putting women and children at unjustified risk, experts say. The commercially driven industry uses unnecessary procedures, high doses of powerful drugs and risky interventions to help desperate couples … Read More
May 15, 2012
At the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, a popular destination for women hoping to preserve their fertility by freezing their eggs, Dr. William Schoolcraft, the founder and medical director, has started to notice something different: more of the women are … Read More
May 15, 2012
A Harvard professor of surgery says it would be of “great advantage†to Bermuda to have an on-Island air ambulance — for emergency medical evacuations and to get organ transplant patients to the US quickly.  (The Royal Gazette)
May 15, 2012
A large Australian study has found a small but significant increase in the risk for birth defects in babies conceived with assisted reproductive technologies. Â (The New York Times)
May 15, 2012
An Indiana diocese asked a federal court on Monday to reject a lawsuit by a former parochial school teacher who claims she was fired for violating Roman Catholic doctrine by using in vitro fertilization to try to get pregnant. Â (GazetteXtra)
May 15, 2012
Politicians in Australia have been debating whether to change the law regarding the issuing of birth certificates to babies who are stillborn. Â (BBC News)
May 14, 2012
Journal of Religious Ethics (Volume 40, Issue 2, June 2012) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Everyone At The Table: Religious Activism and Health Care Reform in Massachusetts” by David M. Craig, 335–358.
May 14, 2012
International Conference, 13–15 December 2012, University of Copenhagen, Denmark In a historical perspective, selective reproduction is nothing new: across the world, infanticide and selective neglect of children have a long history; and the widespread deployment of sterilisation and forced abortion … Read More
May 14, 2012
Maastricht University The Netherlands July 2-4, 2012 Technology is an important driver of change in today’s world, and the desirability of such change is a matter of concern in public debate and policy making. Whereas the influence of morality on … Read More
May 14, 2012
Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill Friday that relaxes Arizona’s requirement for health plans to cover contraception, legislation that supporters called a protection for religious freedom and that critics called an attack on women. Â (Real Clear Politics)
