bioethics.com

Stem cells: home of HIV?

Bioethics Pundit — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:59:37 +0000

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can infect bone marrow cells — including, possibly, hematopoietic stem cells, according to a study published online today (March 7) in Nature. The findings suggest the virus can hide in an inactive state for long periods of time, evading treatment, even in individuals without detectable viral loads. (The Scientist)

Warnings about unlicensed cord blood collection

Bioethics Pundit — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:55:27 +0000

The UK Human Tissue Authority (HTA) has issued an official warning that unlawful collections of umbilical cord blood have been taking place in the UK, and that such instances ‘may compromise safety and quality standards’. (PHG Foundation)

Op-Ed: Shocking truths

Bioethics Pundit — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:54:19 +0000

THE JUDGE Rotenberg Center in Canton, which stands alone in its use of painful skin shocks to eradicate self-mutilation and sudden assault, is a storehouse of ethical and medical dilemmas. But it’s no shock - and no shame - that the parents of some autistic and mentally retarded children embrace this controversial school. (The Boston Globe)

Hospice Study Finds Racial Disparities

Bioethics Pundit — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:53:07 +0000

Among patients with advanced heart failure, blacks and Hispanics are less likely to receive hospice care than whites, researchers found. After adjustment for sociodemographic, clinical, and geographic factors, blacks were 41% less likely to have hospice care than whites (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.73) and Hispanics were 51% less likely (OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.66), according to Jane Givens, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and colleagues. (MedPage Today)

Oregon faith healers get 16 months for son’s death

Bioethics Pundit — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:51:57 +0000

The judge who sentenced an Oregon couple to prison Monday for the death of their son says members of their church must quit relying on faith healing when their children’s lives are at stake. (The Associated Press)

Dutch group endorses right to suicide for elderly

Bioethics Pundit — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:50:52 +0000

A campaign to give elderly people in the Netherlands the right to assisted suicide said Monday it has gathered more than 100,000 signatures, hoping to push the boundaries another notch in the country that first legalized euthanasia. (The Associated Press)

Bunny’s Last Days: When Living Will Isn’t Enough

Bioethics Pundit — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:49:47 +0000

When 87-year-old Bunny Olenick suffered a massive stroke in December 2008, doctors told her family there was no chance she could recover fully, although her limitations probably wouldn’t be known for months. A neurologist told her sons that if she did survive, her ability to communicate would be diminished, and she would likely need around-the-clock care for the rest of her life. (Kaiser Health News)

New Issue of Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology is Now Available

Denise Bailey — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:05:39 +0000

Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology (Volume 3, Issue 3, 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

“Nanotechnologies and Equal Access to Healthcare” by Eduardo Missoni and Guglielmo Foffani.
“The Impact of Nanomedicine Development on North-South Equity and Equal Opportunities in Healthcare” by Michael G. Tyshenko.
“Nano Applications, Mega Challenges: The Case of the Health Sector in India” by Jayashree Vivekanandan.
“The Principle of Justice and Access to Nanomedicine in National Healthcare Systems” by Mette Ebbesen.
“International Harmonization of Regulation of Nanomedicine” by Gary E. Marchant, Douglas J. Sylvester, Kenneth W. Abbott, and Tara Lynn Danforth.
“Avoiding the Mistakes of Biotech: How Intellectual Property Can Be Better Managed to Advance Nanotechnology Research” by Richard Gold.”

New Issue of Sociology of Health & Illness is Now Available

Denise Bailey — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:48:07 +0000

Sociology of Health & Illness (Volume 32, Issue 2, February 2010) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

“A Sociological Approach to Ageing, Technology and Health” by Kelly Joyce and Meika Loe, 171-180.
“A History of the Future: The Emergence of Contemporary Anti-Ageing Medicine” by Courtney Everts Mykytyn, 181-196.
“In the Vanguard of Biomedicine? The Curious and Contradictory Case of Anti-Ageing Medicine” by Jennifer R. Fishman, Richard A. Settersten Jr, and Michael A. Flatt; 197-210.
“Ageing in Place and Technologies of Place: The Lived Experience of People with Dementia in Changing Social, Physical and Technological Environments” by Katherine Brittain, Lynne Corner, Louise Robinson, and John Bond; 272-287.
“‘But Obviously Not for Me’: Robots, Laboratories and the Defiant Identity of Elder Test Users” by Louis neve, 335-347.

State’s assisted-suicide law faces major test Monday

Bioethics Pundit — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:57:39 +0000

A challenge to the state’s assisted-suicide law will face a major test Monday in Superior Court in Hartford. Two Fairfield County doctors, Gary Blick and Ronald M. Levine, sued the state last year hoping to ensure that doctors who prescribe medication to enable a patient to end his own life won’t be charged with second-degree manslaughter under the law. (The New Haven Register)

Calls for libel law reform to protect evidence-based science

Bioethics Pundit — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:56:46 +0000

It is feared that English libel law may be making it possible for financially well endowed groups to effectively silence scientific dissent about their own claims. (PHG Foundation)

On Bioethics in Public

Bioethics Pundit — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:39:08 +0000

From January 16, 2002, to June 11, 2009, I served on the President’s Council on Bioethics. Chaired first by Leon Kass (2001–2005) and then by Edmund Pellegrino (2005–2009), the Council met thirty-six times. Of its original eighteen members, nine served throughout the life of the Council. When asked, as I often was, whether I enjoyed the experience, my standard answer was: “It depends on what day you ask me.” (The New Atlantis)

Health Care: The Simple Solution

Bioethics Pundit — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:38:18 +0000

Those who debate insurance reform in Washington and pit public against privately funded care are framing the problem incorrectly. Here’s a better way to think about it: Economists are wrong in asserting that competition controls costs. Most often innovation and competition drive prices up, not down, because bringing better, higher-priced products to market is more profitable. Hospital-vs.-hospital competition causes providers to expand their scope and offer more premium-priced services. Equipment suppliers boost the capability and cost of their machines and devices. Drugmakers develop products that bring the highest prices. It’s because we have such competition, not because we lack it, that health costs are rising by 10% a year. (BusinessWeek)

Kids born via IVF mostly faring well into adulthood

Bioethics Pundit — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:36:54 +0000

Young adults who were conceived through in-vitro fertilization are doing as well as the average young American as far as physical health, though their rates of certain psychological problems appear elevated, a new study finds. (Reuters)

Death with Dignity: 63 people got lethal meds, 36 took them, 3 had complications

Bioethics Pundit — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:36:14 +0000

In the first nine months of Washington’s Death with Dignity Act, 63 terminally ill patients received lethal medication to end their lives. Thirty-six — or more than half — died from ingesting it. Complications while taking the medication occurred in three people. (Seattle Pi)