Given the heat and extent of the public debate, it is tempting to view cloning and stem cell research as the be all and end all of biotechnology. But so much is happening that is not deeply ethically contentious. (Yes, Yes: Scientists could find a cure for cancer and a few would complain that . . . . Continue Reading »
Back at the first of the year, I peered into my obviously on-the-fritz crystal ball and predicted that Justice Kennedy would reverse his earlier position and vote to strike down the federal partial birth (intact dilation and extraction, or D & X) ban. Boy, was I wrong. Not only did he not change his . . . . Continue Reading »
This is really a bad idea: A Missouri legislator named Dr. Rob Schaaf wants the state to stop buying and distributing important vaccines that are crucial to maintaining the health of children because they were derived from the cells of aborted fetuses. But how is that any different from harvesting . . . . Continue Reading »
It is a continuing source of astonishment and concern to me that so many “scientists” so fervently wish to knock human beings off of the pedestal of exceptionalism, and transform us into merely another animal in the forest, just one of the fauna, if you will. I bring this up because of . . . . Continue Reading »
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is again having trouble. It’s president and chief scientific officer, Zach Hall, has resigned for health reasons, while at the same time, its head consultant on funding construction projects has also quit. Beyond these personnel issues, there . . . . Continue Reading »
There is a proposal in Russia to permit euthanasia. One opponent. a doctor and member of the Duma, warns that legalizing euthanasia would be a way of “seizing organs:” From the story:If a law allowing euthanasia appears in Russia, the risk of criminal seizure of human organs sharply . . . . Continue Reading »
One of the most momentous decisions in medicine is the “do not resuscitate” order, or DNR. This doesn’t mean no treatment, nor does it mean no life-sustaining treatment. It means that if a patient suffers cardiac arrest, no CPR will be administered.Because DNR’s basically . . . . Continue Reading »
We hear from some, such as Dr. Sherwin Nuland, that what a doctor does or does not do at the bedside should be determined by the individual practioner’s personal conscience. This usually cuts from the side of permitting acts such as euthanasia—as Nuland asserted in the New England . . . . Continue Reading »
Now that Big Biotech has won elections in CA and MO, and the Bush funding policy is on the ropes, Big Biotech and their boosters in the media are changing their stories. Whereas before, it was about direct CURES! CURES! CURES!, now it is about basic research, which is touted as just as . . . . Continue Reading »
This video produced by my pals at the Center for Bioethics and Culture is a somber warning against harvesting women so that their eggs can be used in human cloning research. Egg donation can lead to serious infections, loss of fecundity, and even death. Regardless of whether one supports or opposes . . . . Continue Reading »