60 Minutes had a horrendous story on tonight’s show of a mentally ill prisoner, in jail for shop lifting, who was chained to his bed for many hours each day and allowed to dehydrate to death by clearly negligent prison personnel. This is a shameful example of how we often abuse the mentally . . . . Continue Reading »
Talk about a bitter irony: Haitian slaves were among the first to liberate themselves (from ownership by French colonists), and yet, on the island that once stood as a beacon encouraging others to strive toward freedom, children are held as “domestic chattels.” From the story in the . . . . Continue Reading »
A UK doctor wants to legalize kidney markets to ease the organ shortage. Of course, people in his social class will never threaten their own health by being sellers. They will be buyers. Opening the door to exploiting the poor for their organs is a new form of . . . . Continue Reading »
When I had the great honor of interviewing Dame Cecily Saunders, founder of the modern hospice movement, she criticized the American “way” of hospice, noting that unlike the UK, we had created a system where hospice is seen as an “abandon hope all ye who enter here,” . . . . Continue Reading »
A bi-partisan bill is being introduced in the House of Representatives to outlaw the patenting of human genes. It doesn’t have a number yet. Here is what it states: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no patent may be obtained for a nucleotide sequence, or its functions or . . . . Continue Reading »
If animals can not be used in testing without harming human safety, I am all for it—assuming reasonable feasibility. Indeed, developing such alternatives is part of the duties we have as exceptional beings. Here’s the story: Apparently, human cell lines may work as well or better than . . . . Continue Reading »
Some politicians have no shame, and methinks we have to now include Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., to that list. Reacting to a story about high levels of autism in NJ, the good Senator said. “This report only strengthens my resolve to get federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, . . . . Continue Reading »
James Thomson, who first derived human embryonic stem cells, is a man of integrity. I disagree with him on the ethics of the issue, but he always tells it like it is. For example, where some cloning advocates claim that a cloned human embryo is not really an embryo—a major argument of the pro . . . . Continue Reading »
Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, who tried to legalize assisted suicide last year and will again this year, has another pet cause: Outlawing the sale of incandescent light bulbs in the Golden State. So in Levine’s world, a doctor should be able to write a lethal prescription to kill a patient, but if . . . . Continue Reading »
And so, what I call biotechnological colonialism continues. Now. the Times of London is reporting, British would-be parents are traveling to India to buy embryos for implantation and birth. From the story: “The booming industry has attracted criticism on ethical grounds. Social workers in . . . . Continue Reading »
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