I was on a radio program today, and the host played for my comment a shameless clip from an AP report depicting a Parkinson’s patient’s fury at President Bush for vetoing expanded federal funding for ESCR because he believes—because that is what he has been told—that . . . . Continue Reading »
According to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly in 1948, “Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.” Somebody had better tell the bioethicists, transhumanists, deep ecologists, philosophical . . . . Continue Reading »
This report confirms past research demonstrating that many people diagnosed as unconscious—aren’t, or at least, many who are unconscious eventually wake up.Around a quarter of patients in an acute vegetative state when they are first admitted to hospital have a good chance of recovering . . . . Continue Reading »
Holy cow! My pal William B. Hurlbut is on the podium behind President Bush as he makes his stem cell speech in the East Room. What a moment for Bill! I knew he was meeting with the president, but I had no idea it would result in such a public and high profile presidential pat on the back. I am so . . . . Continue Reading »
Euthanasia activists are obsessed with lexicon. They believe that if only they can find the right words to use in identifying mercy killing and assisted suicide, people will see the wisdom of their proposal and embrace medicalized homicide.This obsession with words and terms has marked the . . . . Continue Reading »
I had heard this was in the offing: When President Bush vetoes the bill today that would overturn his embryonic stem cell federal funding policy, he will also sign an executive order intended to ultimately fund research into “alternatives,” to destructive embryonic stem cell research, . . . . Continue Reading »
Last year, Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology, claimed to have derived human embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos. That report turned out to be, shall we say, exaggerated. In fact, ACT’s researchers had destroyed all the embryos they worked on.Now, Lanza has announced that . . . . Continue Reading »
This is a fun story about a school that trains dogs to assist people with disabilities that came up with a novel way of raising funds for their important work: Dog “art.” Here’s the story:The owner of a fledgling dog-training academy in Salisbury has come up with a bizarre . . . . Continue Reading »
The New York Times Magazine published an important article today about pain control and the fear put into doctors by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that treating patients too aggressively with opioids (narcotics) could be dangerous to one’s freedom.The story, byline Tina Rosenberg, . . . . Continue Reading »
I don’t really care what bioethicist Ronald M. Green thinks (and, I am sure, he doesn’t care about my opinions). I bring Green up because he is the head of the Advanced Cell Technology bioethics advisory committee, and a professor at Dartmouth, who has just published an opinion piece in . . . . Continue Reading »