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In The News
Featured Article
Wadman, Meredith. Minnesota Starts to Destroy Stored Blood Spots. Nature News. 3 February 2012.
Minnesota's state health department has this week begun to destroy blood samples that are routinely collected to diagnose serious inherited and congenital diseases in newborn babies. Continue reading…
Drugs & Pharmaceuticals
Japsen, Bruce. Drug Costs Pose Smaller Financial Burden Amid Generic Boom. The New York Times. 8 February 2012.
Thanks to greater use of generic drugs, the financial burden of prescription costs has become less of an issue for families in the United States, according to a new study by the RAND Corporation. Continue reading…
End-of-Life
Severson, Kim. Georgia Court Rejects Law Aimed at Assisted Suicide. The New York Times. 6 February 2012.
The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a law aimed at controlling assisted suicide was unconstitutional, a decision that is likely to help shape the national debate over the practice. Continue reading…
Health Care
Hixon, Todd. The U.S. Does Not Have a Debt Problem…It Has a Health Care Cost Problem. Forbes. 9 February 2012.
If health care costs were under control, i.e. growing no faster than the economy, we could manage our debt. Continue reading…
Wintour, Patrick and Juliette Jowit. Health Bill in Fresh Trouble as First Signs of Cabinet Dissent Emerge. The Guardian. 9 February 2012.
The government's beleaguered health bill has run into fresh trouble after it emerged that plans are being laid for a call for it to be scrapped at the Liberal Democrat spring conference. Continue reading…
Medical Ethics
Carollo, Kim. Doctors Not Always Honest With Patients, Says Survey. ABC News. 8 February 2012.
About 10 percent of doctors recently surveyed said they hadn’t always been honest with their patients, according to new research published in the journal Health Affairs. Continue reading…
Organ Transplantation
O’Reilly, Kevin B. Outcry Over Disabled Girl’s Transplant Care Renews Eligibility Debate. American Medical News. 6 February 2012.
A parent's anguished online plea for an organ transplant for her developmentally disabled daughter and new research on kidney transplantation eligibility among elderly patients have refocused attention on the vexing decisions that face physicians who determine which patients are suitable for transplantation. Continue reading…
Religion
Goodstein, Laurie. Bishops Were Prepared for Battle Over Birth Control Coverage. The New York Times. 9 February 2012.
When after much internal debate the Obama administration finally announced its decision to require religiously affiliated hospitals and universities to cover birth control in their insurance plans, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops were fully prepared for battle. Continue reading…
Reproductive Ethics
College Vending Machine Dispenses “Morning-After” Pill. MSNBC. 7 February 2012.
Students at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania can get the "morning-after" pill by sliding $25 into a vending machine, an idea that has drawn the attention of federal regulators and raised questions about how accessible emergency contraception should be. Continue reading…
Davison, Nicola. China’s Surrogate Mothers See Business Boom in Year of the Dragon. The Guardian. 8 February 2012.
The "rent a womb" industry, which inhabits a legal grey area, came under fire in December when it emerged a wealthy couple in the southern city of Guangzhou paid nearly 1m yuan to have eight babies simultaneously, using two surrogates. Continue reading…
Technology
Briggs, Helen. Gene Therapy “Gave Me Sight Back.” BBC News. 8 February 2012.
Three US citizens who lost their sight in childhood have reported a dramatic improvement in vision after having gene therapy in both eyes. Continue reading…
Roberts, Michelle. Genetic Parkinson’s Disease Brain Cells Made in Lab. BBC News. 8 February 2012.
Scientists in the US have successfully made human brain cells in the lab that are an exact replica of genetically caused Parkinson's disease. Continue reading…
Rose, Brent. The Miraculous NASA Breakthrough That Could Save Millions of Lives. Gizmodo. 8 February 2012.
The NASA Biocapsule—made of carbon nanotubes—will be able to "diagnose" and instantly treat an astronaut without him or her even knowing there's something amiss. Continue reading…
In The Journals
Woolf, Steven and Russel Harris. The Harms of Screening: New Attention to an Old Concern. The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Americans are enthusiastic about screening, especially cancer screening. What could be wrong with screening, especially if it can detect a life-threatening condition at an earlier stage? Trials show that early detection of breast, colorectal, and other cancers can reduce cause-specific mortality rates, and the same could apply to other conditions. With presumably little to lose and much to gain from early detection, why recommend against screening unless the concern is costs? Are lives being lost to save money? Continue reading…
Cancer treatment: a new and uneasy world. The Lancet.
World Cancer Day, an annual aide-mémoire about the multifaceted burden imposed by cancer on the world's people and societies, fell on Feb 4. For decades hopes have been high that investments in intensive research would transform the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and in various types of malignancy progress has been dramatic. However, despite the efforts of doctors, researchers, and taxpayers, cancer remains a looming and elusive target. Improvements in life expectancy have increased not only an individual's lifetime risk of cancer but the geographical imprint of the disease. Continue reading…
Blumenthal-Barbya, JS and Hadley Burroughs. Seeking Better Health Care Outcomes: The Ethics of Using the “Nudge”. American Journal of Bioethics.
Policymakers, employers, insurance companies, researchers, and health care providers have developed an increasing interest in using principles from behavioral economics and psychology to persuade people to change their health-related behaviors, lifestyles, and habits. In this article, we examine how principles from behavioral economics and psychology are being used to nudge people (the public, patients, or health care providers) toward particular decisions or behaviors related to health or health care, and we identify the ethically relevant dimensions that should be considered for the utilization of each principle. Continue reading…
Constable, Catherine. Withdrawal Of Artificial Nutrition And Hydration For Patients In A Permanent Vegetative State: Changing Tack. Bioethics.
In the United States, the decision of whether to withdraw or continue to provide artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) for patients in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) is placed largely in the hands of surrogate decision-makers, such as spouses and immediate family members. This practice would seem to be consistent with a strong national emphasis on autonomy and patient-centered healthcare. When there is ambiguity as to the patient's advanced wishes, the presumption has been that decisions should weigh in favor of maintaining life, and therefore, that it is the withdrawal rather than the continuation of ANH that requires particular justification. Continue reading…
Opinion
Ars Technica
Timmer, John. Indiana backing away from bill allowing creation “science” into classrooms. February 3, 2012.
Earlier this week, we reported on efforts by an Indiana state legislator who was interested in getting creationism inserted into the state's science classrooms. He managed to get a modified bill, one that was less sectarian but still overtly promoted religion, passed by the state's Senate. Yesterday, however, the leader of the Indiana House voiced unease about having the state wade into an area that the Supreme Court has declared an unconstitutional promotion of religion. Continue reading…
Chicago Tribune
Editorial. Time to move on Medicaid spending. February 4, 2012.
When Gov. Pat Quinn spoke Wednesday about the state of the state, he gave a brief nod to the groaning cost of Illinois' single biggest operating expense: Medicaid. Continue reading…
Editorial. A matter of faith. February 3, 2012.
Later this year, all health insurance plans will be required by federal law to pay for contraceptives, such as birth control pills, and abortifacients, such as Plan B, the so-called morning-after pill. The Obama administration recently ruled that churches will be exempt from this mandate, but other religiously affiliated institutions, such as hospitals, social service agencies and colleges, will have to comply. Continue reading…
Houston Chronicle
Ramirez, José. Those with leprosy are deserving of dignity. February 4, 2012.
In 1948, the United Nations adopted Article 1, titled the Declaration of Human Rights: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and human rights." This article represents the values that we all cherish, but do not always practice. Continue reading…
Los Angeles Times
Editorial. ‘Obamacare’ insurance exchanges: Let’s get going. February 8, 2012.
The 2010 healthcare reform law gave states until Jan. 1, 2014, to create "exchanges" in which individuals and small businesses could shop for insurance policies. If the states don't, the federal government will operate exchanges for them. The requirement poses a quandary for lawmakers who oppose the federal law: Should they start working on an exchange, or count on the law being repealed by the Supreme Court or by a new Republican-controlled Congress and White House in 2013? The answer is that each state should set up an exchange regardless of how its lawmakers feel about "Obamacare," because it would help ameliorate the very real problems consumers face in the health insurance market. Continue reading…
Editorial. Alzheimer’s research gets a federal money infusion. February 9, 2012.
Just as scientists are announcing a breakthrough in their understanding of how Alzheimer's spreads through the brain, robbing its sufferers of memories and cognitive functioning, the Obama administration is proposing a dramatic increase in federal funding for Alzheimer's research. Continue reading…
New York Times
Editorial. The campaign to defeat Alzheimer’s. February 5, 2012.
There is hopeful news in the battle against Alzheimer’s disease, a type of dementia that gradually robs millions of older Americans of their memories and mental capacities and ultimately kills them. Scientists are beginning to close in on possible diagnostic tests and treatments for this incurable disease. And the Obama administration, carrying out a law enacted in 2010, has just issued a “draft framework” for an aggressive campaign to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease effectively by 2025. Continue reading…
Editorial. Race and death penalty juries. February 5, 2012.
North Carolina courageously passed the Racial Justice Act in 2009, making it the first state in the country to give death row inmates a chance to have their sentences changed to life without parole based on proof that race played a significant role in determining punishment. Continue reading…
USA Today
Editorial. Contraception mandate violates religious freedom. Feb 5, 2012.
Few Americans of any political stripe would disagree with the simple proposition that the government should steer away from meddling in church affairs. Certainly, it should never try to force a religiously affiliated institution to violate a central tenet of its faith. Yet in drawing up the rules that will govern health care reform, the Obama administration didn't just cross that line. It galloped over it, requiring employers affiliated with the Catholic Church to include free birth control in their health insurance plans. That's contrary to both Catholic doctrine and constitutional guarantees of religious freedom. Continue reading…
Editorial. Not hiring smokers crosses privacy line. January 28, 2012.
But on Jan. 1, Baylor went a step too far: It stopped hiring anyone who smokes at work — or anywhere else. Treating smoking, in essence, like illegal drug use takes Baylor and an increasing number of other employers down a dangerous road, one that extends far too deeply into the private lives of prospective workers. Continue reading…
