Just when you thought that surrogate motherhood could not get more bizarre and complicated, a news flash comes from Hyderabad, the centre of the Indian surrogacy industry. This story concerns J. Pearl Linda Van Buren Green, a 35-year-old New Yorker, and her son Emperor Kaioyus Van Buren Green, who are caught in a Bermuda Triangle of "red tapism" somewhere between the Big Apple, Jamaica and the Subcontinent. 

More than 18 months ago Ms Green flew to India with seven vials of frozen semen. Her husband, Eric Dalton Green, lives in Jamaica and could not come to India because he has a fear of flying. Ms Green visited clinics in Goa and Mumbai before hitting the jackpot in Hyderabad. There she found a clinic which provided donor eggs and a surrogate mother, both anonymous. Her son was born on December 7.

Then began her battle with Indian bureaucracy. Because she could not prove that her… click here to read whole article and make comments

New figures show that 75 patients are dying in UK hospitals and care homes each day with conditions potentially caused by neglect. In 2010, over 27,000 people died with bedsores or infected wounds – an increase by more than 50% in a decade. Bedsores occur when patients are not turned regularly, or are left in poor hygiene. They may become infected if not spotted and tended to quickly. While in many cases the sores and infections were not the cause of death, experts said their presence demonstrated that thousands of patients were receiving poor treatment during the last days and weeks of their lives.

The Daily Mail reports that figures from the Office for National Statistics show that in 2010, 155 patients died in hospital from dehydration and a further 48 died from malnutrition. Another 812 died with dehydration and another 301 with malnutrition, although the conditions did not directly cause death.

While some… click here to read whole article and make comments

Last year, Taiwanese health authorities moved to crack down on illegal abortions, warning that doctors found guilty of the practice could have their licenses revoked. They announced on Tuesday that tougher oversight on illegal gender-selective abortions prevented almost 1,000 terminations of female foetuses last year.

Chiu Shu-ti, director-general of the Bureau of Health Promotion, attributed the improvement to government measures aimed at curbing sex-selective abortions and public-private campaigns promoting gender equality awareness. “To improve the country’s imbalanced sex ratio, the DOH has been publishing birth statistics on a regular basis and monitoring hospitals with irregular numbers since May 2010,” Chiu said. “Thanks to these efforts, 993 baby girls were saved in 2011.”

“The strict measures have paid off,” said Lee Tsui-feng, an official at Bureau of the Health Promotion of Taiwan’s Department of Health. According to government figures, 108 male babies were born for every 100 female babies in 2011, down from 109… click here to read whole article and make comments

Jesus Navarro needs a new kidney.  He has a willing donor and private insurance -- but he has been denied the transplant because he is an illegal immigrant. Administrators at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center are refusing to transplant a kidney from Navarro’s wife, saying he may not receive sufficient follow-up care, due to his uncertain status.

The decision highlights the tension between immigration policy and health care, and underlines the difficult role medical professionals play in attempts to save the lives of illegal immigrants. Mercury News reports there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that clinics often perform organ transplants on undocumented residents, even when the patients are young. In one case, UCLA Medical Center gave an illegal immigrant woman 3 liver transplants before she turned 21.

Health administrators also reject patients because of their immigration status, but that usually happens when patients lack insurance. “It puts the doctors in… click here to read whole article and make comments

The North Carolina legislature has recommended that surviving victims of the State’s forced sterilization program be paid US$50,000 each. About 7,600 people were sterilized between 1929 and 1974 in North Carolina to prevent the feckless poor and the mentally handicapped from bearing children. About 2,000 are still alive. In the YouTube video above Elaine Riddick laments her experience. She was sterilized at 14 when she gave birth after being raped.

In a 1950 pamphlet, the Human Betterment League of North Carolina said that the program was necessary to protect "the children of future generations and the community at large.” "You wouldn't expect a moron to run a train or a feebleminded woman to teach school," it said. ~ Los Angeles Times, Jan 25

After losing a case for damages for the birth of their severely disabled son based on a “wrongful life” claim, a Sydney couple has returned to the courts with a “wrongful birth” claim for A$10 million.

Keeden Waller was born in August 2000 with a rare blood clotting condition. This caused a massive stroke soon after his birth which left him unable to walk, talk or use a toilet. His parents are suing the IVF specialist under whose care he was conceived. Lawrence Waller, the father, suffered from the same condition but somehow the doctor failed to link the parents up with a genetic counsellor.

''There was a duty of care on the part of Dr James to ensure that both he and the Wallers understood that this problem could be passed on and for there to be proper counselling and discussion about the other options they had, including the option of an anonymous… click here to read whole article and make comments

Bioethics is playing a walk-on role in the drama of the Republican primaries. Newt Gingrich has expressed his opposition to abortion and embryonic stem cell research and has called for an investigation of practices in IVF clinics. He believes that human life begins at conception.

Gingrich’s stand on embryonic stem cell research has shifted over the years but he now says that he would ban all embryonic stem-cell research, including research done on surplus embryos created by IVF clinics. In his words, it amounts to “the use of science to desensitize society over the killing of babies.”

He also plans to form a commission to study the ethics of in vitro fertilization. “I believe life begins at conception, and the question I was raising was what happens to embryos in fertility clinics, and I would favor a commission to look seriously at the ethics of how we manage fertility clinics,” Gingrich said at… click here to read whole article and make comments

The left-wing candidate in the French presidential election has strongly endorsed the legalisation of euthanasia if he is elected. François Hollande, a Socialist, who will face the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, recently revived France’s simmering  euthanasia debate.

"I propose that all adults in an advanced or terminal phase of an incurable disease, which is causing unbearable physical or psychological suffering and cannot be treated, may request, under specific and strict conditions, medical assistance to end their life with dignity. "

A spokesman told Reuters that the exact protocols had not been worked out yet. "We believe that a person who is terminally ill and experiencing intense physical and psychological suffering must receive active assistance to die, but it must be very strictly regulated," she said.

Euthanasia has been fiercely debated in France. In January last year the Senate rejected a bill put forward by M. Hollande. President Sarkozy is firmly opposed. The… click here to read whole article and make comments

Princeton bioethicist Peter Singer and a research assistant, Agata Sagan, proposed a “morality pill” in a column in the New York Times this week. They speculate that moral behaviour is at least in part biochemically determined. Hence, it should be possible to engineer moral behaviour with drugs. Here is the scenario that they paint:

“If continuing brain research does in fact show biochemical differences between the brains of those who help others and the brains of those who do not, could this lead to a “morality pill” — a drug that makes us more likely to help? Given the many other studies linking biochemical conditions to mood and behavior, and the proliferation of drugs to modify them that have followed, the idea is not far-fetched. If so, would people choose to take it?

“Could criminals be given the option, as an alternative to prison, of a drug-releasing implant that… click here to read whole article and make comments

Church-affiliated institutions must cover free contraception for their employees, the Obama administration has announced. As a concession to outraged religious groups, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said their hospitals, colleges and social service agencies will have an additional year to comply with regulations under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. The plan takes effect on August 1, but institutions who have sought an exemption will not have to comply until August 1, 2013 – after the election in November.

Ms Sebelius said that access to contraception was a fundamental part of healthcare: “Scientists have abundant evidence that birth control has significant health benefits for women and their families, it is documented to significantly reduce health costs, and is the most commonly taken drug in America by young and middle-aged women.”

Despite protests, the Obama Administration seems confident that this will not become a religious liberty issue. “This decision was made… click here to read whole article and make comments