http://www.bioedge.org/ {site_description} mcook31@gmail.com(Michael Cook) michael@bioedge.org(Michael Cook) http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10062 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10062#When:04:27:44Z Indian IVF clinics are glad to showcase their bevies of happy surrogate mothers who have become pregnant for foreign couples who want children. But not necessarily the surrogates who die. Read more...]]> Fri, 18 May 2012 04:27:44 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/pointedremarks/view/10073 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/pointedremarks/view/10073#When:02:00:32Z Read more...]]> Sun, 20 May 2012 02:00:32 GMT Newsletter http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10072 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10072#When:10:46:23Z Another adventure in the Wild West of assisted reproduction, this time from Israel. An Israeli woman who is undergoing sex reassignment surgery wants to freeze her ovarian tissue before she has her hysterectomy. Read more...]]> Sat, 19 May 2012 10:46:23 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10071 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10071#When:06:45:58Z South African supporters of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia launched a campaign for legalisation this week. Read more...]]> Sat, 19 May 2012 06:45:58 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10070 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10070#When:05:06:05Z The number of Washington state residents who died of physician-assisted suicide rose to 70 last year, up from 51 in 2010 and 36 in 2009, when the state’s Death With Dignity Act took effect. The numbers are small, but the increase each year has been about 40% on the previous year. Read more...]]> Sat, 19 May 2012 05:06:05 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10067 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10067#When:04:54:19Z More and more baby-boomers, desperate to have grandchildren, are pushing daughters to freeze their eggs, the New York Times reports. Read more...]]> Sat, 19 May 2012 04:54:19 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10069 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10069#When:04:44:19Z The US Senate's Finance Committee has asked seven organisations, including the well-known Center for Practical Bioethics, in Kansas City, for information about financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Read more...]]> Sat, 19 May 2012 04:44:19 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10068 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10068#When:03:41:36Z Michael J. Fox has changed his mind on human embryonic stem cell research Read more...]]> Sat, 19 May 2012 03:41:36 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10066 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10066#When:00:49:06Z Aggressive IVF treatments at clinics in the UK are putting women and babies at risk, experts say. Read more...]]> Sat, 19 May 2012 00:49:06 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10065 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10065#When:19:44:44Z Misty Baker turned to a surrogate after ten years of fighting with infertility - and now Baker and her surrogate are both pregnant with twins. Read more...]]> Fri, 18 May 2012 19:44:44 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10064 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10064#When:11:42:01Z Despite diagnoses of infertility, some couples who have sought fertility treatments find that they later have a baby naturally, according to a new French study. Read more...]]> Fri, 18 May 2012 11:42:01 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10063 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10063#When:07:36:39Z After many failed attempts at conceiving a second child, using many medical treatments, a doctor told Sharine and Brian Kretchmar to find a sperm donor. Read more...]]> Fri, 18 May 2012 07:36:39 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/pointedremarks/view/10061 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/pointedremarks/view/10061#When:12:50:10Z Read more...]]> Sat, 12 May 2012 12:50:10 GMT Newsletter http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10060 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10060#When:11:56:56Z A controversy has erupted in Massachusetts over the use of skin shock therapy for troubled teenagers. The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in the suburb of Canton is a facility for people with severe emotional, behavioural and psychiatric problems, including autism. It is the only institution in the US which uses shock therapy ... Read more...]]> Sat, 12 May 2012 11:56:56 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10059 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10059#When:10:27:44Z Many of the most heated policy debates in bioethics hinge on the accuracy of the research -- in biology, medicine and social science. So anything which affects the reliability of scientific knowledge also has a bearing on bioethics. Read more...]]> Sat, 12 May 2012 10:27:44 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10057 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10057#When:05:57:59Z The German government is drafting legislation to ban cosmetic surgery for teenagers except for medical reasons. At the moment, there is no minimum age. As a result, patients under 20 account for about 10% of all cosmetic procedures, according to the Association of German Plastic Surgeons. Read more...]]> Sat, 12 May 2012 05:57:59 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10056 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10056#When:04:49:42Z Gadfly: a person who annoys or criticizes others in order to provoke them into action. There is no better word to describe Carl Elliott, a University of Minnesota bioethicist who is the profession’s most savage critic. In his column in the Chronicle of Higher Education this week, he took up a favourite theme: cosying up to the pharmaceutical industry. He complains that too many bioethicists are being funded by Big Pharma, which Dr Elliott tends to describe as a Mafia network. Read more...]]> Sat, 12 May 2012 04:49:42 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10055 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10055#When:02:12:44Z Two couples, in Chicago and Florida, found their embryos through a Craigslist discussion group from an Iowa couple who had 18 spare embryos. Deb and Kevin McCrea gave 9 to each couple for free, saving them thousands of dollars in IVF treatment. Read more...]]> Sat, 12 May 2012 02:12:44 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10054 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10054#When:07:44:16Z Thousands of drug capsules made from powdered baby flesh in China have been confiscated by South Korea customs agents. They were manufactured in northern China and smuggled in as stamina boosters. There were 35 attempts since last August, involving 17,450 capsules. Customs officials said that no one had been arrested, because the material, which contained bacteria and other harmful substances, was only intended for personal use. Read more...]]> Fri, 11 May 2012 07:44:16 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10053 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10053#When:07:02:35Z The contentious issue of birth defects in babies conceived with IVF is on the boil again after a major study was published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers at the University of Adelaide, in Australia, confirmed earlier surveys that found an elevated risk of defect among IVF babies. The odds for any birth defect in pregnancies involving assisted conception are 8.3%, compared to 5.8% for unassisted pregnancies. Read more...]]> Fri, 11 May 2012 07:02:35 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/pointedremarks/view/10051 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/pointedremarks/view/10051#When:13:50:25Z Read more...]]> Sat, 05 May 2012 13:50:25 GMT Newsletter http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10050 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10050#When:11:03:00Z Mitt Romney's eldest son Tagg now has three children born from a surrogate mother. Read more...]]> Sat, 05 May 2012 11:03:00 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10049 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10049#When:04:56:44Z Legal, safe and rare abortion is often seen as a necessary component of women’s health. However, a study of abortion in Chile published this week in PLoS One suggests that “the legal status of abortion does not appear to be related to overall rates of maternal mortality”. Read more...]]> Sat, 05 May 2012 04:56:44 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10048 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10048#When:03:41:51Z Should termination of Down syndrome foetuses be regarded as a fundamental human right? This is an issue which the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is currently pondering in the case of Krūzmane vs. Latvia. Read more...]]> Sat, 05 May 2012 03:41:51 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10047 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10047#When:02:49:23Z In Israel women with up to two children can receive unlimited free, government-funded IVF treatment. This means that it is an ideal place to test the effectiveness of IVF in increasing fertility. Unfortunately, according to the Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, this policy has failed. Instead, it has just hooked some women on endless painful and humiliating IVF treatment. Read more...]]> Sat, 05 May 2012 02:49:23 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10046 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10046#When:02:45:50Z South Korea's stem cell research is bouncing back after the disgrace caused by researcher Hwang Woo-suk, whose work with stem cells proved to be fraudulent. Read more...]]> Sat, 05 May 2012 02:45:50 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10045 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10045#When:02:42:40Z Many women in India who hire surrogates use fake tummies to keep the surrogacy a secret, the Times of India reports. Read more...]]> Sat, 05 May 2012 02:42:40 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10044 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10044#When:02:25:27Z The organ donation community applauded Facebook's announcement this week that it will allow its 900 million members to share their donor status with friends and family, and to link to state databases where Americans can sign up online to become donors. Read more...]]> Sat, 05 May 2012 02:25:27 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10043 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10043#When:02:09:22Z Two cases of euthanasia in New Zealand have been used to push the legalisation agenda, with politicians agitating for legal change. Each has involved men who helped terminally ill family members to commit suicide. Read more...]]> Sat, 05 May 2012 02:09:22 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10042 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10042#When:11:44:07Z The behaviour of Nazi doctors is universally accepted as a touchstone of bioethics. In the current issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics, a medical student asks whether doctors are actually more likely than other professions to be moral monsters. Read more...]]> Fri, 04 May 2012 11:44:07 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/pointedremarks/view/10041 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/pointedremarks/view/10041#When:12:57:39Z Read more...]]> Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:57:39 GMT Newsletter http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10040 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10040#When:11:14:47Z Why can you sell sperm but not your vote? These conundrums are investigated by Michael Sandel, of Harvard University, in his latest book, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets. It is sure to become a reference point in future bioethics debates. Read more...]]> Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:14:47 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10039 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10039#When:11:04:47Z Violence against doctors is increasing in China. China Daily has reported that in 2010, 17,000 violent incidents in about 70% of the country’s hospitals. This includes murder. Read more...]]> Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:04:47 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10038 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10038#When:11:00:47Z Last week’s news that birth defects are 37% higher for IVF children is dramatic. “That is a huge number,” writes Art Caplan, of New York University. He is probably the most quoted bioethicist in the US, and possibly the world, so attitudes could change. Read more...]]> Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:00:47 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10037 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10037#When:10:50:47Z Miraculous recoveries from brain trauma are always good news, but they may not be as miraculous as they first seem. However, the Daily Mail’s account of a boy who recovered fully after four specialists declared that he was brain dead makes one question if doctors really understand brain death. Read more...]]> Sat, 28 Apr 2012 10:50:47 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10036 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10036#When:01:53:47Z A sophisticated new microscope allows fertility doctors to monitor fertilised eggs in utero for up to five days - and proponents claim it has boosted pregnancy rates by 50%. Read more...]]> Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:53:47 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10035 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10035#When:01:47:47Z A pregnant woman from Detroit who was declared dead gave birth to twins this week after being kept alive for a month with a respirator. Read more...]]> Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:47:47 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10034 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10034#When:01:44:47Z The work of Nazi doctors is a well-documented lesson in medical ethics. There was even a separate trial for them at Nuremberg and seven were hanged. But what about the nurses who assisted them? Read more...]]> Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:44:47 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10033 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10033#When:01:16:47Z Fertility drugs could more than double the risk of offspring developing childhood leukaemia, academics cautioned this week. Read more...]]> Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:16:47 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10032 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10032#When:12:25:47Z People with intellectual disabilities, all children and people with dementia should be able to request euthanasia, the Belgian Liberal Humanist Association (HVV) has declared. Read more...]]> Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:25:47 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/pointedremarks/view/10031 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/pointedremarks/view/10031#When:11:51:37Z Read more...]]> Sat, 21 Apr 2012 11:51:37 GMT Newsletter http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10030 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10030#When:02:36:51Z A group of Hawaii doctors is offering to write prescriptions for terminally ill patients in order to test whether physician-assisted suicide is permitted under state law, American Medical News reports. Read more...]]> Sat, 21 Apr 2012 02:36:51 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10029 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10029#When:02:25:51Z The Texas Medical Board approved controversial regulations last Friday which are claimed to guarantee safe clinical use of stem cells and other “investigational agents”. Read more...]]> Sat, 21 Apr 2012 02:25:51 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10028 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10028#When:02:17:51Z Uzbekistan has a policy of secretly sterilising women, according to the BBC. Read more...]]> Sat, 21 Apr 2012 02:17:51 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10027 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10027#When:13:45:51Z Two recent studies have shown that the incidence of birth defects and long-term circulatory problems is much higher among children conceived with IVF. Read more...]]> Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:45:51 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10026 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10026#When:07:58:51Z The General Medical Council, the UK body which registers and disciplines doctors, is proposing controversial amendments to its guidelines for good patient care. A proposed draft, released this week, declares that doctors may not even refuse requests for sex-change surgery. Read more...]]> Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:58:51 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10025 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10025#When:06:51:51Z A bioethicist at Weill Cornell Medical College has fired another salvo in the battle of human dignity. Writing in the May issue of the journal Bioethics, she dissects earlier arguments and finds them wanting. Read more...]]> Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:51:51 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10024 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10024#When:06:20:51Z Two New Zealand bioethicists have suggested that surrogacy should be treated as a dignified profession, not just contract work. Read more...]]> Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:20:51 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10023 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10023#When:04:32:51Z Read more...]]> Fri, 20 Apr 2012 04:32:51 GMT BioEdge http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10022 http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10022#When:03:56:51Z The Nuffield Council on Bioethics, in the UK, is conducting an inquiry into how much information people need to know about their genetic origins. Read more...]]> Fri, 20 Apr 2012 03:56:51 GMT BioEdge