US

North Carolina’s eugenic past makes headlines again

Jared Yee | 17 December 2011

North Carolina’s eugenic past has made headlines again as legislators push to compensate the estimated 7,600 victims of its eugenics program.

Panel gives US govt funded clinical research clean bill of health

Michael Cook | 17 December 2011

Current rules and regulations provide adequate safeguards to mitigate risk in clinical trial, says the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. After a survey of federally-sponsored research involving human volunteers after a scandal over highly unethical treatment of Guatemalan patients in the late 1940s by doctors in the Public Health Service, Commission basically gave American research a clean bill of health.

Drug wakes those who are near death

Jared Yee | 10 December 2011

A gripping feature about the mysteries of the human brain and parental love appeared in the New York Times recently.

Overseas couples go to US in search surrogate mothers

Jared Yee | 03 December 2011

India is often described as the world surrogacy hub. But a good number of American women are also bearing children for overseas couples.

Court will hear IVF benefits

Jared Yee | 25 November 2011

The US Supreme Court will hear a case about whether children conceived through IVF after the death of a parent are eligible for Social Security survivor benefits.

US mothers participate in clinical trials to make ends meet

Jared Yee | 25 November 2011

More cash-strapped mums are signing up for clinical trials.

Marketing and science clash in Gardasil debate

Jared Yee | 18 November 2011

Gardasil, Merck’s vaccine against the human papilloma virus, the most common sexually transmitted disease, is once again at the centre of political, moral, bioethical and economic controversy after last month’s recommendation by the Centres for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) that 11 and 12-year-old boys be vaccinated.

Mentally challenged can be “walking targets”

Jared Yee | 27 October 2011

A horrifying story from Philadelphia has brought to light the complexity of the issue of autonomy. Paroled murderer Linda Ann Weston dragged several mentally challenged adults along to Social Security offices to sign off as their representative payee – someone who helps manage their monthly benefits of between US$600 and $900, authorities say.

Nevada doctor charged in alleged stem cell case

Jared Yee | 15 October 2011

A Nevada paediatrician has been charged with conspiring to implant chronically ill patients with stem cells collected from human placentas.

Sperm donors father colossal families in Canada, US

Jared Yee | 15 October 2011

Experts are concerned about lax regulations on sperm donation in Canada and the US where some men have anonymously fathered dozens of children.

Pop culture, wealthy Chinese drive booming medical tourism in Asia

Jared Yee | 15 October 2011

It’s one of the fastest-growing industries in Asia.

Controversy over possible changes to US organ donation

Michael Cook | 23 September 2011

Criteria for organ donation in the US may change radically, if proposals by the United Network for Organ Sharing, which controls the allocation of organs, are implemented, the Washington Post has reported.

Mississippi voters can decide on personhood of the unborn: ruling

Jared Yee | 16 September 2011

Voters in Mississippi will have the chance to decide on the personhood of the unborn in November.

Researchers grow vertebrae, colon stem cells

Jared Yee | 16 September 2011

Researchers at UC Davis have used stem cells from adult bone marrow to encourage the growth of bone tissue necessary for spinal fusion following the removal of cervical discs – the cushions between neck bones, alleviating debilitating, chronic pain.

Detecting hidden consciousness in vegetative state patients

Jared Yee | 09 September 2011

Some patients previously thought to be unconscious are in fact aware of themselves and their surroundings, according to Dr Adrian Owen of the University of Western Ontario.

Sperm donor has 150 sons and daughters

Jared Yee | 08 September 2011

Cynthia Daily and her partner used donated sperm to conceive a baby seven years ago, and they hoped that one day their son would meet some of his half siblings – a sort of extended family.

Bioethics commission rules Guatemalan STD research unethical

Jared Yee | 31 August 2011

US researchers violated ethical boundaries when they deliberately infected Guatemalan prisoners, mental health patients and prostitutes with sexually transmitted diseases in a 1940s research project, a presidential commission concluded on Tuesday.

Patients given HIV-infected organs

Jared Yee | 31 August 2011

One of Taiwan’s best hospitals has admitted that organs infected with HIV were mistakenly transplanted into 5 patients after a hospital worker misheard the donor’s test results by telephone.

Celebrity lawyer discovers new species of mercy killing

Michael Cook | 27 August 2011

The celebrity criminal lawyer who defended Mike Tyson, Patty Hearst, Jim Bakker, Claus von Bülow and O.J. Simpson has come up with a novel mercy killing defence. Giji Jordan, a millionaire single mother, gave her son Jude a cocktail of drugs in an up-market Manhattan hotel in February last year. Her lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, a professor at Harvard Law School, says that this is not a case of murder, but justifiable altruistic filicide.

New website gives info on US euthanasia initiatives

Michael Cook | 27 August 2011

A new website opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia brings together useful information about the status the law in the various American states. “Choice is an Illusion” provides up-to-date information about what is happening in the United States