Informed Consent
Massachusetts judge ordered forced abortion and sterilization of mentally ill woman
Michael Cook | 21 January 2012
It is difficult to imagine a case better scripted for a discussion of informed consent than Mary Moe’s Massachusetts abortion.
Taiwan to destroy millions of tissue samples
Michael Cook | 02 December 2011
Millions of biomedical samples in Taiwan could soon be destroyed because they were obtained without proper informed consent. According to a recent law, all specimens must have the participants' written consent or they must be destroyed on February 5. The decision has put Taiwanese researchers at loggerheads with human rights groups.
Informed consent in Netherlands: circumcision
Michael Cook | 12 November 2011
Dutch doctors should discourage the circumcision of boys, even from Jewish and Muslim families, says the Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG), because children cannot give informed consent.
Panel urges ethics study of testing anthrax vaccine on children
Jared Yee | 03 November 2011
Informed consent and the possible threat of terrorist attack have clashed in a debate over whether an anthrax vaccine should be tested on children.
Are we morally obliged to participate in research?
Michael Cook | 22 October 2011
Bioethics debates are often robust, but it’s not every day that they make a reader sick. This was the reaction of Professor Bill Gleason, of the University of Minnesota Medical School, a columnist for the Chronicle of Higher Education. He had just attended a seminar at his university, “Do people have a moral obligation to participate in research?”. The contrarian views of Rosamund Rhodes, of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, in New York, were so unsettling that he needed three beers to come back to earth.
When faith puts life at risk
Jared Yee | 01 October 2011
At least 10 child deaths per year in the United States result from faith-based medical neglect, an article in American Medical News claims. Some parents refuse care for their children on the grounds that their faith forbids it.
Interview: John D. Arras on the Guatemala syphilis study
Michael Cook | 26 September 2011
Flawed papers based on unethical UK research remain unretracted
Jared Yee | 20 August 2011
Research papers based on body parts taken from hundreds of dead children without their parents’ consent were “fundamentally flawed,” according to a January 2001 report. However, over a decade later, Nature News reports that only one of those papers has been removed from the scientific record. The lack of action – even in what seems to be a clear-cut case – could point to reluctance by institutions and journals in retracting papers when the authors stand by the results.
Permission sought to allow “minimally conscious” woman to die in UK
Michael Cook | 30 July 2011
The relatives of a woman who is “minimally conscious” have asked the British court to allow her to die by withdrawing her food and water.
Surgery on hold as patient appeals competency finding
Jared Yee | 07 April 2011
In March the Montana Supreme Court allowed a woman to appeal a court-ordered hysterectomy.
Unconscious patients examined without consent
Jared Yee | 04 February 2011
Students did what they were told despite misgivings
Unauthorised tests could land execs in jail
Michael Cook | 03 December 2010
Company did unauthorised tests of bone cement
Obama calls for investigation into Guatamala STD study
Michael Cook | 27 November 2010
Commission to report in September
US apologizes for 1940s unethical research in Guatemala
Michael Cook | 02 October 2010
696 people infected with syphilis
Ignore wishes of dead if their organs are needed, say British bioethicists
Michael Cook | 02 October 2010
Choice when dead is nonsense
Should clinical trials be used as marketing exercises?
Michael Cook | 04 September 2010
Death in anti-psychotic trial raises disturbing questions.
Berkeley backpedals on releasing genetic information to college students
Jared Yee | 21 August 2010
California Dept of Public Health criticises, university backs down
May doctors ethically retrieve eggs from comatose women?
Michael Cook | 31 July 2010
Intriguing case at MGH
Man wants to donate his organs, now
Jared Yee | 31 July 2010
Wants to save “five to ten people”
German anatomists confront Nazi past
Michael Cook | 24 July 2010
Is a global debate on ethical use of cadavers needed?
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