Bioethics.net

Each year, too many people die waiting for a transplant. Just about everybody agrees that the current system to distribute organs is both ethical and fair, but it simply doesn’t provide enough, and some argue it’s time to change.

If you’ve ever wanted a vial of Ronald Reagan’s blood, now’s your chance — although this sale is being called unethical. A vial supposedly containing the late president’s blood is up for auction on PFCauctions.com, which is based in the United Kingdom. The website claims the blood was taken from Reagan following the assassination attempt against him in 1981.

California lawmakers are weighing a bill aimed at protecting their state’s citizens from surreptitious genetic testing but scientists are voicing their growing concerns that, if passed, such a law would have a costly and damaging effect on research. The bill, dubbed the Genetic Information Privacy Act, would require an individual’s written consent for the collection, analysis, retention, and sharing of his or her genetic information—including DNA, genetic test results, and even family disease history.

Ours is a market-driven society. Are there some things, though, that money cannot buy or should not be able to buy? Michael Sandel suggests that friendship, wedding toasts, gifts, school admissions, and organs for transplant are the sorts of things that should not be commercialized. Market values risk making some practices unfair (e.g., private school legacy admissions that privilege students from wealthy families) and dissolving or corrupting others (e.g., voluntary blood and organ donations). At stake, Sandel argues, are civic virtues of solidarity and altruism that make for better communal lives.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History is developing its first major exhibit on the human genome with a $3 million pledge announced Monday from a biotechnology company. The philanthropic foundation of Life Technologies Corp. is the lead sponsor for a 2,500-square-foot exhibition slated to open on the National Mall in June 2013.

Think of it as a health policy wonk’s dream: Football stadium after
One insurance company’s data could fill 60 million of these. (bigstockphoto) football stadium packed to the brim with…health insurance claims data. An odd dream, to be sure. But health insurance data is crucial to understand how health care dollars get spent. It shows how people use health care, what’s changing and, in some cases, why. Health insurers, however, have tended to keep that data private, as it could tip competitors off to how they handle business.