Biomedical/Medical Ethics A Genetic Dating App Is a Horrifying Thing That Shouldn’t Exist “The app is being developed by a team of geneticists led by George Church, who, in the same interview, defended accepting money for his lab donated by convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Church’s lab is most famous for its work on the gene-editing technology CRISPR/Cas9, […]
The Supreme Court of Texas recently ducked ruling on the constitutionality of the Texas Advance Directives Act. The court ruled that the underlying case (concerning Chris Dunn) was moot, because the patient had already died. In contrast, Tinslee Lewis is still very much alive.
Therefore, the constitutionality of TADA in Tinslee's case is not a moot question. At an extended hearing on Thursday, Texas Fourth District Court of Appeals Chief Justice Sandee B. Marion explained: “We’re here to determine whether 046 is unconstitutional."
The judge extended the TRO requiring Cook Children's to continue life-sustaining treatment for Tinslee until January 2, 2020. The hospital had planned to unilaterally withdrawn that treatment, pursuant to TADA, on October 10, 2019. Judge Marion will issue her judgment before the expiration of the TRO.
I offer my own 66-page analysis of the constitutionality of TADA here, in "Procedural Due Process and Intramural Hospital Dispute Resolution Mechanisms: The Texas Advance Directives Act."
Therefore, the constitutionality of TADA in Tinslee's case is not a moot question. At an extended hearing on Thursday, Texas Fourth District Court of Appeals Chief Justice Sandee B. Marion explained: “We’re here to determine whether 046 is unconstitutional."
The judge extended the TRO requiring Cook Children's to continue life-sustaining treatment for Tinslee until January 2, 2020. The hospital had planned to unilaterally withdrawn that treatment, pursuant to TADA, on October 10, 2019. Judge Marion will issue her judgment before the expiration of the TRO.
I offer my own 66-page analysis of the constitutionality of TADA here, in "Procedural Due Process and Intramural Hospital Dispute Resolution Mechanisms: The Texas Advance Directives Act."
by Keisha Ray, Ph.D.
This week Doctors for Camp Closures posted a video of protesters, including physicians, being arrested by police and military personnel after physicians went to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) headquarters in San Diego to offer flu vaccinations to detained migrants. Despite their well intentions the authorities turned them away. In the video protesters can be seen laying on the ground in front of the facility’s driveway and being picked up off the ground by police officers and men in military uniforms and placed in restraints. Doctors for Camp Closures are against the detainment of migrants and refugees but wanted to offer flu vaccinations to the migrants because they believe that health care is a human right.…
Today is the second day of a conference in Rome by the Pontifical Academy for Life and the World Innovation Summit for Health: "Religion and Medical Ethics: Palliative Care and the Mental Health of the Elderly."
The symposium examines the role that re...
Today is the second day of a conference in Rome by the Pontifical Academy for Life and the World Innovation Summit for Health: "Religion and Medical Ethics: Palliative Care and the Mental Health of the Elderly."
The symposium examines the role that re...
12/11/2019
Simon’s Law – More States Consider Legislation Prohibiting Unilateral Pediatric DNR Orders
In 2017, Kansas enacted “Simon's Law,” which is directed at prohibiting unilateral DNR orders for minors. (Kan. Stat. Ann. §38-150) Simon's Law imposes three mandates on physicians. First, a DNR order “shall not be instituted…unless at least one parent…has first been informed” and a “reasonable attempt has been made to inform the other parent.” Information about a proposed DNR order must be provided “both orally and in writing” unless the urgency of the situation precludes that. Second, Simon's Law requires the physician to contemporaneously document in the medical record when and how this notification was accomplished. Third, the law provides that “either parent…may refuse consent…either in writing or orally.” And “no [DNR] shall be instituted either orally or in writing if there has been such a refusal of consent.”
In 2019, three other states enacted similar “Simon's Law” statutes: Arizona, Missouri, and South Dakota. (Ariz. Rev. Stat Ann. §36-419; Mo. Rev. Stat. §191.250; S.D. Codified Laws Ann. §34-12F-9).
This week Simon's Law legislation was introduced in Pennsylvania (HB 2111). Like the Arizona law, the Pennsylvania bill does not require consent but only discussion of the DNR order.
12/11/2019
Simon’s Law – More States Consider Legislation Prohibiting Unilateral Pediatric DNR Orders
In 2017, Kansas enacted “Simon's Law,” which is directed at prohibiting unilateral DNR orders for minors. (Kan. Stat. Ann. §38-150) Simon's Law imposes three mandates on physicians. First, a DNR order “shall not be instituted…unless at least one parent…has first been informed” and a “reasonable attempt has been made to inform the other parent.” Information about a proposed DNR order must be provided “both orally and in writing” unless the urgency of the situation precludes that. Second, Simon's Law requires the physician to contemporaneously document in the medical record when and how this notification was accomplished. Third, the law provides that “either parent…may refuse consent…either in writing or orally.” And “no [DNR] shall be instituted either orally or in writing if there has been such a refusal of consent.”
In 2019, three other states enacted similar “Simon's Law” statutes: Arizona, Missouri, and South Dakota. (Ariz. Rev. Stat Ann. §36-419; Mo. Rev. Stat. §191.250; S.D. Codified Laws Ann. §34-12F-9).
This week Simon's Law legislation was introduced in Pennsylvania (HB 2111). Like the Arizona law, the Pennsylvania bill does not require consent but only discussion of the DNR order.
For All Mankind is a new American science fiction web television series produced for Apple TV+. The series dramatizes an alternate history depicting "what would have happened if the global space race had never ended" after the Soviet Union succeeds in ...
For All Mankind is a new American science fiction web television series produced for Apple TV+. The series dramatizes an alternate history depicting "what would have happened if the global space race had never ended" after the Soviet Union succeeds in ...
Written by Tess Johnson, University of Oxford How far will we allow genetic enhancement to go? vchal/ Shutterstock The first genetically edited children were born in China in late 2018. Twins Lulu and Nana had a particular gene – known as CCR5 – modified during embryonic development. The aim was to make them (and their […]
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