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May 14, 2012 6:30 pm

AJOB: An Independent Journal

It has been implied by Carl Elliott and William Heisel that it has ever been claimed that “financial links between the Center for Practical Bioethics, AJOB and Purdue Pharma” exist and that “what reporters may find is that the center is tied up” with AJOB.  We hope that our statement below will quell inaccurate speculation and prevent future defamatory statements about AJOB by these two writers or any others who might mistake their statements for facts.

JOURNAL RELATIONSHIPS

No financial relationship exists or ever existed between AJOB and Purdue Pharmaceuticals or any pharmaceutical company.  AJOB received no financial support from the Center for Practical Bioethics. No member of the editorial group in Kansas City, including Drs.…

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May 13, 2012 11:09 am

Tweeting Live Medical Procedures

Using Twitter to broadcast a live surgical procedure: educational or ethically dubious? There are obvious concerns with the practice such as the invasion of privacy or potential for error/adverse events due to the broadcast. That said, the pictures from the surgery posted on Twitter appear to have no identifying information about thepatient. HIPAA violation unlikely. Others have asked whether this creates an unnecessary/unwanted distraction in the surgical suite. Perhaps it could–but it isn’t as though the physician is typing on his Blackberry in between sutures. Arguably, the “distraction” might heighten attention to detail (don’t want to goof live!) and reduce the likelihood of medical errors.…

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May 1, 2012 12:33 pm

A Dark Side to Facebook’s Organ Donation Status?

I agree, mostly, with Art Caplan’s analysis of Facebook’s decision to add “Organ Donor” as a Life Event on their website. I agree that the DMV is about as poorly suited as a state organization could be to engage with citizens about the possibility of being an organ donor.  Facebook is undoubtedly the world’s largest megaphone for raising social awareness about issues–the media attention alone is likely to spur many Facebook users to think about being an organ donor, and maybe, if we’re lucky, to have a conversation with friends and family about it. Moreover, any activity on the part of social networks and major corporations to increase the number of organ donors worldwide is laudable.…

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April 26, 2012 12:19 pm

Reduce, Reuse…Re-transplant?

It is now possible to re-transplant kidneys from a first recipient to a second according to the results of a rare surgical procedure performed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. According to CBS News, this procedure is thought to be the first procedure of this kind done in the U.S. The reason for the experiment? 73,000 people on transplant waiting lists nationwide who wait incredibly long periods of time to receive organs. Reusing previously transplanted organs that are still “in good shape” might increase supply. Still, it seems unlikely that procedures like this will put much of a dent in the organ shortage in the US given that the organ for the second transplant would no longer  have to be needed by the first recipient, either due to death or complications of the first transplant.…

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April 20, 2012 2:57 pm

Caplan: Time to Think about IVF Baby Health

Art Caplan reflects on study published in Fertility and Sterility which indicated that IVF babies have a 37% higher risk of being born with a birth defect compared to naturally conceived children. Caplan concludes in his MSNBC column: “Infertility treatments have brought a great deal of joy to many.  But, the price is high – so high that we need to be sure it is a key element in thinking about using these treatments.”  This this level of risk worth it? I think most parents who have conceived or want to conceive through IVF would say yes, but it still an important fact that those using or thinking of using IVF should consider.…

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April 19, 2012 8:13 pm

Cancer Patients Are Mum About Care Problems

A study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology reports via Reuters Health today that cancer patients rarely tell anyone about the problems with the care they receive. The most common problems? Really not too different from what most seriously ill patients interacting with the healthcare system would gripe about, I imagine. “Delays in treatment, surgical complications and other issues related to medical care, in addition to communication barriers or breakdown between them and their doctors” are among the most prominent issues.

So is there something wrong with cancer care, specifically, or just health care, in general? My guess is that there’s a little bit of both going on here.…

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April 16, 2012 11:45 am

Feeding Tubes for Brides?

Sometimes doctors engage in questionable practices for the “good of the patient.” Think plastic surgeons who enhance breasts to any size to help their patients feel better about their body image. But this latest trend in bridal dieting really takes the (wedding) cake.  Dieting brides-to-be who want to be able to fit into that wedding dress are now using feeding tubes to diet for the big day, says the New York Times. The feeding tubes allow women to be on an 800 calorie diet and go about their day, albeit with a tube up their nose. Physician involvement in radical weight loss for any event is shocking, dangerous and almost certainly wrong.…

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April 13, 2012 2:19 pm

Spoiling for a Fight? Check Out Bioethics.net.

Bioethics is increasingly behaving like a Fight Club. Countless scholars wage war in the comment sections on blogs and news stories. Everyone has an opinion as to whether there is a “new ethics of abortion” or whether “anonymous fathers” are a problem.  Want to get in on bioethics’ sparring? Now you can do it right here at bioethics.net.  Let us know what you think about the obligation to use PGD in IVF or whether you think it is okay to swab undergraduate college students for use in genetic research. Let the commentary (and the fights) continue.…

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April 12, 2012 9:54 pm

The Most Interesting Neuroethicist and Philosopher You’ve Never Met.

The Atlantic calls him “a Timothy Leary for the Viral Video age.” Jason Silva is a self-proclaimed “performance philosopher” who presents novel ideas and even more cutting-edge messaging about biotechnology, neuroscience and bioethics. Silva argues that “philosophical ideas are diluted by their academic packaging” and that academics don’t know anything about packaging. He’s probably right. We could all help ourselves and our scholarship and our ideas if we thought as much about the medium as the message.

Summer Johnson McGee, PhD…

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April 10, 2012 1:50 pm

Caplan on Prescription Drug Abuse

Today Art Caplan, in his MSNBC column, discusses the epidemic of prescription drug abuse in this country. But his conclusions would have a chilling effect upon physicians.  He concludes, “Shouldn’t we create a public policy and legal doctrine that hold accountable those doctors who prescribe these potent painkillers indiscriminately?  Of course we should. The problem, of course, is that creating policy that is designed to catch the “bad apples” in medicine so far in the US has had the effect of treating every physician who prescribes opioids and other pain medication in the US like they are a criminal. Prescription monitoring programs (PMPs) in 40 states haven’t resulted in any positive outcomes and have made doctors afraid to prescribe for fear of being part of a “bad doctor” database.…

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