Bioethics News.
06/19/2013
The Experts: How Should Physician Pay Be Changed?
Unfortunately, limited by many factors, our health-care system has suffered from insufficient experimentation and a lack of innovation in approaches to physician and nonphysician provider compensation.
06/19/2013
Pregnant Workers Face Routine Discrimination, Report Says
Many workers are routinely fired or forced to take unpaid leave in the U.S. after asking for basic accommodations during their pregnancy.
06/18/2013
Organ Donors Will Sign Up on Facebook
Despite years of media and public service campaigns appealing for organ donations, donor rates remained static while demand increased — until Facebook, researchers reported.
06/18/2013
Supreme Court lets U.S. regulators challenge generic-drug deals
The Supreme Court rattled the pharmaceutical industry Monday when it ruled that antitrust regulators should be able to challenge the arrangements that allow rival drugmakers to delay the sale of a generic drug.
06/17/2013
7 Takeaways From Supreme Court’s Gene Patent Decision
The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a ruling that bans the patenting of naturally occurring genes but allows edited or artificially created DNA to be patented.
06/17/2013
Prince William Has Indian Heritage? DNA Test Of Princess Diana’s Lineage Indicates So: Report
The British royal family may have some explaining to do. If the results of a DNA test conducted by BritainsDNA are to be believed, the royal lineage has some unlikely roots — in India.
06/17/2013
Boston Children’s Hospital starts world’s first pediatric hand transplant program
Boston Children’s Hospital is announcing Monday that it has started the world’s first hand transplant program for youngsters, with the goal of restoring limbs to victims of devastating infections, fires, or accidents.
06/14/2013
Study links food-packaging chemical and obesity in girls
Research suggests strong relationship between BPA and childhood obesity. The chemical can alter the body’s metabolism, making it difficult for children to lose weight.
06/14/2013
First fluorescent protein identified in a vertebrate
The Japanese freshwater eel (Anguilla japonica) has more to offer biologists than a tasty sushi snack. Its muscle fibres produce the first fluorescent protein identified in a vertebrate, researchers report inCell1.
06/14/2013
Stem Cell Discovery Could Help Regrow Fingers
Mammals can regenerate the very tips of their fingers and toes after amputation, and now new research shows how stem cells in the nail play a role in that process.
06/13/2013
Tobacco Ads Could Lead to Daily Teen Smoking for Kids 14 and Under
A new study says if a teen sees more tobacco ads there is a greater change they will begin smoking, according to HealthDay News.
06/13/2013
Supreme Court says human genes cannot be patented
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that companies cannot patent parts of naturally-occurring human genes, a decision with the potential to profoundly affect the emerging and lucrative medical and biotechnology industries.
06/12/2013
NSA surveillance played little role in foiling terror plots, experts say
Obama administration says NSA data helped make arrests in two important cases – but critics say that simply isn’t true.
06/12/2013
Berman Institute Hosts Global Bioethics Week
The Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics will host its first “Global Bioethics Week” June 10-14, designed to launch two unique global research ethics initiatives, in collaboration with colleagues from several African universities.
06/12/2013
Policy & Mental Health: The Overlooked Effect of ‘Criminal Records’ on the Unemployed
The Adler School of Professional Psychology recently conducted a study designed to assess the mental health impacts of policy decisions on socially and economically vulnerable communities.
06/12/2013
Smokers need not apply
A New England Journal of Medicine study argues that it’s fundamentally unethical for businesses, even ones in the business of healthcare provision, to refuse to hire candidates just because they smoke.
06/11/2013
Girl Prompts Small Change to Organ Transplant Policy
The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network voted to keep the so-called Under 12 Rule, but it created a mechanism that would allow doctors to request exceptions for their pediatric patients.
06/11/2013
U.S. Drops Bid to Limit Sales of Morning-After Pill
The Obama administration has decided to stop trying to block over-the-counter availability of the best-known morning-after contraceptive pill for all women and girls.
06/10/2013
Panel Reviews Organ Transplant Policies For Kids
Today, organ transplant experts are meeting to review the guidelines for children.
06/10/2013
Treatments of physical and mental health are coming together
Physicians and therapists traditionally haven’t collaborated much when treating the same patient, but the federal healthcare law is spurring a change.
06/07/2013
Bioethicists say criticisms of preemie oxygen study could have “chilling effect” on clinical research
Thanks to a public outcry that included objections from bioethics experts from across the country, the federal Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) has decided to suspend sanctions it imposed earlier this year on a study of blood oxygen levels used to treat premature infants.
06/07/2013
Video: Magnus on Second child placed on adult transplant list
Debate over the age restriction for lung transplants intensifies, as a second child is temporarily placed on the waiting list for adult lung recipients.
06/06/2013
JUDGE PUTS ANOTHER CHILD ON ADULT TRANSPLANT WAITING LIST AFTER MOM SUES
Thursday, the same judge has ordered that a second child at a Philadelphia hospital — a New York City boy — be put on the adult waiting list for donated lungs too, even though neither he nor Murnaghan technically qualify for the list based on their age.
06/06/2013
Untouched water as old as 2.6 billion years is found: Don’t drink it
Nearly 1.5 miles beneath Earth’s surface, scientists have discovered pockets of water that have remained in isolation for more than a billion years.
06/05/2013
Video: Sebelius won’t intervene in girl’s transplant case
Video report of ethical issues in transplant case including clip of David Magnus.
06/05/2013
Bring back PE: Exercise should be ‘core’ class, report says
Children need a full hour of exercise in schools every day, and not just in physical education classes, the Institute of Medicine recommended on Thursday.
06/04/2013
Policy Makes Lung Transplant Out of Reach for 10-Year-Old
Although adults make up the majority of the lung transplant waiting list, bioethicist Art Caplan said children should be given priority if they’re sicker than those adults.
06/04/2013
Obama urges greater openness in dealing with mental illness
Social stigma a major barrier to seeking help. Conference comes six months after school shooting.
06/03/2013
California DNA law is broader than program upheld by Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding the right of authorities to take DNA from people when they are arrested only partially assures that California’s DNA collection program will survive court.