http://www.bioethics.net/rss/bioethics.xml bioethics news everyday from bioethics.net/American Journal of Bioethics Copyright 2005 bioethics.net Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:45:56 EST http://www.bioethics.net/ http://www.bioethics.net/images/logo_frontpage_wht.gif 60 200 webmaster@bioethics.net newsupdate@bioethics.net en-us http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7198 The government agency tasked with funding crucial life science research needs to focus more attention on ethical quandaries and nefarious business practices that often obscure the path from discovery to public benefit, says a strongly worded letter to Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), signed by more than 100 biomedical researchers, journal editors, and health care administrators in the US. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:45:56 EST http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7194 Senator Charles E. Grassley wrote to 10 top medical schools Tuesday to ask what they are doing about professors who put their names on ghostwritten articles in medical journals — and why that practice was any different from plagiarism by students. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:24:04 EST http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7189 The agenda of the November 16-19 General Assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops takes up a number of hotly contested issues, including a pastoral letter on marriage and revised ethical guidelines regarding the medical provision of hydration and nutrition to patients in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:08:42 EST http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7183 Weighing in on two contentious gay-rights issues, the nation's largest group of doctors sent the message Tuesday that government policy is hazardous to homosexuals' health. Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:10:02 EST http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7181 The Irish Council for Bioethics (ICB) has launched its report entitled "Biometrics: Enhancing Security or Invading Privacy?" The report advises that these technologies, though powerful, must be used appropriately to avoid resentment and paranoia among users. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:25:19 EST http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7178 The best possible kind of regenerative medicine would surely be to entice the body to use nature’s own methods to regrow a damaged limb or organ. The genes that made the structure in the first place are still present in every cell of the body but somehow repressed. Could they not be reactivated to make the patient as good as new? Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:27:12 EST http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7176 Britain is using genetic tests on some African asylum seekers in an effort to catch those who are lying about their nationality, drawing criticism from scientists and provoking outrage from rights groups. Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:15:30 EST http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7173 A little-noticed measure would put Christian Science healing sessions on the same footing as clinical medicine. Critics say it violates the separation of church and state. Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:46:18 EST http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7172 Medical device companies like Medtronic have been under fire lately for their megabucks deals with doctors who can influence purchases of medical products. So what happens to doctors who complain about these types of relationships? Those who, in effect, are whistleblowers? Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:54:49 EST http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7165 NO face-lift stops time, so as aging continues, even a satisfied patient may choose to have another one a decade later. But what if your face-lift never pleased you, not because of complications or monstrous scars, but because of aesthetics pure and simple? Perhaps your first surgeon’s technique resulted not only in a tighter jaw line, but also a flat wind-swept cheek and a stretched mouth. Or your nose no longer has an unsightly bump, but now, postsurgery, is asymmetrical. Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:03:22 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7161 Two recent stories in The New York Times highlight the problems single women can encounter with health insurance, and sometimes with tragic consequences. Nikki White suffered from lupus and lost her job—and also her employer-based health insurance coverage—when she became too sick to work. She could not obtain individual coverage because of her pre-existing condition of lupus and, as an unmarried woman, had no one who could cover her on their insurance plan. At the age of 32, she died from lack of treatment of a usually manageable chronic disease. Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:03:29 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7160 Conservative lawmakers have called for a ban on imports of a Chinese-made kit meant to help women fake their virginity. The Artificial Virginity Hymen kit, which is distributed by the Chinese company Gigimo and costs about $30, is intended to help newly married women fool their husbands into believing they are virgins, an essential marriage requirement for women in much of the Middle East, by leaking a blood-like substance when inserted and broken. Sheik Sayed Askar, a member of the parliamentary committee on religious affairs, demanded the government take responsibility for fighting the product, which he said would make it easier for women to give in to temptation. Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:47:57 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7152 Should doctors disclose their own health problems to their patients? As Dr. Anne Brewster, a Boston internist, explains on the CommonHealth blog, doctors are typically taught to keep an emotional distance and are cautioned against sharing personal information with patients. Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:43:00 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7149 The Food and Drug Administration is slow to debar health professionals who have been convicted of crimes from doing research for the agency or overseeing the safety of patients in clinical trials, according to a government watchdog report released Thursday. Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:39:42 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7142 To remain certified, most of the nation’s 700,000 doctors are required periodically to take continuing medical education courses. But for years, critics have said that too many of those courses are little more than drug company marketing in the guise of education. Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:13:55 EDT