Bioethics.net

August 12, 2010

Do We Harm Our Children By Naming Them "Pop"?

Sometimes parents can over-think things. Then sometimes parents are just crazy. Then sometimes parents name their child “Pop”.

According to the University of Oxford Practical Ethics Blog, a Swedish couple has decided to keep the sex of their toddler a secret as to avoid the pressures placed upon children from having to grow up as one gender or another.…

June 24, 2010

New Website is Match.com for Your Genes

Before I even describe the services purportedly offered by BeautifulPeople.com, let me quote Art Caplan who has summed it up better (characteristically so) than anyone else could: “It’s pure, utter nonsensical baloney, at best.…

May 7, 2010

What's the Harm in a Pinprick?

It all depends on the context when asking the question–what’s the harm in a pinprick?

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, when talking about female circumcision, their committee on bioethics has decided that the procedure should be permitted for American doctors.…

April 29, 2010

Will Taking the Happy Out of the Happy Meal Keep Kids from Getting Fat?

Well, at least one California county is trying. You have to give them that. In an effort to curb childhood obesity, Santa Clara county, California has banned toys from meals with over 485 calories, effectively fast food.…

January 25, 2010

"Extraordinary Messiness"

Hollywood has taken up orphan diseases before–remember “Lorenzo’s Oil”? And bioethics movies generally have been increasingly common, even just in the last year.…

January 21, 2010

Ashley X Revisited: Fost and Lantos Debate on the Bioethics Channel

This month’s issue of The American Journal of Bioethics features a Target Article by Diekema and Fost articulating their defense of the Ashley X procedures.…

January 13, 2010

Before It Even Hits The Front Page....Sobsey Comments on AJOB's First Issue of 2010

AJOB’s first issue of 2010 is already off to a roaring start, making waves and stirring up controversy before it can even be posted on the front page of bioethics.net!…

October 8, 2009

"Academic Doping" is Just Plain Dumb (as Something to Fear)

The first media story I read about Dr. Vincent Cakic’s Journal of Medical Ethics paper about the ethical concerns about academic doping I was able to shrug off as just one more enhancement story.…

May 27, 2009

How Free Riding Can Get Your Child a Free Ride To the Emergency Room

These days parents are often more afraid of the immunizations that their children are asked to take than of the diseases they are intended to prevent.…

May 22, 2009

Caplan: Court has the Right to Insist on Chemo

Art Caplan writes in his MSNBC column today that the courts have the right to intervene in a case where a highly curable cancer is being prevented by the refusal by parent and child to undergo treatment–regardless of the reason.…