Here are a few updates and extensions to recent posts on blog.bioethics.net:
Is “the hipster doctor” primary care’s future?
Our mention of Jay Parkinson’s new house call practice aimed a young adults prompted some interesting comments. Beverly Knuckols chipped in some info about the business side of running a practice. And when emily expressed skepticism about the value of paying Parkinson a $500 retainer, he responded directly in the comments.
If you’re interested in following Parkinson as he builds his practice, he’s blogging about the process. Recent topics include his wariness of dermatologists and how he went about coordinating screening for a patient with a family history of breast cancer and no health insurance (they decided to skip the $3,120 BRCA test).
New report: UK needs better guidelines for its forensic DNA database
An article from the UK’s Mail on Sunday details an example of one of the issues raised in the Nuffield Council’s report (pdf): DNA samples from more than 100,000 children have been added to the government’s database. The list includes a 7-month-old baby. Said one civil liberties advocate to the Mail, “This baby has not given her consent to be on this criminal database. Who knows the circumstances that led to her parent or guardian agreeing to put her profile on the system? … Should the police be able to keep this information about this little girl — and thousands like her — forever?”
-Greg Dahlmann