LifeEthics
medical ethics
Texas Politics, Bias and Bioethics
“All politics is local,” is a quote attributed to – and the title of a book co-authored by – the late, former Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill. The lesson seems to be one that Texas State Representative Juan Garcia, D-Corpus Christi, learned well. It doesn’t hurt to stack the deck in your favor, either. … Continue reading
Umbilical Cord Blood Saves Lives
Today, the Texas House State Affairs Committee heard from a young man who was born with sickle cell disease. Young Joseph, Jr. told the Representatives that his baby brother saved his life. And now, he doesn’t have to take medicine or get shots any more. (The oblivious hero slept through the hearing.) And of course, … Continue reading
Follow-up: HPV Testing, Men, and Prevalence
I did a little research on testing for HPV, especially in men. The CDC site on HPV is here and it’s up to date. http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm Digene, http://www.digene.com/labs/labs_hpv_01.html is a swab test for women. Negatives are true negatives for current risk of cancerous changes at the cervix. If negative, then 99.5% accurate – no HPV present … Continue reading
“Back Alley Death” (“Physician Assisted Suicide” )
Oregon and Vermont – extremes on the map and extremes on medical ethics. But this is the first time that I’ve heard that doctors should give patients a deadly prescription to prevent a “back alley” death. How many of us really want our Family Doctor to be proficient in killing? Or, in over-riding his or … Continue reading
Debate On Ethics
After several days of discussion about a baby that Texas lawyer Jerri Ward asked Wesley Smith to blog about on Secondhand Smoke, I have been asked “How can you be a doctor and not know this about what passes for ethics nowadays?” Because I have a different understanding “about what passes for ethics nowadays.” I … Continue reading
There’s (Still) No “Futile Care Act” in Texas
I keep running across news articles like this one in the Dallas Morning News (free subscription required) which claim that Texas has some sort of “futile care” law. There is no such thing as a “Futile Care Law” in Texas and never has been. (Previous LifeEthics posts include several in April, 2006.) There is a … Continue reading
Language change alert (“Embryonic” at 8 weeks)
We were due, I guess. We went through the redefinition of pregnancy (implanted in a uterus”), embryo (after 14 days or implanted in a uterus), cloning (therapeutic cloning, then somatic cell nuclear transplantation, nuclear transplantation, patient specific stem cells, production of “early stem cells, etc.) And now, we’re supposed to move the line of “embryonic” … Continue reading
Med Associations Announce Position Statements on HPV Vaccine
Washington State is planning to offer the Human Papilloma Virus vaccine free to girls. New Hampshire has made the vaccine available on an “opt in” basis. Florida’s Legislators are considering following Texas Governor Rick Perry in making the vaccine mandatory, with an “opt out” option, similar to the way that Hepatitis B and other mandated … Continue reading
Majority of Doctors Oppose Abortion
In that NEJM article that I blogged on earlier, there are numbers about the “Intrinsic religiosity” of physicians, based on the answers of the 1000 or so docs who answered the questionaire. The authors seem to have no feeling for the history of bioethics as an outcome of the Holocaust or Tuskegee. Instead, the fuss … Continue reading
Bad, Bad Doctors (Religious, with Consciences)
The NEJM has a free on line article evaluating the results of a survey of doctors, “Religion, Conscience and Controversial Clinical Practices,” which is a perfect example that far too much of the effort of “medical ethics” or “bioethics,” goes into deciding who can be killed. “In recent years, several states have passed laws that … Continue reading
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