The Los Angeles Times (a one time free registration may be required) finally notices that couples who initiate in vitro fertilization are “finding themselves ensnared in a debate about when life begins.” The proposed Colorado amendment states, “The term ‘person’ or ‘persons’ shall include any human from the time of fertilization.” If it is passed, … Continue reading
When you buy a lottery ticket, do you choose the cash option with its immediate payout of half the winnings or do you choose the payment of the full amount, doled out over 20 years? I’ve found this question to be a good way to help other people understand the difference between conservativism and those … Continue reading
>I’ve commented on the surprising accusation that protection of the consciences of physicians is anti-gay as well as anti-abortion by the pro-abortion faction. Now, the atheists are chiming in, claiming over and over that it’s just the Christians who might refuse to perform abortions and object to calling abortion standard reproductive care. “Pharyngula,” is the … Continue reading
>The “cybrid” or hybrid human-animal embryos are created in the laboratory by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transplantation, using emptied eggs from animals and the nuclear and cellular DNA from humans.. We know that there are currently experiments on-going with the human embryos made using emptied cow eggs (more on the “ease” of making these embryos, here), … Continue reading
>There’s this number called the “NPI.” The CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid or Can’t Manage S(tuff))mandated that any one and any corporation that bills them (for services already done, mind you) needed to add this number, the “National Provider Identifier,” by May 23 of this year. (Need I report that quite a few doctors … Continue reading
>If you don’t want your child to suffer, you don’t choose Partial Birth Abortion (Intact Dilation and Extraction or “D&X”) and you certainly shouldn’t complain about State laws concerning prevention of fetal pain during the abortion. msnbc.com and Self Magazine have teamed up to discuss “When there is no good choice.” In the story, we … Continue reading
>The American Medical Association and the American Medical Student Association are both up in arms about contact between drug companies and other vendors and doctors and medical students. And yet, no one complains when a New York Times story about the fuss contains advertising. (Free registration required — is “free” anything undue influence?) I’ve said … Continue reading
Over the weekend, at the annual convention of the Texas Medical Association, a friend said that she’d read my quote in “Texas Monthly.” I assumed she meant an old article in Texas Medicine, the journal of the Texas Medical Association. I was wrong. (And, maybe now I know why I can’t get appointed to any … Continue reading
>The Oklahoma State Legislature has overturned Governor Henry’s veto of an “omnibus” bill containing abortion regulations. (The veto is explained at the United Kingdom site of Medical News Today. Besides gives the best definition of human embryo that I’ve seen in legislation: “Human embryo” means a human organism that is derived by fertilization, parthenogenesis, cloning, … Continue reading
Josh Carter, over at the Bioethics.com blog, comments on the editorial in the April 10th issue of Nature, (subscription only. Joe quoted some but let me know if you need the full text) which uses news of a transgendered (but not transexual) pregnant and bearded woman to ask the age-old question, what is “natural” and … Continue reading