The Bioethics Weekly

This Week — We offer an excerpt from a recently released volume by CBHD Fellow Agneta Sutton, PhD. Dr. Sutton’s volume published by T&T Clark is entitled Christian Bioethics: A Guide for the Perplexed. The focus of this excerpt is Peter Singer’s understanding of personhood.

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Also This Week — Check out our new Facebook Cause & Linked-In Group.

Quote of the Week —

"We need to address the cost of care in the U.S. and cover the uninsured so that every American who needs health care can get it right here at home. Until there is significant action at home, patients with limited resources may turn elsewhere for care. "

—AMA Board Member J. James Rohack, M.D., in " AMA Provides First Ever Guidance on Medical Tourism," Earthtimes, June 17, 2008.

Center Conferencing

Healthcare & the Common Good
July 17-19, 2008
This conference will identify the pressure points in the current domestic healthcare system, examining the economic, educational and care issues surrounding this complex topic. Beyond merely identifying problem areas, the conference also will provide a programmatic vision of the common good as well as a symposium of constructive proposals for re-envisioning policy, health and care all of which emerge from this framework of the common good. Academic Credit is available for conference, institutes and seminars.

For information or to register contact CBHD at 847.317.8180 or visit: www.cbhd.org/conferences/index.html

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Happenings

2008 AUL Legal Institute
June 23-26, 2008
Moody Bible Institue
Chicago, IL
Phone: 312/492.7234

Stem Cell Research and Commercial Applications: Isolation, Expansion, Therapy, Commercialisation and Manufacturing
June 25-26, 20008
Sheraton Towers Hotel, Singapore
Email: greg.moyle@informa.com
Fax: +65 65143173

UNESCO Ethics Teacher Training Course
November 17-21, 2008
Minsk, Belarus

News Highlights

Loophole in Embryology Bill could allow cloning without new legislation
A loophole in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill could permit some reproductive cloning without the need for fresh primary legislation, the Government has admitted. (Times Online)

UT Southwestern researchers create molecule that nudges nerve stem cells to mature
Inspired by a chance discovery during another experiment, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have created a small molecule that stimulates nerve stem cells to begin maturing into nerve cells in culture. This finding might someday allow a person’s own nerve stem cells to be grown outside the body, stimulated into maturity, and then re-implanted as working nerve cells to treat various diseases, the researchers said. (Eureka! Science News)

Monday, June 16, 2008

‘Pro-Life’ Drugstores Market Beliefs
When DMC Pharmacy opens this summer on Route 50 in Chantilly, the shelves will be stocked with allergy remedies, pain relievers, antiseptic ointments and almost everything else sold in any drugstore. But anyone who wants condoms, birth control pills or the Plan B emergency contraceptive will be turned away. (Washington Post)

AMA issues first report card on health insurers
The report card is an effort to reduce the cost of claims processing to doctors and help them as they negotiate contracts with insurance companies, he said. The report card will help patients if it reduces wasteful administrative costs, Dolan added. (AP)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

California Pushes Back on DNA Testing
Is reading someone’s genetic code the same thing as practicing medicine? That issue has always loomed over the nascent direct-to-consumer genetic-testing industry, which includes such well-known names as 23andme, Navigenics, and DeCodeMe. (Wired)

Book Review: The Ethics of Bioethics: Mapping the Moral Landscape
The collection of essays, The Ethics of Bioethics, brings together a number of thinkers, including ethicists, legal scholars, and medical practitioners that offer perspectives on the subject of bioethics that are primarily professional, in contrast to the strictly theoretical or what could be loosely categorized as academic perspectives on the subject that tend to dominate the classroom. (Metapsychology)

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

NZ IVF parents may get gender choice
New Zealand parents involved in IVF programs could soon be allowed to choose the sex of their child if the government follows the advice of its Bioethics Council. (The Age)

Clone cell cancer ‘cure’ hailed
Scientists claim they have cured advanced skin cancer for the first time using the patient’s own cells cloned outside the body. (BBC)

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Medical mistakes no longer billable
Hospitals and doctors who operate on the wrong limb or give a dangerous dose of medication will no longer be able to bill the state of Massachusetts or its largest private health insurer for costs related to fixing the error, health authorities announced yesterday. (The Boston Globe)

Teen from faith-healing family dies
Oregon officials say a teenager from a faith-healing family died from an illness that could have been easily treated, just a few months after a toddler cousin of his died in a case that has led to criminal charges. (AP)

Friday, June 20, 2008

Each week the top news stories, as determined by the staff at The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity are sent out via email.

[Note: News stories, Quote of the Week, and events do not represent the Center's views. For additional commentary on many of the issues they raise, please see the CBHD web site at www.cbhd.org.]

Please visit http://www.bioethics.com for daily posts on bioethics news and issues.