Nutrition and hydration often withdrawn without consent in Belgium
A recent study in the Journal of Medical Ethics has found that in Belgium decisions to withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) rarely involve patient...
Is advising people to kill themselves a case of free speech?
Egging people on to commit suicide can be regarded as free speech which is protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution, the Minnesota...
IVF consultation launched in Australia
Australia is to conduct a review of the ethics and clinical practice of assisted reproductive technology. Australia is to conduct a review of the ethics...
New journal for law and bioethics
A new journal has been launched, Law and the Biosciences.Three top US universities have combined with Oxford University Press (OUP) to start the world’s first...
Bill Gates criticised over health initiatives
Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, has made many enemies in his healthcare policy campaigns Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft,...
“Mitochondrial transfer” is a misnomer: Stuart Newman
A leading US scientist has delivered a broadside at the scientific ignorance and spin involved in the debate. Both in the US and the UK,...
“Mitochondrial transfer” is dangerous: Maureen Condic
Some women are carriers of a genetic disease because of defective mitochondria. Replace hers with healthy mitochondria donated by a another woman. Result: a healthy...
US must debate “mitochondrial transfer”: Thomas H. Murray
The former head of the Hastings Centre for Bioethics has written a forceful opinion editorial in Science calling for “a nationwide conversation about current and...
Reasons for sticking around
Hi there, Rational suicide is an idea that has a long history, but it is being revived now in the debate over euthanasia and assisted...
Are totipotent cells really embryos?
Stem cells are stem cells, says an expert. They are not and cannot be embryos. Major developments in stem cell science tend to revive scruples...
US Office of Research Integrity shackled by bureaucracy
The head of the US agency for investigating scientific misconduct has just resigned after two years of struggle with a “remarkably dysfunctional” Federal bureaucracy. Quis...
Compassionate use on trial
#savejosh? But what about the rest? In a story that has garnered worldwide attention, drug company Chimerix has given a seven-year-old American boy access to...