[NYT] My friend’s 94-year-old father was near death from congestive heart failure. He had requested in writing that no extraordinary measures be used to prolong his life; he wanted to die peacefully at home. But one day when he began struggling to breathe, my friend, his daughter, panicked and called 911.

Although the paramedics were told of [...]

Octomom has been dominating ethics and bioethics news. For all of you wondering what are the current standards guiding American reproductive medicine, see the below advice published by ASRM.  Their disclaimer:
“These guidelines have been developed to assist physicians with clinical decisions regarding the care of their patients. They are not intended to be a protocol to [...]

[NYT] As many American companies in the last decade have sent tasks like customer service and computer support to other countries, drug makers have followed suit by outsourcing clinical trials — the human studies that determine the safety and efficacy of medicines.
The New York TimesNow, an article about the globalization of clinical trials, published Thursday [...]

Laboratory Techniques That Screen for Diseases in Embryos Are Now Being Offered to Create Designer Children [WSJ]
Want a daughter with blond hair, green eyes and pale skin?  A Los Angeles clinic says it will soon help couples select both gender and physical traits in a baby when they undergo a form of fertility treatment. The [...]

[Boston Globe] Maybe we owe an apology to the doctors who made the birth announcement with such pride and excitement. The delivery of eight babies in five minutes was, they exhaled, “amazing.” The mom was “incredibly courageous.” All in all, it was a “very exciting day,” a feat for which the 46-member medical team at [...]

The below euthanasia and advanced directives article is worth reading:  ‘Italy does not allow euthanasia but patients have a right to refuse treatment. There is no law, however, that allows patients to give advance directions on what treatment they want if they become too incapacitated to state their wishes.’
[AP] A 38-year-old woman who ignited a [...]

I post the below article to keep up to date with the American Psychiatric Association’s decisions regarding drug company sponsored medical education seminars.
[Reuters] Dr. Daniel Carlat knows all too well how easy it is for doctors to be seduced by drug industry money.  In 2002, he earned $30,000 in speaking fees to promote Wyeth’s antidepressant Effexor XR [...]

More than a dozen internationally renowned speakers, including a key bioethics advisor on the Obama transition team, will be coming to New Haven, CT to present at StemCONN 09, the international stem cell research symposium taking place March 23-24, 2009.
The roster includes scientists from UConn’s Stem Cell Core Laboratory, which recently announced creation of two [...]

[sandiego6.com] It was less than 5 years ago that seniors had a great way to buy cheaper drugs. Stores opened up locally, selling access to Canadian pharmacies. Seniors saved up to 50% on drugs — until the FDA ordered the stores closed, citing safety.   The FDA said seniors were at risk but could not produce [...]

Sparking a ’social responsibility’ and/or ‘responsible innovation’ craze akin to the go green movement is an interest of mine as director of Bioethics International. In keeping with my quest for the ethics tipping point, I happened upon the below OpenForum post which describes how and why the first gasoline powered car and computer eventually took [...]