[Guardian] Scientists researching diseases such as cancer are impeded by having to pay companies who own specific gene patents. You carry a set of instructions in every cell, encrypted in DNA. Your genome, 3 billion letters of genetic code, is not only unique to you now, but is unique to every human who has ever and will [...]

[New York Time] A federal agency has found that a number of prestigious universities failed to tell more than a thousand families in a government-financed study of oxygen levels for extremely premature babies that the risks could include increased chances of blindness or death. None of the families have yet been notified of the findings [...]

[Science Daily] Older adults who are subject to elder abuse, neglect and exploitation face a greater risk of being hospitalized than other seniors, according to the results of a study published in the April 8 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. “Elder abuse is independently associated with increased mortality risk, especially for cardiovascular related mortality. However, the relationship [...]

[Science Insider] A review of the 200 or so human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines approved by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for federal funding has found a possible ethical problem: Some of the cell lines may have involved sperm or egg donors who didn’t consent to having their material used in research. University [...]

[The Atlantic] Curious whether a prescription or medical device your doctor is recommending comes from a manufacturer who has been paying your doctor? Good news, then: The federal government has finally developed a plan for how the Physician Payments Sunshine Act will work. The Sunshine Act, made federal law as part of the Affordable Care [...]

[Reuters] An Irish woman who is terminally ill with multiple sclerosis made an impassioned plea in her battle to seek the lawful right to die at the start of a landmark case in Ireland’s High Court on Tuesday. “I’ve come to the court, whilst I still can use my speech, my voice, to ask you [...]

The University of Minnesota’s Center for Bioethics is offering a series of events on bioethical issues as presented in film and television. On the 19th, faculty member Daniel Groll will lead a seminar entitled, ”Who Decides? The Ethics of Clinical Medicine”: It is common place for patients to have the right to make decisions about their own [...]

Podcast interview transcribed by BEI Young Professionals member Aleshia Johnson of Toronto, Canada. [CBC RADIO] A boat powered by the Dutch activist group,Women on Waves, was turned away from a Moroccan port this week. The group offers women information about abortions and will even provide safe medical abortions aboard the boat. Abortions are illegal in Morocco but the group [...]

[ScienceDaily] We’ve all heard the saying, “you are what you eat.” It turns out the old adage might be true on more than just a physical level. The food you choose may also reflect your personal ethics. Whether we like it or not, buying food has moral implications ranging from environmental sustainability to social justice [...]

[Virtual Mentor] Modern testing technology can extract a wealth of information from the merest speck of a person—a biospecimen—and information systems can transmit entire medical records at the click of a mouse. Given these capabilities, confidentiality—the notion that information patients share during medical treatment should not be disclosed to others without the patient’s authorization—is a [...]