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Bioethics

Beyond Guantanamo: Torture Thrives in Connecticut

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 11.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Geneva Conventions, Medical Ethics, Law, Rape, Arthur Caplan, Physicians, Crime, American Medical Associaton, Prisoners, Civil Rights, William Coleman, Guantanamo, Connecticut, Edward Blanchette, World Medical Association, Human Rights, Health, Doctors, Prisons, Medicine, Bioethics, Torture, Politics News
Jacob M. Appel

In the case of Coleman v. Lantz, Connecticut has argued for the right to force feed a hunger-striking inmate in an excruciatingly painful manner.

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Health "Insurance": A Criminal Enterprise

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 11.02.2009 | Politics

Read More: Medical Ethics, Law, Politics, Human Rights, Crime, Harry Truman, Health Care Reform, Henry Waxman, Health Insurance, Bioethics, Health Care, Medicine, Barack Obama, Politics News
Jacob M. Appel

I have little doubt that the day will soon arrive when the CEOs of health "insurers" are dragged before Congress to face the same sort of interrogation to which the Waxman Hearings subjected Big Tobacco in the 1990s.

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Women or Babies: When Values Conflict

Valerie Tarico | Posted 10.19.2009 | Impact

Read More: Crack Babies, Project Prevention, Bioethics, Long-Term Birth Control, Impact News
Valerie Tarico

The most controversial check I write each year is the one that goes to a small nonprofit called Project Prevention.

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The Scientists' Bark

G.A. Bradshaw | Posted 10.15.2009 | Green

Read More: Medical Ethics, Neuroscience, Nature, Animal Rights, Charles Darwin, Frans De Waal, Evolution, Chimpanzees, Mammals, Animals, Bioethics, Culture, Green News
G.A. Bradshaw

The author of Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach Us About Humanity examines new findings from primatology and neurobiology.

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Dr. Coburn's Peculiar Privilege

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 10.02.2009 | Politics

Read More: Nevada, Law, Marriage, Politics, Senate, Tom Coburn, John Ensign, Oklahoma, Sex, Doctors, John Ensign Affair, Health Care, Bioethics, Medicine, Extra-Marital-Affairs, Physician-Patient Privilege, Politics News
Jacob M. Appel

Senator Coburn claims physician-patient privilege to avoid testifying against Ensign. But this is not a "Get out of Jail Free" card for physicians who acquire knowledge outside of their work as doctors.

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"Mercy Killing": When Love & Law Conflict

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 09.25.2009 | Politics

Read More: Murder, Medical Ethics, Jim Fish, Politics, Montana, Right to Die, Crime, Assisted Suicide, Jack Kevorkian, Washington, Oregon, Paul Weinstein, Euthanasia, Bioethics, Health Care, Politics News
Jacob M. Appel

The blame in two murder cases rests squarely with a society that forces devoted husbands and wives to choose between the welfare of their spouses and the letter of the law.

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When Infanticide Isn't Murder

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 11.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Murder, Abortion, Texas, Mercy, Politics, Human Rights, Children, Crime, Motherhood, Parenting, Bioethics, Infanticide, Politics News
Jacob M. Appel

In the wake of a series of highly-publicized killings of young children by Texas mothers suffering from post-partum mental disorders, a state representative from Houston has introduced long overdue legislation that will recognize the mitigating circumstances surrounding such acts.

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Big Sky Dilemma: Must Doctors Help Their Patients Die?

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 10.18.2009 | Politics

Read More: Montana, Politics, Leukemia, Conscience Clause, Constitutional Law, Human Rights, Assisted Suicide, Health, Constitituton, Doctors, Bioethics, Medicine, Healthcare, Politics News
Jacob M. Appel

Mandating that physicians aid in dying should be a last resort. Montana should explore other, less-invasive means of ensuring that all citizens are guaranteed their constitutional right to die.

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Anticipating the Incapacitated Justice

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 09.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Medical Ethics, Supreme Court, Law, US Supreme Court, Supreme Court Justices, Senior Citizens, Living Wills, Constitution, Bioethics, Death, Politics News
Jacob M. Appel

While it is a disturbing truth that our nation will someday likely confront the tragedy of an incapacitated Supreme Court justice, it is not at all clear which justice that will be.

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The Ultimate Prescription: Make Us Decide How We Want To Die

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 08.30.2009 | Politics

Read More: Medical Ethics, Senior Citizens, Assisted Suicide, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Medicare, Bioethics, Health Care, Barack Obama, Politics News
Jacob M. Appel

While all Americans should have a right to decide how they want their lives to end, it does not follow that they should be able to avoid confronting such a choice.

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Next: Assisted Suicide for Healthy People

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 08.16.2009 | Politics

Read More: Medical Ethics, Law, Politics, Switzerland, Human Rights, Assisted Suicide, Health, Bioethics, Health Care, Medicine, Privacy, Canada, Politics News
Jacob M. Appel

If Betty Coumbias had only six months left to live and expressed a desire to die, most assisted-suicide advocates would support her cause. Why should she have any less control over her life because she is in good health?

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Motherhood: Is It Ever Too Late?

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 08.15.2009 | Living

Read More: Medical Ethics, Women's Rights, Women, Late Motherhood, Women's Issues, Personal Health, Motherhood, Parenting, Ivf, Women's Health, Health, Women and Politics, Living, Bioethics, Medicine, Health Care, Living News
Jacob M. Appel

Births to women in their late fifties and early sixties are no longer international news. Whether they are empowering or irresponsible has been a matter of ongoing debate.

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A "Supreme Court" for Bioethics?

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 08.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Stem Cell Research, Medical Ethics, Abortion, Supreme Court, Politics, Philosophy, Health, Ethics, Obama Administration, Technology, Euthanasia, Sperm, Bioethics, Health Care, Politics News
Jacob M. Appel

The recent decision by President Obama to disband his predecessor's Council on Bioethics raises important questions regarding the role of professional bioethicists in contemporary society.

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The Coming Ethical Crisis: Oxygen Rationing

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 07.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: Medical Ethics, Pandemic Preparedness, Natural Disasters, Health Care Rationing, Triage, Swine Flu Pandemic, Swine Flu, Health Care Reform, Euthanasia, Bioethics, Health Care, Politics News
Jacob M. Appel

One of the questions that will face our society when a future pandemic proves more deadly is how our public health authorities ought to allocate ventilators.

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Should We Really Fear Reproductive Human Cloning?

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 05.06.2009 | Politics

Read More: Medical Ethics, Stem Cell Research, Politics, Organ Transplant, Obama Stem Cell Research, Reproductive Rights, Raelians, Embryonic Stem Cells, Bioethics, Cloning, Stem Cell Cloning, Politics News
Jacob M. Appel

The president has not explained precisely why he opposes reproductive cloning. Is his opposition solely based upon the health risks of cloning techniques, or on moral grounds?

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Hey Mr. Bioethicist, Scientists are Not Amoral

Michael Eisen | Posted 04.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Morality, Stem Cell Research, Bioethics, Stem Cells, Medical Ethics, Science Scientists, Sceince Ethics, Ethics, Politics News
Michael Eisen

This conflation of science and scientists is offensive and ignorant. In my experience, no one has thought about the moral side of scientific issues more deeply than scientists.

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Watch Obama's Fine Print on Stem Cells

Jeremy Manier | Posted 04.09.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Stem Cell Research, Nih, Bioethics, Barack Obama, Obama Stem Cell Research, Health, Ips Cells, Obama Stem Cell Ban, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Chicago News
Jeremy Manier

Now the hard part begins: implementing a stem-cell policy that's meaningful, has full ethical protections and unlocks the scientific talent that's been held back the last eight years.

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Praise the Lord for Fred Phelps and Nadya Suleman

Valerie Tarico | Posted 03.19.2009 | Living

Read More: Bibiolatry, Homophobia, Nadya Suleman, Bioethics, Fred Phelps, Barack Obama, Evangelicals, Kansas, Living News
Valerie Tarico

Suleman's biomedical exploits also have rippled across the country. She hit a nerve we didn't know we had and raised powerful questions about right and wrong.

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Top Ten Suggested Names for the Nadya Suleman Babies A to H (That's 80 Names Folks!)

Warren Holstein | Posted 03.14.2009 | Comedy

Read More: Angela Suleman, In Vitro Fertilization, Reproductive Rights, Science, Reproductive Health, California Octuplets, Nadya Suleman, Fertility, Pro-Life, Babies, Bioethics, Medicine, Suleman Octuplets, Names of the Octuplets, Octuplet Names, Octuplet Baby Names, Nadya Suleman Babies, Suleman Babies, Comedy News
Warren Holstein

1. Addendum 2. Another 3. Accident 4. Anomaly 5. Annoying 6. Afterbirth 7. ADHD 8. Appendage 9. Analogue 10. AdvertisingSpace

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Shut That Vagina Down: The Nadya Suleman Misconception(s)

Warren Holstein | Posted 03.07.2009 | Comedy

Read More: Angela Suleman, In Vitro Fertilization, Reproductive Rights, Middle Ages, Science, Reproductive Health, California Octuplets, Nadya Suleman, Fertility, Pro-Life, Babies, Medicine, Bioethics, Suleman Octuplets, The Vagina Monologues, Vagina, Wtf, Nadja Suleman, Suleman Babies, Nadya Suleman Wtf, Comedy News
Warren Holstein

I mean its ridiculous. A baby momma 14 times over should not be living with her parents in a modest 3-bedroom house in Bellflower, California.

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The Morality of Eight Babies or, Sometimes, Even One

Valerie Tarico | Posted 03.05.2009 | Living

Read More: Abortion, Morality, Bioethics, Ethics, Octuplets, Single Mothers, Mothering, Giving Birth, Single Motherhood, California Octuplets, Parenting, Octuplets Born in California, Childbirth, Parenthood, Living News
Valerie Tarico

Abortion opponents have no trouble saying that killing blastocysts is wrong. They don't say blastocysts. They say people. And then they attribute souls and personhood to fertilized eggs.

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