D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.
Executive Director
What do you think about organ donation? Does any one (or more) of these choices describe your position?
1) Organ donation is an unadulterated good.
2) Organ donation is a privilege and/or a responsibility.
3) Organ donation should be voluntary.
4) Organ donation should be a reality for all who die, if their organs are transplantable.
5) The ...read more
Organ Donation Machinations Read More »
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.
Executive Director
The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture recently responded to a proposed rule of the federal government. It was an opportunity to bring a reasoned voice to potential policy decisions. The full statement can be accessed here; the gist of the statement follows . . .
The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture supports human dignity for all humans, however vulnerable they may be. Our position is that 1) There should be NO overlap ...read more
Making a Statement Read More »
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.
Executive Director
Pick Your Baby
No longer a fantasy game, picking your baby is now on offer — at least, if you believe the advertisements. The Nucleus website touts decreased worry, risk, and uncertainty for potential parents. How? It begins with the would-be mother and father submitting their cheek swabs for genetic testing of 2,000+ conditions. The current cost of the “mash-up” of the two genomes is about $1,000. That precedes undergoing what the website calls “IVF+,” the cost ...read more
Children: A Gift or an Order? Read More »
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.
Executive Director
The day before Thanksgiving, I needed just a few items for the feast preparations. My mother accompanied me to the grocery store, and we, along with a large sector of the local population, searched the shelves. When it was time to check out, I saw the lines peopled by the harassed clerks, and opted for the self check-out region. After scanning a couple of the larger items, I clicked the “Skip Bagging” button on the screen, and placed them back ...read more
A Time to Embrace and a Time to Refrain from Embracing — Artificial Intelligence (AI) Read More »
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.
Executive Director
The first successful in vitro (in glass) fertilization (IVF) resulted in the birth of Louise Joy Brown in 1978 in England. Here is a brief account of that event.
Cambridge embryologist Robert Edwards gave a frank interview with The Times‘ reporter Anjana Ahjuga 25 years after the birth of Louise Brown. Edwards said, “The Vatican called Louise’s birth ‘an event that can have very grave consequences for humanity’ because it divorced the conjugal sexual act from procreation.” ...read more
Making Babies? An IVF Primer Read More »
A Book Review
By R. Henry Williams, M.D., M.A.
Chairman of the Board
The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture
What is the essence of medical ethics as it may or should be practiced today? What is an ethical physician? What is Christian ethics? How does one’s faith impact how medicine can be practiced? These questions along with a broad look at medical ethics, from Hippocrates to today’s practicing professional, are masterfully addressed in C. Ben Mitchell’s new volume, Bioethics and Medicine – A Short Companion.
Mitchell draws on his experience as a pastor early on, who moved into ...read more
Bioethics and Medicine: A Short Companion by C. Ben Mitchell Read More »
A Visual Primer on the World Health Organization
by D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.
Executive Director
The World Health Organization (WHO) arose in the aftermath of WW II. Its aim as a global organization was sound “health” for everyone, whatever his/her socioeconomic position. The word health was wide-ranging in its definition: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
First Director-General of the WHO: George Brock ChisholmGeorge Brock Chisholm, a Canadian, served his country during WWI. After returning home, he trained in medicine and then Freudian psychiatry. He advanced ...read more
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.
Executive Director
Reading other people’s mail is usually and appropriately considered unethical. There are a few exceptions. One of those is when the correspondence is publicly available, even if not easily discovered. A communication sent at the end of January, 2025, to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a case in point. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), The Society of Family Planning, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine together submitted a “Citizen Petition” to the FDA about Mifepristone. Mifepristone is ...read more
Reading the Mail of Others Read More »
Joyce A. Shelton, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology Emerita
Trinity International University
The direct to consumer genetic testing company 23andMe, has been in bankruptcy. On May19th of this year they announced that they have sold the company and all of its assets to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals for 256 million dollars. This sale means that Regeneron acquires 23andMe’s gigantic genetic databank garnered from approximately 15 million customers. Given the uniquely personal identifying information about themselves and family members that consumers share when they submit their genetic samples to companies like 23andMe, issues surrounding data security and privacy have long ...read more
23andMe is Sold to Regeneron: What happens now? Read More »
By Joyce A. Shelton, Ph.D.
The dire wolf has been the movie star of the media scene in recent days. Colossal Biosciences, a private US biotech company, has claimed in a jaw-dropping press release to have brought back into existence an ancient animal that has been extinct for centuries. The dire wolf was recently popularized in the sci-fi/fantasy series, Game of Thrones. G of T author, George R.R. Martin, and other celebrities are donors to Colossal Biosciences. Colossal says they have “de-extincted” the dire wolf using genetic technology. They isolated and sequenced some fragments of dire wolf DNA from a fossil tooth and skull. ...read more
Return of the Dire Wolf: Science Fiction or Science? Read More »
