Tennessee Legislative Update: Commercial Surrogacy and a Pot of Gold
By D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
References to pots of gold usually occur in the month of March, and involve leprechauns and rainbows. This year, pots of gold figure in at least one set of companion bills (House Bill No. 1379 and Senate Bill No. 425) the Tennessee Legislature is transforming into law. Instead of leprechauns and rainbows, though, it is the fertility physicians/clinics and “third-party reproductive care for the benefit of the enrollee(s).” The pots of gold are to be provided by “insurance companies,” which means, of course, “the insured,” which would include all of us who pay insurance ...read more
A Tale of Two Data Scientists
Neil Ferguson, Ph.D. Infamous Graph Youyang Gu
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
It was a long year ago (March 2020) that a dire prediction was issued by a group at Imperial College London (UK) regarding the possible effects of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. The model predicted more than 500,000 UK deaths, and >2.2 million deaths in the U.S. by summer if no action were taken. One of the data scientists issuing that proclamation was Neil Ferguson, Ph.D. He and his group advised the government that “in the UK and US context, suppression will minimally require a combination of social distancing of the entire ...read more
Is It Science or Scientism?
Joyce Shelton, Ph.D. Professor of Biology, Trinity International University Guest Column
In the climate of fear, uncertainty and urgency engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is often difficult to know what to do or whom to trust. Public policy makers are daily making decisions and enacting rules that affect our lives and dictate our actions in the name of protection. They lend authority and justification to their decisions by claiming that they are following the science, implying that this appeal to a trusted, rational voice should be enough to calm our concerns and guarantee our compliance. But the elevation of science to the ...read more
The Ethics of Rationing COVID-19 Vaccine for the Sickest Among Us
C. Ben Mitchell, Ph.D Distinguished Fellow
We must not allow our combined COVID-19 fatigue to prevent us from asking important questions about public health ethics. At the time I am writing this essay, we are just transitioning into Phase 2 of the vaccination plan. I am sure our public health officials are doing the best they can under unprecedented circumstances, so we should give them the benefit of the doubt. But for the sake of clarity in the future, some retrospective analysis will be crucial.
For instance, in our own state, we have abandoned traditional triage ethics in favor of a purely age-based ...read more
Parenting in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Janet Liljestrand, M.D., M.A.*
Rearing children is a time-consuming and emotionally taxing undertaking. The current pandemic has magnified the enormity of this task by disrupting the lives of adults and children alike. What does a parent say and do in the midst of a pandemic that has the added burden of activity restrictions, a 24-hour news cycle, multiple voices on social media, and changing messages from the “experts,” all mixed with a touch of hysteria? The basics of parenting in the midst of a pandemic are much the same as any other stressful time with the possible exception that the stressful ...read more
The Prescription for Flourishing Embodiment in Public Bioethics
A Book Review
C. Ben Mitchell, Ph.D. Distinguished Fellow
American public bioethics does not have a sterling history because it misunderstands its most important subject, the human subject. This is the claim of a brilliant new book by O. Carter Snead, the Director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture and professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame.
In What it Means to be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics (Harvard, 2020), Snead offers a genealogy of American public bioethics. Public bioethics, as contrasted with clinical bioethics, is the realm of human subjects research where, instead ...read more
The Problem of Ill-Gotten Gain in Health Care
C. Ben Mitchell, Ph.D. Distinguished Fellow
The politicized debate about President Trump’s treatment for Covid-19 may have shrouded an important set of questions about the science of developing treatments, viz., the problem of ill-gotten gain.
Among other treatment protocols, the President received Regeneron’s REGN-COV2, a “cocktail” of two neutralizing antibodies that has shown promise in some animal studies (see here and here). The media jumped on an association between REGN-COV2 antibodies and fetal cells, some even claiming that the antibodies were developed from fetal cells.
Screenshot of NYT headline on Oct. 8, 2020
The fact of the matter is REGN-COV2 was tested for its virus-neutralizing ...read more
A Project for Our Time
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
The responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have been by turns dramatic and disconcerting, and, at times, draconian. I read about Steve Reiter’s deplorable experience and his new project in a BreakPoint commentary in July, and he was kind enough to speak with me by telephone on 24 July.
Steve’s beloved wife, Elizabeth, had diagnoses of lupus and pulmonary hypertension, among other difficulties. She had had a lengthy hospitalization in 2014, but had recovered. Steve attributes her recovery to excellent medical care and the 24/7 presence of her family. She had a Hickman line placed, and Steve ...read more
Welcome to our Distinguished Fellow!
Dr. Mitchell most recently served as the Graves professor of moral philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, until his retirement at the end of August 2020. Prior to joining the Union faculty, he taught bioethics and contemporary culture for a decade at Trinity Graduate School in Deerfield, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, where he was also director of the Center for Bioethics & Human ...read more
Flourishing in Difficult Times
Zen Nails, in Brentwood, TN, recently reopened for business. The nail salon had been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. But it had not been idle. The owners, along with other volunteers, decided to contribute to the common good in a very needed way. They sewed masks and donated them to medical workers as well as to the Navajo nation.
Read the story here.
