Melanie Unruh, R.N., B.S.N., M.A.
Melanie Unruh, R.N., B.S.N., M.A. Read More »
A Conversation with Peter A. Lawler (Part II)
(first published on 17 September 2008 at http://bioethics.com/?p=5344)
Peter A. Lawler, Ph.D., is Dana Professor and Chair of the Department of Government and International Studies at Berry College, in Georgia, and a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics.
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A., is Executive Director of The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture.
Riley: The subject is organ transplantation, and we have looked at the situation in the United States. Now let’s go beyond the borders of the US. There is certainly a market in a number of countries, one of which is India. There, often a donor (for lack of a ...read more
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A Conversation with Peter A. Lawler (Part I)
(first published 31 July 2008 at www.bioethics.com)
An Interview by D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.
Dr. Peter A. Lawler, Ph.D., is Dana Professor and Chair of the Department of Government and International Studies at Berry College, in Georgia, and a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics
D. Joy Riley: Today’s subject is organ transplantation. There are tens of thousands of people on the list in the United States, needing organ transplantation. This is an area of interest for you, I understand.
Peter A. Lawler: This is a tough issue. There are two ways of dealing with this: dialysis or transplantation. Dialysis is a horrible way to ...read more
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Presuming Consent and More
>(first published on 10 August 2007 at www.bioethics.com; used with permission)
A debate regarding organ donation is getting underway in the UK: it is a debate about “presumed consent.” Presumed consent means that although no permission form is signed, and there is no documented mandated discussion with anyone, a deceased person’s organs can be harvested by the state for transplantation. Another name for this is “opting out”: your organs will be harvested after death unless you have specifically requested that such not occur. The current laws in the UK are revisions of the Human Tissue Act in 1961, and are voluntary, or ...read more
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House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade
Hearing, Thursday June 19: “Genetics and other Human Modification Technologies: Sensible International Regulation or a New Kind of Arms Race.”
Prepared Witness Testimony
Nigel M. de S. Cameron, Ph.D.
President, Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies, Washington, DC Research Professor, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am Nigel Cameron, Research Professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology and President of the Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies, a new nonpartisan think tank focused on the policy implications of the technologies that are set to shape tomorrow. It is an honor to be ...read more
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In glass houses
This spring, only two of the fifty tulip bulbs I planted sent leaves out of the sod; but I have noticed tulips elsewhere. Perhaps the most remarkable have been those in glass planters, with roots, stems, leaves, and blossoms fully visible. The tulip in this picture was in a glass container on a London restaurant table in December: out of season, but lovely, nonetheless.
The term, in vitro, from the Latin means “in glass,” signifying an artificial environment. In vitro fertilization has been a fact of the cultural landscape since 1978. We have become accustomed to hearing about “ivf ...read more
Human Dignity and Human Embodiment
Human dignity is a hard concept to define and an essential one to understand in our rapidly changing biotech society. In Life, Liberty, and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics, Leon Kass has provided a liberal democratic view of human dignity. Human dignity for Kass rests in human embodiment and human finitude.
As Americans, Kass notes that we have long enjoyed the protection of human dignity as expressed in natural or negative rights. Our dignity has been protected from the interference of others in our “blameless liberties.” Therefore, we have the right to freedom from interference in expressing our ...read more
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Medical Ethics Musings: On Caring
By R. Henry Williams, M.D., M.A. Chair, Tennessee CBC Board of Directors
Photo: “Time of Life” by L. Ian Riley
Recently an elderly, long-time patient was brought to my office by his two daughters, who were upset after a visit with his oncologist. His multiple myeloma and general condition were such that chemotherapy was no longer being recommended. The oncologist had suggested that they consider hospice care. The daughters were shocked. From their perspective, Dad was not in a state of obvious decline, and he was not in any pain. They expressed to me a feeling of abandonment, and they were turning to me, his ...read more
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Rappaccini’s Daughter Wasn’t Enough, Either
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director The Tennessee Center for Bioethics and Culture July 2007
In “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne tells us the story of a scientist, Dr. Rappaccini, who is intrigued to the point of obsession with the knowledge of science. His particular interest is in poisonous plants, for within them, he is convinced, lie “all medicinal virtues.” He has a daughter, Beatrice, renowned for her beauty, but rarely seen. That is, until Giovanni Guasconti, student at the University of Padua, comes to live next door. From his lodgings, Giovanni looks down into an incredible garden, and eventually, glimpses Beatrice Rappaccini there, ...read more
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