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Slip Slidin’ Away

July 31, 2015 • Posted in Blog

D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.

I doubt that Paul Simon had Physician-Assisted Suicide (P-AS) in mind when he penned the words to “Slip Slidin’ Away,” but they seem strangely apropos. The terms in the debate are the first to slip, slide away: the Hemlock Society became Compassion and Choices. The latter, which is involved in the Tennessee debate, is hopeful that physician-assisted suicide will become “aid-in-dying”; that is, before it slips into voluntary euthanasia, and then slides away into involuntary euthanasia.

What would happen if physician-assisted suicide (P-AS) were legal?

The role of physicians would be drastically altered. Guaranteeing ...read more

Severing Our Roots

June 29, 2015 • Posted in Blog

The Little Fool by Karen Swenholt. Image by Ian Riley Photography.

D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.

A couple of years ago, I was encouraged to meet a figurative artist (sculptress, in this case). So I drove many hours to meet Karen Swenholt, and the drive was worth it. One of her pieces is pictured above. It is a metaphor that resonates with many of us: the man feels rooted, bound to the earth, or his circumstances, etc., and yearns to be free. So he takes an instrument into his hand — a knife — to free himself from his hateful condition, not ...read more

Physician-Assisted Suicide: NOT Exactly What Its Proponents Advertise It To Be

May 30, 2015 • Posted in Blog

This Australian stamp was issued in celebration of the General Assembly of World Medical Associations almost 50 years ago. At that time, the hypodermic syringe was a symbol of cure. Now, the picture of gloved hands administering an injection can represent something much more menacing.

D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.

The topic of physician-assisted suicide (P-AS) is a persistent one, especially when people are in pain or are worried about impending death. We need to think deeply and well about this issue. To help, the Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture is addressing P-AS from a different perspective for the second time in as many ...read more

Book Review: Ghost Boy

March 9, 2015 • Posted in Blog

D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.

How do we treat the vulnerable among us? Ghost Boy, by Martin Pistorius with Megan Lloyd Davies, is an excellent book to help us explore this question.

Martin Pistorious was a 12-year-old South African school boy when he became ill in 1988. Over the next year, he became wheelchair bound and mute, and spent much of his time over the next 14 years in institutions. That is not the end of the story, however, and he, with Megan Lloyd Davies, tells the story of his awakening and subsequent life in Ghost Boy (Nashville, TN: Nelson Books, 2013).

Martin’s inability to ...read more

Lord Robert Winston’s Fertility Warning — TVNZ ONENEWS

March 18, 2014 • Posted in Atlas

Lord Robert Winston’s TVNZ Breakfast Interview is here.

Public Comment before the FDA Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee, 25 February 2014

February 25, 2014 • Posted in Blog

Good afternoon, Members of the Advisory Committee, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am Dr. D. Joy Riley, the executive director of The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture, an educational not-for-profit organization headquartered in Nashville, TN, dedicated to promoting human dignity in the face of challenges to what it means to be human, and to informing and equipping people to face the vital bioethics issues of the 21st Century.

I am a physician by training, and hold a graduate degree in bioethics as well. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today.  I have no conflicts of interest to report.

It is remarkable ...read more

Justices, 9-0, Bar Patenting Human Genes — NYT

June 14, 2013 • Posted in Atlas

By Adam Liptak — read the story here

Published 13 June 2013

Myriad Genetics CEO Claims He Owns Your Genes — Forbes

April 17, 2013 • Posted in Atlas

Steven Salzberg, Contributor

Published 13 April 2013

Article here.

Philadelphia Abortion Clinic Horror: Column — USAtoday.com

April 14, 2013 • Posted in Atlas

By Kirsten Powers

Originally published 11 April 2013

We’ve forgotten what belongs on Page One.

Sowing the Seeds

November 26, 2012 • Posted in Resource Room

Sowing the Seeds Commissioned work by Carol Harkness for The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture

“Sowing the Seeds, Reaping the Whirlwind” is a metaphoric illustration depicting the consequences of human commodification. Commodification of humans means treating human bodies or body parts as something to be bought, sold, or in some way exchanged in a kind of market. This can occur in a variety of ways, as pictured from left to right:

unFAIR TRADE: obvious evils in abuse of humans

ONE WORLD: “socially acceptable,” potentially attainable human goods seen as “compassionate” in their use

C’est moi Boutique: ...read more