Shift and Puzzle: What do an ape and a donkey have to do with bioethics?
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
In C. S. Lewis’ The Last Battle, Shift is a shrewd, crafty ape, and his neighbor, Puzzle, is a meek, somewhat simple donkey. It has been a long time since Aslan, the all-powerful lion, has been seen in Narnia. Therefore, when Shift spies an old lion skin, he decides to have Puzzle dress up in it and pretend to be Aslan. Shift constantly insists that Puzzle do all the heavy-lifting involved in any of their escapades, but in such a way that Puzzle thinks he is getting the ...read more
How Do We Promote Human Dignity?
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
A week ago, I was privileged to tour portions of a few of the buildings in a complex that had previously been used as a state “Hospital for the Insane” in Michigan. Although a number of the buildings have been repurposed into condos, restaurants, and shops, the two-hour tour was of several spaces that have yet to be restored. The architect of the original hospital and treatment regimen was a psychiatrist named Thomas Kirkbride. I was impressed by his understanding of human dignity, as represented by his work. The story is fascinating . . .
Thomas ...read more
Book Review: Ghost Boy
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
Documentary — When Assisted Death is Legal: Episode II
BBC World Service: first broadcast 20 February 2013
Liz Carr visits The Netherlands, and the American states of Washington and Oregon in the second episode of the two-part radio documentary on euthanasia and assisted suicide.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p014q86x
Donor treatments for mitochondrial DNA disorders are ethical — Nuffield Council on Bioethics (Press Release)
http://www.phgfoundation.org/news/11991/
Philosophies, as well as Actions, Have Consequences*
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.
Executive Director
29 February 2012
It was Horace Mann who said, “Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it every day, and at last we cannot break it.” If that habit is of thought, it becomes a philosophy. Whether that habit is of thought or action, there are attendant consequences. Let’s consider children in this light.
Whether one thinks that babies are commodities, “not yet persons,” or a heritage, those philosophies have consequences. Recently, Theresa Erickson came face-to-face with the consequences of viewing babies as commodities (wire tap recordings). Ms. Erickson, the author of ...read more
Changes in controversial organ donation method stir fears — The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/changes-in-controversial-organ-donation-method-stir-fears/2011/09/15/gIQAlY9agK_story.html
Doing the Right Thing — a six part exploration of ethics
“A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon the world.” Albert Camus
The class will consider the state of our world, ethically speaking . . .
How did we get into this mess? Is there truth, a moral law we can all know? If we know what is right, can we do it? What does it mean to be human? Ethics in the Market Place Ethics in Public LifeMonday Nights, 26 September – 31 October
7:00 – 8:30 P.M.
The Locker Room
7017 Concord Road
Brentwood, TN 37027
Cost: $15
Register Here
Chinese teen sells his kidney for an iPad 2 — The Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/8552195/Chinese-teen-sells-his-kidney-for-an-iPad-2.html
