Open Letter to Health Care Professionals: We Have a Problem

Blog / /

D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director

To Health Care Professionals: We have a problem. Our health care systems typically have multiple levels of health care \”providers\” who see and treat patients with or without physician input or oversight. The interposition of electronic medical records and automated systems add another layer of complexity to the health care arena. Young trainees — medical students and others — have, due to various pandemic policies, been \”trained\” online. The distance between health care professional and patient has increased by many of these factors. The problem we health care professionals have is with the second word ...read more

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A Day in the Life of a Patient

Blog / /

D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director

30 November 2022

Her son asked if I could be there by 9:00 A.M., when the hospitalist would likely make rounds. I agreed, and made the three-hour journey on a Monday in November. My friend was the patient, and I, a visitor. What I saw in the ensuing hours made me beyond sad.

A nurse came in to “take her vitals.” That meant she wheeled in a cart with various measuring components: a wristband to measure blood pressure, a probe to take the patient’s temperature, and a pulse oximeter to measure blood oxygen content. The patient was ...read more

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What We’re Reading

Blog / /

D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director

Summer often presents us with some time to relax, rejuvenate, and read. We thought you may wish to know what we’re reading. We’d enjoy receiving your comments about any of these after you’ve read them. You can contact us here. You are welcome to share with us what you’re reading as well!

C. Ben Mitchell, Ph.D.:

All That Moves Us by Jay Wellons: 9780593243367 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Irreversible Damage – The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters | Regnery Publishing

You’re Only Human | Baker Publishing Group

Joyce A. Shelton, Ph.D.:

Synthetic mouse embryos created from stem cells — without sperm, eggs, ...read more

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Who is He and what has he done to our children?

Blog, China / /

  Joyce A. Shelton, Ph.D. Professor of Biology Emerita Trinity International University

Remember He Jiankui? He is the Chinese scientist who used CRISPR technology to edit the CCR5 gene for the HIV receptor in the genomes of human embryos. His goal was to make them HIV resistant. He reported at an international conference in 2018 that two of the edited embryos had resulted in the live births of non-identical twins, Nana and Lulu. There were also reports of a third child born in 2019. His revelations in a public forum provoked moral outrage from the scientific community. Global pressure caused Chinese authorities to suspend ...read more

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The Ethics of Rationing COVID-19 Vaccine for the Sickest Among Us

Blog / /

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

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The Problem of Ill-Gotten Gain in Health Care

Blog / /

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

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AMA Resists Embracing “Neutrality” on Physician-Assisted Suicide

Blog, End of Life / /

D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director

Yesterday, the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates voted to retain the current position of the AMA RE physician-assisted suicide. That was the recommendation of the AMA’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA), and the CEJA report was accepted by a 65:35 majority, according to the National Right to Life News.

CEJA is responsible for maintaining and updating the AMA’s Medical Code of Ethics, and promoting “adherence to the Code’s professional ethical standards.” Last year, CEJA recommended maintaining the long-held AMA stance against physician-assisted suicide, but the House of Delegates rejected that recommendation. Further ...read more

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Helping Patients Live vs. Helping Them Die

Blog, End of Life, Hot Topics, Medicine & Health, United States / /

D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director

Cultural Suicide On Sunday, 28 May 2017, The Tennessean published a full page set of articles on the problem of suicide amongst the armed forces in our nation. The year 2012 saw a peak of 22 U.S. veterans killing themselves per day (Jake Lowary, “‘I can’t do barbecues:’ Veteran says“). The Department of Veterans Affairs plans a 7.5 percent budget increase to $186.1 million in 2018 — all to address suicide prevention, the department’s “highest clinical priority” (Jake Lowary, “Suicide rising in the military, but some programs give veterans hope“).

In light of these sobering statistics, it ...read more

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Stamp of Approval — or Not

Blog, Europe / /

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

Hippocrates, the “father of medicine,” was honored by this commemorative stamp issued by Transkei in 1982. The Rod of Asclepius — the rod entwined by a serpent — as the symbol of medicine is included on the stamp as well.

Image: Hippocratic Medicine stamp from Australia, recognizing the General Assembly of World Medical Associations (~1968).

Asclepius, the Greek god associated with healing, is one of the gods referred to in the Hippocratic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath (probably not written by Hippocrates, by the way) in its ancient form included swearing to a number of gods and goddesses; forbade ...read more

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