Mr. B in Solitary Confinement
Janet Liljestrand, M.D., M.A.
Mr. B was in solitary confinement. His crime? Candida auris, a fungus which is particularly difficult to treat, grew from one of his cultures taken during a fever while a patient in a nursing home. Referred to as an opportunistic infection, the average person is unlikely to become ill with C. auris, but those in poor health or with an immune deficiency are susceptible. The CDC has recommended that a patient who has a culture that is positive for C. auris, regardless of the site of the culture, be in isolation for the duration of the patient’s ...read more
Permanent or Irreversible: What Difference Does It Make?
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
A number of years ago, I was out of town when we had significant flooding at home. There was some leaking of water into the basement, and one of our then-teenage sons decided to make sure I would be aware of where exactly the leaks had appeared. He used a hot pink permanent marker to delineate the problem on the drywall for me. When my husband arrived home at the end of a full day, he became rather “excited” about our son’s decision. Thankfully, an older son found a solution to remove evidence of the ...read more
Subsidizing Desire
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
Philosophy Professor Timothy F. Murphy and medical student Kelsey Mumford recently published in the AMA Journal of Ethics a paper on the possibility of subsidizing uterine transplantation — for transwomen (biological males) and transmen (biological females).
The authors posit that government subsidy for expensive uterine transplants could apply to a number of persons identifying as
Transwomen “who want to gestate their own children” Transwomen who don’t want to gestate children but want a uterus “to consolidate their identities” Transmen “who want to gestate their own children” Males (“cisgender men”) who want to “gestate children of their own”The authors raise the ...read more
My Life, My Death, My Choice … or NOT
Joyce A. Shelton, Ph.D. Professor of Biology Emerita Trinity International University
As we emerge from the shadow of a worldwide pandemic that forced society to seek safety in unprecedented government control, we are finding that governments are now unwilling to hand back the reins to the populace. New laws, hastily passed, are designed to limit individual freedoms and solidify the power of policy makers over our lives. Frequently, we are told that these laws are for own good and/or the good of our society. Those who disagree are often marginalized, cancelled, or even arrested, accused of obstructing needed liberal social change. Hard earned ...read more
Editing Our Future
The recent (March 6-8, 2023) meeting of the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing in London has brought ethical concerns about heritable human genome editing to the forefront once again. Recall that the previous meeting five years ago exploded into international furor over revelations from He Jiankui, the Chinese scientist who edited the genomes of three embryos and brought them to term. He was jailed for his actions in China and was only recently released. Apparently, he is unrepentant and still harboring visions of reactivating his genome editing pursuits. Not surprisingly, ...read more
What Does It Take to Alter Our Next Generation?
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
I have been thinking about how one generation proactively alters the succeeding one. As I contemplated this conundrum, I found myself writing a story instead of a list. That story was published as a SALVO blog piece, and the link is below. The “angsty” pirate lives in a dystopia created by childhood desire, indulgent parents, a cooperative, complicit medical-industrial complex, and a legal climate in which desire is codified into law. What could possibly go wrong with that?
Click here to read the story. Then, send any comments to us through the Contact Us feature here ...read more
More Transitions
It is with much sadness that the Board and Executive Director of The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture announce the death of Board Member William “Bill” Peter, of Hendersonville, TN. Bill has served humbly but with distinction as a Board Member since the inception of this organization. He will be sorely missed. We extend our condolences to his family.
Resquiescat in pace, our brother and friend
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
Our September e-newsletter contained an article by Joyce Shelton, Ph.D., “For the Safety of Our Children.” It was about the medical transitioning of gender-dysphoric children. ...read more
Transitions – Paying Attention to Other Voices
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
Recently, I traveled north to enjoy some recreation and relaxation in cooler weather. Here, fall is in the air, and some trees are manifesting beautiful foliage ahead of the rest. The tree pictured above caught my eye, with its red leaved branches standing out from the rest of the still-green tree. It is a remarkable and lovely natural autumnal transition.
Alas, other “transitions” in our midst are neither lovely or natural. I am alluding to the “medical transitioning” of our young people, who are often told that multiple surgeries and life-long (cross-sex) hormonal treatments will transition ...read more
GATTACA: 25 Years On
Joyce A. Shelton, Ph.D. Professor of Biology Emerita Trinity International University
(Editor’s Note: The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture screened GATTACA at the end of June at the international bioethics conference held by the Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity at Trinity International University. Dr. Shelton presented opening remarks, which, lightly edited, are presented here.)
The movie, GATTACA, is entertaining to watch as is, but is also rife with symbolism and subtle—and some not so subtle—philosophical messages. 25 years on: it has proved to be prescient in a number of ways.
GATTACA depicts a dystopian world in which there is a new type of social ...read more
What Does Autonomy Have to Do with It?
D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director
On the second day of May, 2022, a U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion in the Mississippi Dobbs case, regarding abortion, was leaked to the media. The resulting cultural distress frenzy has been somewhat akin to dropping meat into a pool of piranhas. Much energy is being spent in projecting what will happen if the final decision resembles the draft. A summer of rage is being threatened by some abortion supporters.
Where, O where, is reason in all of the verbiage? Interestingly and amazingly, a book of compassionate pro-life counters to abortion advocates was published by Moody ...read more
