Bioethics – Global, National, Local
Health Care Policy, Reproductive Medicine, Genetics and Genomics
From the category archives:
In September 2007 I was the keynote speaker at The Molecular Convergence Conference at the University of Oklahoma, Tulsa. As I’m a lifelong lover of science fiction, I titled my talk “Science Fiction Becoming Science Fact”. Advances are now coming thick and fast. The exponential growth of information in many branches of science is at [...]
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Prenatal and postnatal genetic enhancement may ultimately result in a post-human society. These techniques remain in the science fiction realm for the foreseeable future, but a consideration of their implications is critically important for our ability to successfully manage their impact.
What might be good concerning genetic enhancement and what might be not so good? In [...]
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What’s so special about gametes that causes us to be concerned about their commodification? Commodification itself is not a bad thing. In free societies, supply-and-demand relationships precisely determine prices. [I'm presupposing the absence of monopolistic practices. In oil production and supply, for example, monopolistic practices skew prices considerably.]
We exchange goods and services all day long, [...]
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The Indian legend of The Three Blind Men and the Elephant is an apt metaphor for any random collection of three biotechnology entrepreneurs. Each is raptly focused on his personal locus, blind to the deep complexity just beyond his grasp.
Of course, “entrepreneur” in the medical field is for many of us a code word for [...]
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Many commentators are concerned that physicians have an agenda when they discuss results of prenatal testing with their patients. Often, physicians have preconceived values regarding what should be an exclusively patient-centered arena. For example, many physicians are predisposed to recommend abortion when prenatal testing reveals the presence of genetic or structural anomalies that would result [...]
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Distributive justice does not imply that everyone should have equal access to everything all the time. This would be an extreme position and lead to severe distortions in availability of medical services. Competing needs must be balanced fairly and opportunities to access medical care must be equitable. In the American health care marketplace, however, the [...]
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Ethical relativism provides a flimsy moral gloss condoning questionable activities of global pharmaceuticals in developing nations. But the Emperor has no clothes. Ultimately, there’s no such thing as a little bit of ethics.
Medical ethics became an area of concern in the wake of the Nuremberg Trials. The Nuremberg Code was developed in response to the [...]
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For genetic analysis related to breast cancer and Huntington’s disease, it is likely such investigations are initiated for an asymptomatic patient with a relevant family history. Testing for Down’s syndrome is routine for pregnant women older than 35. With the advent of maternal serum markers, aggressive obstetricians may recommend such screening to all their patients.
The [...]
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The overarching ethical concern related to type 2 PGD/HLA testing is the moral status of the embryo. Many books have been written on this topic and many more are being contemplated.
One set of outliers on the bell curve of ethical commentators states that life begins at conception (or, variously, fertilization). The antipodal group states that [...]
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