Body Parts for Sale

Summary: Michigan State University Professor Monir Moniruzzaman attempts to uncover the dreadful blackmarket trade of organs. He discovers that poor people who sell their organs hardly ever come up with the proposed money. In fact, 80% of the donors did not receive any money at all. Most of the operations are taking place in India, where refutable doctors are performing surgeries eight at a time.

Questions: Do you believe organ donations would become a required thing in the future, similar to Never Let Me Go? How would you regulate the spread of black market organs?

Source:  http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/story.aspx?id=754295#.T7rf-r_2m11

Facebook encourages organ donation

Facebook promotes  organ donation on its page and inform 900 million people to sign up to donate organs. Its is one of the biggest capaigns of hits especially of the scaricity of donation of organs. This help gain more organ donation through a social network to promote people to donate.This social networking promotion gives potential of more possible donations. The idea was taken by the natural disaster relief in Japan because of the big hit of donation that facebook has promoted. It just seems more and more that the best way to promote is through social networking.

Questions:

Do you think promoting things like organ donation or fund reliefs for natural disaster in social networking is a good idea?

Is it more effective then verbally and stands promotion ?

How do you feel about promoting all these things on facebook or should faceboo just remain aplace to socialize?

Old Men Still Screened for Prostate Cancer

In a recent article in the New York Times, writer Tara Parker-Pope outlines the recent debate regarding the need for Prostate tests in old men. 2008 saw the end of men older than 75 being tested for Prostate cancer, according to the United States Preventive Services Task Force. The usual test would be a prostate specific antigen, or P.S.A. The task force had mentioned that the procedure and test would further disrupt, cause harm, and pain for many elderly. Although this was decided, very few doctors and patients have decided to obey and follow this. In reality, P.S.A screening was more common in men ages 75 and older, than any other years.

Source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/older-men-still-being-screened-for-prostate-cancer/?ref=health

Questions: According to the article, doctors and physicians choose to carry out the test because talking about life expectancy with patients is an extremely touchy subject. Should our future medical schools and colleges offer classes that deal with certain scenarios? Other sources believe that doctors are constantly over diagnosing when it comes to prostate cancer, is there such a thing as over diagnosing?

SAVE YOUR HIDE-SKIP THE TANNING BOOTH

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25378496/ns/health-health_care/

This article discusses how tanning, whether in the tanning booth or in the natural sun is actually very bad for your skin and health. The media has shaped tanning to become the new "fashion trend". In actuality, the human skin becomes darker in order to protect itself from the harmful rays. Soon, skin basically can burn like charcoal. Yet because of this "fashion trend", the number one cancer which kills many lives is skin cancer-from tanning!

QUESTION: If people know that tanning in general cause cancer, why do they willingly risk their lives? Also, does this mean that people care more about their image then actual health?

5 Hawaii doctors offer assisted suicide to terminally ill patients

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/04/16/prsd0417.htm

Summary:
Hawaii currently has no law authorizing assisted suicides, however, I group of physicians recently offered to write lethal prescriptions for terminally ill patients in order to test if doctor-assisted suicide is allowed under state law.  After hearing of this, the physicians discovered that they could be charged for manslaughter for writing up lethal prescriptions.

Questions:
Do you think that physician-assisted suicide is a moral thing? Why or why not?

Should patients have the option to choose physician-assisted suicide or should it be banned everywhere across the United States?

Study Sheds Light on How Birds Navigate by Magnetic Field - Rachel Lee

Birds have been known to be great navigators. For years, scientists have been trying to figure out how they are able to navigate from one place to another. They have found that their ability to detect variations in the earth's magnetic field contributes to their great navigational skills. After doing some research, scientists have discovered cells in the pigeon's brain that could record detailed information about the earth's magnetic field. It is compared to a biological compass. Researchers have also discovered a group of cells in the brain stem of pigeons that can both record both the direction and the strength of the magnetic field. They believe these cells are within the inner ear of the pigeon.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/science/study-sheds-light-on-how-pigeons-navigate-by-magnetic-field.html?ref=science

Do you think scientists should be doing more studies like this one?

Heavy Backpacks Can Spell Chronic Back Pain for Children

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/heavy-backpacks-can-spell-chronic-back-pain-for-children/?ref=science

Summary: In this article, the effects of children carrying heavy backpacks are revealed.  Not only does it drain their energy, but it can result in serious back problems when they are older, such as stress fractures, inflammation of growth cartilage, back and neck strain, and nerve damage to neck and shoulders.  These children have been compared to pack animals who carry 10-15% of their own body weight on their backs.

Question:  Is it the school's responsibility to take care of their students when it comes to backpacks?  If yes or no, what are some reasonable solutions to fix this problem?

Tupac’s resurrection

Summary: During 2012's Coachella Festival, Tupac, a deceased rapper, was "resurrected" through the process known as Pepper's Ghost, or a hologram.  Throughout Tupac's holographic performance, many were amazed by his performance, yet, somewhat queasy.  This story also brought up ethical questions about whether deceased beings should be left alone, or should be "brought back to life.  Even if we do have the technology to accomplish this task, does it mean that we should?...

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/y-big-story-tupac-resurrection-questions-over-raising-215806421.html

Questions: After someone does, is it ethical and/moral for others to "resurrect" the dead even if it to pay tribute? Is it ever ethical to raise the dead?  When someone dies, who has the right to that deceased being?  

-Margaret

"When The Cure Seems Worse Than The Disease"

Link: http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/bioethics/9810/refuse.treatment/template.html

Summary: A family in Maine decides to stop treatment for her 4 year old son who is suffering from HIV infection. A few years back, her 3 year old daughter died from AIDS. This incident helped her decision with her son. The treatment for HIV seems to be worse than the actual disease. The side effects from the drugs are severe and may just prolong the suffering of the boy. The Department of Human Services asked for custody of the boy as a result of neglect and abuse from his mother.

Question: What is your opinion on the mother's decision? Is it wrong for a mother to choose to stop treatment for her son?

Controversial guidelines for UK doctors

http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10026

The General Medical Council, GMC in the UK has recently come up with a draft of new guidelines that are quite controversial for better patient care.  It has proposed that doctors may not refuse requests for sex-change operations or only prescribe contraceptives to married women and not unmarried women, as it would be discrimination towards a certain group of persons or women; however, the new guidelines give doctors the right to refuse to participate in abortions but cannot impose their beliefs on the patients or refuse to give the patient the "appropriate" services.  The GMC hopes that through these new amendments and guidelines, doctors would be able to set aside their own beliefs and provide patient care that is in compliance with the General Medical Council.

Do you think that these new amendments would really make doctors set aside their own personal beliefs or bias, when treating certain groups of patients?  Wouldn't it be also be considered discriminatory if doctors refuse to participate in abortions?

Who Is To Blame When A Robotic Car Crashes?

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2012-04/who-blame-when-robotic-car-crashes
The article discusses the implications of removing drivers from cars and replacing them with automatic driving robots. It starts by mentioning the mechanical improvements to cars such as anti-lock brakes and traction control and how those computerized elements have drastically lowered accident rates. It goes on to state that a majority of car accidents are caused by human error and by removing the driver, a majority of accidents would not have occurred. But the issue is the matter of insurance. Manufacturers would the most likely to blame if an malfunctioning car were to cause an accident. The article goes on to mention that if manufacturers are to be put on the spot, they would be more reluctant to build autonomous cars. It finally mentions that the government could step in to regulate such matters by protecting the small amount of people who theoretically would be involved in accidents while still promoting the production of autonomous driving cars.

Should the government encourage autonomous driving vehicles as a matter of safety? Is a car's autopilot a sign of humanity's growing fragility in piloting vehicles?

New Case of Mad Cow Disease in California

Link : http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/04/24/us/politics/ap-us-mad-cow.html?_r=1&ref=health

Summary : Earlier this morning, the first case of mad cow disease happened in the U.S since 2006 in California. About 40,000 cows a year are tested for fatal brain disease and the department chief veterinary officer said there is no such possible thing that cows can't cause a fatal human brain disease. The test shows that humans cannot be infected by drinking milk from infected animals.

Question : Would you still drink milk even though they said cows can't cause a fatal human brain disease?

Priscilla De La Rosa- Vermont Vaccines (April)

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/vermont-lawmakers-parents-at-loggerheads-over-philosophical-exemption-for-kids-vaccines/2012/04/22/gIQArrhCaT_story.html

Summary: Basically, this article states how in Vermont many vaccinations have gone wrong for the kids receiving them. They have had an outbreak of many diseases that the vaccines target such as, pertussis amd whopping cough. However, now a question of informed consent has arisen from this. A mother agreed to vaccinations for both of her two children however, her boy suffered a seizure after a child vaccination and her daughter suffered from head to toe eczema bteakout. This mother then says its a matter of researching the risks and benefits of the immunizations. However, another mom says, "It's a matter of trusting the experts. There’s not really any way that as an individual I can do more scientific study and research than the American Academy of Pediatrics or the Centers for Disease Control."

Question: Now this brings up the question, do you agree with the mother that we should just trusting the experts because it is their job to keep us healthy? Or do you agree with the first mother and reseraching the risks and benefits of the vaccines?

http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=10368
This article is about how scientist are learning how to make the HIV/AIDs virus not infectious to other cells.  In a sense, they are sugarcoating the virus.  The problem with this is that the HIV/AIDs virus mutates making it hard to fully cure and make the disease non lethal.
Is it right to try this new "vaccine" on people without AIDs, but posssibly give them AIDs in the process?

Can Brain Freeze Solve the Mystery of Migraines?

This article focuses on the effect of rapid blood flow to the brain, what we call a brain freeze.  The brain is supper sensitive to temperature so this rapid change swells the brain’s anterior cerebral artery.  While brain freeze may not be a way to cure migraines and other dysfunctions to the brain it may be linked to them in some way.


http://healthland.time.com/2012/04/23/can-brain-freeze-solve-the-mystery-of-migraines/


If a brain freeze causes your brain to hurt or gain a small amount of discomfort, does eating something hot cause the same effect or a different one?

IVF linked to risk of birth defects and heart disease

Summary:
This article is about how studies are beginning to show that there are more birth defects when women receive IVFs. Before the use of IVFs, birth defects only happened 3 out of 100 children. Now with more and more females getting IVFs, they found that 4 out of 100 children are having birth defects. No one doesn't know for sure what's causing the up rise in the birth defects, but scientist have came up with three possible reasons: "people who have trouble conceiving also tend to have babies with birth defects. The IVF drugs, culture media and techniques themselves could cause the defects. Or finally, there seem to be more defects simply because the children are more closely observed".


Question:
Do you think that women seeking IVFs should be warned about the rise of birth defects before continuing on with treatment? What do you think if the rise of birth defect in IVF continues to go on? 

Link: http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10027

Antonio Reybol - Medical Tattoo Looks to Replace Bulky Devices

Link:  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/04/12/medical-tattoo-looks-to-replace-bulky-devices/

Summary: This article is about how doctors want to place a "biostamp" in our skin to detect warnings of our medical health.  It can also keep us updated and inform other doctors of our medical history, just through this one one device.  It is to replace bulky metal pacemakers and other electronics given to us to monitor our health.  It is still in the process of making, but it will be so convenient that it may even be able to sync to our smart phones to notify us of a medical issue happening at that moment!  

Question: If you were someone who had a pacemaker, would you prefer this "biostamp"?  Why or why not?  Would you be scared to know at a specific moment that something wrong is going on in your body by getting a notification on your phone?

Nuffield Council on Bioethics Call for Evidence: Disclosure and Donor Conception - Kristy Owyang

http://www.bionews.org.uk/page_139465.asp

SUMMARY

this article talks about how people are looking into other people donating eggs and sperm and the right of them to know about it later on if the kids would want to know where they come from and the evidence in how this all happen. it also talks about the ways they use to find some evidence to see where they orginally came from, using things from your body and how the parents would feel about it later on after when they are found. 

QUESTION

if you found that your parents arent your parents, would you want to know where you originally came from (your real parents) that the egg and sperm came from?

Ethics and Science in the UK

The audio is over 22 minutes long, but there is the slides to give you a general sense of the issue. please take a look at one or both of them.
Link:
Research involving adults lacking the capacity to consent: The Mental Capacity Act 2005: Audio
Research involving adults lacking the capacity to consent: The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (slides)


Summery:
Since October 2007, England and Wales have carefully regulated research upon adults who lack the ability to consent. However, in Scotland and Northern Ireland, there are different regulations for this issue.   The speaker talks about the range and different parts of the MCA (Mental Capacity Act), and who would qualify to need this act to protect them. He also talks about what the MCA requires and all the proceses that each person must go through in order to do research upon a person who lack the ability to consent.

Questions:

1. Should there be a state law that governs research and development?

2. Should the law, given that there is one, be complicated and require a long process and have detailed specifics on who falls under the need for protection from the Mental Capacity Act?

McGeever Charlotte - 'An ECG could have saved my child'

My April article written by Judy Hobson of The Guardian, published April 8, 2012 is titled "'An ECG Could have saved my child': Two of Kathy Moyle's daughters and a grandson died suddenly. Had she been aware of a genetic link, she says, they might still be alive"


Link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/apr/08/ecg-could-have-saved-child


Summary
The article is a report on a woman, Kathy Moyle, who after 25 years has learned the what killed her three seemingly healthy younger family members suddenly and unexpectedly. After the first death of her daughter who literally just collapsed and died, it was reported that the cause of death was an abnormal artery. Then later on, Kathy's grandson died in similar fashion - he was riding his bike, then collapsed and died. At this point, no doctor or medical personnel advised her family to get screened for heart defects or that there may be a heredity link. A year later her other daughter was watching TV and collapsed. After this death, the coroner's office got permission to send the recently deceased daughter's heart to a specialist for examination - it was sent by mail and never reached the specialist which Kathy Moyle didn't learn till 6 months after. She was angry because the heart of her daughter could have given an insight into why she and perhaps her sister and the grandson died. Then one day Kathy Moyle was watching a documentary about a rare inherited disorder that affects the electrical rhythm of the heart, Long QT Syndrome. She spoke to a geneticist and was referred to a specialist for screening. It was discovered that she had Long QT Syndrome and that her daughters/grandson had inherited it and that that was most likely the cause of their deaths. If she and her family had received screenings (ECG - Electrocardiography) after the first death of her daughter, her other two family members might still be living.


One Question I have:


Do you think it was wrong that Kathy (and her family) were never advised to get an ECG screening by doctors after the death of her second family member? Do you think that could be considered malpractice? I mean come on, if two young members of the same family die unexpectedly - something fishy has to be going on and doctors are the ones responsible for figuring that out!