New technology- new issues?

The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology recently reported a new technique for determining the sex of an unborn child. The technique, which consists of a simple blood test from the mother, can reliably determine the sex of a fetus as early as five weeks into the pregnancy. This technique raises ethical questions about the consequences of identifying X-linked diseases early in pregnancy. You can read more about it in the article, "Blood test tells gender of fetus as early as 5 weeks," which appeared on msnbc.com on December 21, 2009.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34471795/ns/health-pregnancy/

This week's article (for 12/8 meeting)

We will be revisiting the issue of the direct to consumer retail DNA test this week, since many of you were not able to attend our discussion earlier in the semester. Please read the following article, from Time Magazine's Inventions of the Year 2008, for background information about this topic:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1852747_1854493,00.html

This week's article

We will be discussing the article, "Awaking From a Coma: What Did the Doctors Miss?" about Rom Houben, a Belgian man who was assumed to be in a complete vegetative state for 23 years before doctors realized that his brain was fully functioning. The article appeared on Time online on November 28,2009. You can access the article here:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1943277,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

In addition, here is an article about this issue that was published on the New York Times News Blog:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/doubting-a-medical-miracle/?scp=1&sq=rom%20houben&st=cse

Some more bioethics news

Following the new mammogram recommendations, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has issued new guidelines for cervical cancer testing.

Read about it more here:


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/health/20pap.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=cervival%20cancer%20recommendations&st=cse

more bioethics news

We discussed the issue of mammogram recommendations and preventive medicine at a committee meeting last year. This week, the US Preventive Services Task Force made a new recommendation that women should start receiving mammograms at age 50 and every other year, in place of the current recommendation that women should receive yearly mammograms starting at the age of 40. This recommendation has resulted in intense controversy about the role of doctors, the government and individuals in the practice of preventive medicine.



You can read more about it here:




http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/health/18mammogram.html



Please note that there are MANY, MANY articles currently being written about this issue. This article is meant to provide an brief overview of the topic, but if you are interested, we encourage you to read further!

Bioethics news

This article discusses the controversy and eventual conclusion of a case about baby RB, a 13 month old boy on life support with myasthenia gravis.




Please read the article below to learn more about this important bioethics issue.





http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/11/15/uk.baby.dies/

Follow-up to this week's meeting

In response to your questions at this week's meeting, here are some links which provide additional information about bone marrow and the donation process:



http://www.apamsa.org/programs/bone-marrow-drive/bone-marrow-donation-procedure



http://rarediseases.about.com/od/rarediseasesb/a/bmt05.htm



Here is an article which discusses the potential efficacy of postmortem bone marrow donation:

http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/cgi/reprint/16/1/1020.pdf

This week's Bioethics Committee meeting article

This week, we will be discussing the article, " Patients Sue for Right to Buy Life-Saving Bone Marrow" which appeared in the Foxnews.com health section on November 8, 2009.
Please access the article through this link:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,573030,00.html

As always, feel free to comment on the article!

Special event this Tuesday! Nov. 10, 6PM, Hamilton 511

"Too much too soon: the new world of genetic testing and what it means to all of us"
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 6PM, Hamilton 511

The CUAMSA Bioethics Committee invites you to attend an informal discussion led by Ms. Jill Goldman (MS, MPhil, CGC), genetic counselor at the Sergievsky Center and Taub Institute, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. We will discuss the ethical issues encountered in genetic testing of neurodegenerative diseases and the issues arising out of the direct-to-consumer retail DNA test.
Refreshments will be served.

October 27 meeting article

At our meeting this week, we will be discussing "Child DNA Donors should have their say" published in Nature on August 13, 2009. The article highlights the views of bioethicists on genetic repositories.
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090813/full/news.2009.819.html

Links to case studies

Here are the links to the case studies that we discussed at the past two Bioethics Committee meetings. These case studies are from the New York Presbyterian Hospital Ethics Committee and were presented to the public during the Columbia Center for Bioethics Ethics for Lunch series.

"A Patient's Request for Removal of a Ventricular Assist Device: Is it ethical? Is it legal?"
http://www.bioethicscolumbia.org/pdf/Ventricular_Assist_Device_11_28_06.pdf

"Advertisting for a Kidney: Is it ethical? Is it legal?"
http://www.bioethicscolumbia.org/pdf/Advertising_Kidney_5_9_06.pdf

"When Parents Request an Untested Experimental Therapy for their Extremely Ill Child"
http://www.bioethicscolumbia.org/pdf/Experimental_Therapy_2_16_06.pdf

"A Blind and Psychotic PatientRefusing Cataract Surgery: Beneficent Paternalism or Irrational Autonomy?"
http://asp.cumc.columbia.edu/bioethics/upload/Prager_11-15.07_Ethics_Lunch_Write_Up-1.pdf

Another interesting article

This article, "Novartis chip ensures bitter pills are swallowed" discusses the use of microchips in pills as a way of monitoring patients' adherence to their prescriptions. Please follow the link to the article on the Financial Times website:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c1473442-a6f4-11de-bd14-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

Is this an ethically appropriate method of ensuring that patients follow their doctors' prescriptions? Do you view this technology as infringing on individual rights and privacy or as promoting the health and safety of these individuals?

An interesting article

This article discusses growing skepticism towards vaccination, in the context of the H1N1 vaccine. Here is the link to the article:

http://news.aol.com/article/growing-vaccine-skepticism-worries/698882#


What do you think of individuals' views about vaccination compared to the statistics which are provided? Is the media partially to blame for this growing trend? Are parents' justified in preventing their children from being vaccinated for infectious diseases?





Please comment; we will not be discussing this article at the committee meeting this week, so we hope to start a discussion about it online.

Tuesday Sept 29, 2009 Article

Dear Bioethics Committee members,

This week we will be discussing the following article "Officials ponder disconnecting ventilators from some patients in severe flu outbreak" published in the Seattle Times on September 23, 2009. Please find the link below and feel free to comment!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2009930043_propublicaflu23.html

This week's article

We will be meeting this Tuesday (9/22) at 9PM. We will explain the organization of the Bioethics Committee and we will discuss our upcoming events for this semester. We will also discuss the article "Science is Forcing Sports to Re-examine their Core Principles" written by Alice Dreger. This article appeared in the New York Times on September 12, 2009.



Here is the link to the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/sports/13dreger.html?_r=2

The Bioethics Committee will meet on Tuesdays from 9-10PM in Hamilton 401. We hope to see you there!

Welcome!

Welcome to the CU AMSA Bioethics Blog! We will regularly post bioethics articles and events on this blog. We welcome your comments!