I mentioned a few days ago the proposed law in South Dakota that would provide a defence of justifiable homicide for to those accused of killing abortion doctors. That proposal was shelved… but reports keep coming in of proposed laws, each of which is crazier than the last. I’m beginning to wonder if there’s a […]
Month: February 2011
Assisted Suicide in Oregon: a Counterblast from the Antis
Ilora Finlay and Rob George* have a new paper in the JME that takes issue with Battin et al‘s 2007 paper, concerning who makes use of physician assisted suicide in Oregon and Holland. Battin’s claim had been that there was no evidence of heightened risk for the elderly, women, the uninsured (inapplicable in the Netherlands, where […]
Book Review: Pascal Bruckner, “Perpetual Euphoria”
Woodstock: Princeton UP, 2010; 244 + xii pp This has to be one of the most French books I’ve ever read. Pascal Bruckner has written a whole book taking aim at happiness – a kind of obtuseness that is, on the face of it, the preserve of a particular kind of Gallic writer – and “the […]
Wow. South Dakota… just Wow (part 2).
I think that this is worthy of its own entry, rather than just an update of the one ↓down there↓; South Dakota has shelved its lunatic proposed law on justifiable homicide. When even anti-abortion activists were against it, that was probably inevitable. On the other hand, it’s only been shelved. Things can come off the […]
Wow. South Dakota… just Wow.
I’m a bit bowled over by this. There’s a Bill currently before the South Dakota legislature that would, if passed, change the scope of justifiable homicide laws. FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act to expand the definition of justifiable homicide to provide for the protection of certain unborn children. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF […]
Ethics (without the brain?)
I’ve set my RSS to receive updates from Secondhand Smoke, which is one of the blogs at First Things. It’s written by Wesley Smith, who is affiliated to the Discovery Institute, the creationist thinktank in Seattle: that gives you an indication of the sort of position he occupies – not just on bioethics, but also […]
Saviour Siblings, Ends and Means: How far can you go?
It would appear that France is being forced to grapple with the idea of saviour siblings in a case that looks to be in essence a copy of the UK’s Hashmi case from 2002. That case concerned a couple who wanted to screen embryos to ensure compatibility in order that cord blood from the baby […]
Public Debate: Organ Donation
Organ donation: the cost of not giving: A public debate Thursday 17 March 2011, 6.30-8.00 Watershed, Bristol, BS1 5TX This public event will bring together people involved in organ donation and transplantation to discuss the current situation in the UK. You will have a chance to hear about the complexity of transplant coordination, the harrowing […]
What’re your Qualifications?
“I’ve never read a more outrageous job advert,” says a colleague’s Facebook update, in reference to this from Georgetown University. Georgetown University is seeking outstanding candidates for the position of Director of the Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University Medical Center (CCB). The CCB Director will report directly to the Medical Center’s chief executive officer, the […]
Chris Mooney Interviews Arthur Caplan (.mp3)
There’s a podcast of an interview between Chris Mooney and Arthur Caplan available here; Caplan is talking about bioethics having “come of age”. He’s talking about the history of the US bioethics councils under Bush and Obama, and about how the focus of the President’s Council now is more policy-driven than being concerned by “deep” […]