The smoke over medical marijuana
A comprehensive 2015 scientific review found medical marijuana to be useful only for a small number of medical conditions. Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, an international team […]
perspective
perspective
Consenting to Sex
Recent news articles exploring the post-#MeToo world of romance have noted the phenomenon of cell phone “consent apps,” allowing millennials to sign digital contracts before they have sex with their […]
perspective
To be or not to be — parsing the implications of suicide
In recent years we have witnessed a growing tendency to promote suicide as a way of resolving end-stage suffering. Physician-assisted suicide is now legal in a handful of states and […]
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Doping Athletes
The use of performance-enhancing drugs by professional athletes not only leads to serious challenges in maintaining a level playing field in competitive sports but also raises broader ethical issues and […]
perspective
The Ethics of New Age Medicine
Patients who face serious illnesses are sometimes attracted to alternative medicines, also referred to as “holistic” or “new-age” medicines. These can include treatments like homeopathy, hypnosis, “energy therapies” like Reiki, […]
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How does the Catholic Church resolve new bioethical questions?
A number of years ago, I participated in a debate at Harvard on embryonic stem cell research which also included a Jewish rabbi, an Episcopalian clergyman, and a Muslim imam. […]
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Thinking through the temptation of cohabitation
Men and women clearly need each other and naturally gravitate towards arrangements of mutual support and lives of shared intimacy. Because women are frequently the immediate guardians of the next […]
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Human organs from pigs–is it kosher?
Human beings can have a visceral reaction to the thought of growing human kidneys or livers inside the bodies of pigs or cows. A participant in a recent online forum […]
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Consenting to the Unconscionable
In recent years, scientists in industry and academia have come to rely on freshly obtained human tissue specimens for certain types of research and experimentation. Sometimes these tissues and organs […]
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What is VSED and why should it matter to us?
More than 20 years ago, Dr. David Eddy, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, described how his mother, though not suffering from a terminal illness, chose to […]
perspective
Esteem elders and foster solidarity across generations
Occasionally we hear disturbing stories in the media about young people who perpetrate abuse against the elderly. In a widely reported 2009 story, for example, caretakers at the Quadrangle Assisted […]
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Of proxies and POLSTs: The good and the bad in end-of-life planning
Planning for end-of-life situations is important. We should put in place an advance directive before our health takes a serious turn for the worse and we are no longer able […]
