Archive for August, 2006
Blogging with Brewster
I thought this week we would take a break from the serious side of bioethics, and just check out Brewster Rockit’s take on blogging. We’ll get back to more intense matters next week, when I resume my usual blorg, er . . . blog.
For more Brewster: http://www.comicspage.com/brewster/brewster.htmlDesperate Donors
Anyone who doubts that there are terrible human rights abuses in the world should consider the latest news on “transplant tourism.” This is the practice where rich Americans go overseas to a less developed country to purchase an organ for transplant.
Perhaps you have kidney failure, and don’t wish to endure the long wait for a [...]The Bioethics of Bodies
Several of my pre-med biology students have asked me about Gunther von Hagens’ exhibit “Body Worlds,” now touring the country. Since we offer cadaver dissection as part of our undergraduate courses in human biology, I guess my initial reaction was “Hmm, sounds educational; I guess that’s alright.” Mind you, I had not seen the exhibit. [...]
The Business of Babies
Debra Spar, an economics professor at Harvard, has written a nice piece that shows just how pervasive the desire to have children can be, and how easily economic manipulation can take advantage of it. She writes:
To those who suffer from it, however, infertility is a wretched curse — a disease that isn’t really a disease, [...]
