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In Indiana, a new proposal to make it a crime for gynaecologists to use their own sperm to inseminate patients
In the United States, the Senate of Indiana has approved a bill according to which doctors could be prosecuted for the fraudulent use of their own sperm to inseminate their patients. This bill must now be reviewed by the Indiana General Assembly. This...
Swiss nurse suspected of euthanasia
A Swiss nurse is under criminal investigation for homicide following suspicions of euthanasia of elderly patients. An employee of the Regional Hospital of Mendrisio, he allegedly administered “non-prescribed medications” according to the Public Prosecutor and Canton...
Assisted death in Canada: Court finds man guilty of manslaughter after suffocating his wife
Saturday, after a month-long trial and three days of deliberations, 57-year-old Michel Cadotte, accused of suffocating his wife with Alzheimer's disease, has been convicted of manslaughter by a jury of the Court of Montreal, Canada. The verdict “spares him from life...
US family planning program cuts abortion funding
In the United States, the law bans the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions. The Trump administration on Friday issued a rule barring clinics that provide abortions or abortion referrals from participating in the $286 million federal family planning program. The...
Euthanasia: a painful, inhuman death?
"Although aiming to achieve painless, distress-free death, a study has shown that this is not always the case". Professor Jaideep Pandit, an anaesthetist at Oxford University Hospitals, has published a study on the conditions under which euthanized patients...
The European Parliament condemns normalising surgery on children born with a difference in sexual development
By a resolution adopted on 14 February, the European Parliament has condemned operations to "normalise children born with a difference in sexual development"[1]. These practices are also being challenged by "more and more doctors". In France, an estimated 200...
CRISPR Therapeutics announces that it has treated its first patient
The Swiss biotechnology company CRISPR Therapeutics has announced that it has used CRISPR to treat a patient with beta-thalassemia. This experiment was sponsored by Vertex Pharmaceuticals of Boston (see Americans finance an initial clinical trial using CRISPR/Cas9 in...
GMO babies: China adopts new regulations
Following the "GMO babies affair" (see GMO babies: guinea pigs against their will), China has drawn up new regulations for genetic research. These regulations make provision to classify as "high risk" all "work on genetic material", including gene...
Prenatal whole exome sequencing “raises major ethical issues”
Ultrasound can detect certain malformations and anomalies in foetal development. In this case, we can look for a genetic cause using karyotyping[1] and chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA)[2]. In about 38% of cases, these analyses determine the cause of the disorder,...
Alaskan judge strikes down law to deregulate “non-medically necessary” abortions
Adopted in 2014, the law argued that "the state should not be required to pay for elective abortions". On this basis, "medically necessary" abortions were defined as those that could "avoid a threat of serious risk to a woman's life or physical health from...
Man continues to donate sperm samples after fathering 38 children
In his home town, he is known as the "Sperminator". A New Yorker who has already fathered three children with his wife, donates his sperm free of charge to any woman hoping to get pregnant. He has already produced "at least 35 children" through sperm donation. ...
iPS cells and spinal-cord injuries: approval for the first Japanese clinical trial
In Japan, a clinical trial is being prepared to treat spinal-cord injuries with induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Some two million iPS cells will be transplanted into the spine of four adult patients who have lost their motor and sensory functions. These patients...