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“It’s not my fault – my brain implant made me do it”
Treated for specific disorders - serious obsessive compulsive disorder and epilepsy, etc. - patients given deep brain stimulation have noticed changes in how they perceive things. The question of responsibility comes to the fore as neurotechnologies develop. In fact,...
Embryos accidentally frozen in Ohio – are these classed as persons?
The legal debate is underway - are embryos stored in fertility clinics alive and are they classed as persons? Rick et Wendy Penniman lost their frozen embryos following an equipment malfunction at the Cleveland Fertility Clinic[1]. Represented by their lawyer, Bruce...
Assisted suicide legalized in Hawaii
After votes in the House of Representatives and the Senate on 6 and 30 March,[1] Governor of Hawaii David Ige signed a measure into law legalizing assisted suicide. “We know that we have gotten to a point in our community that it does make sense to give the patient a...
Man saved after being in cardiac arrest for eighteen hours
This is an extraordinary medical case according to Professor Xavier Capdevila, Head of the Anaesthesia-Intensive Care Unit at Montpellier University Hospital (CHU). A 53 year-old man was resuscitated eighteen hours after his heart had stopped beating. On 12...
DNA test confirms that a young woman’s biological father is none other than the doctor who inseminated her mother
Following a DNA test carried out in conjunction with Ancestry.com, a young woman, Kelli Rowlette, not only found out that she was born through artificial insemination, which her parents had always kept from her, but that her biological father was none other than the...
Japan, Sri Lanka: working women banned from getting pregnant
In Japan, a pregnant employee was reprimanded for getting pregnant outside the company's "pregnancy schedule". The company introduced a rotation system for employees wanting to get married or have a child, etc. This type of planning is not uncommon in companies with a...
Designer children: Brazilians import American sperm to have children with white skin
Since 2011, American sperm imports to Brazil have increased by approximately 3000%. Over 50% of the Brazilian population is black or mixed-race, yet most applicants choose donors with light-coloured skin and blue eyes. In this country, 80% of wealthy Brazilians are...
Human tissues soon to be on sale in Belgium
Belgian Health Minister, Maggie de Block, wants to authorise the sale of human tissues by amending the 1986 law governing the harvesting and transplanting of organs. Currently, human tissues (bones, cornea, blood vessels, etc.) harvested from donors before or after...
Assisted suicide: “Cooperative Last Will” halts sale of its “lethal powder”
In the Netherlands, the Public Prosecutor has instructed the Cooperative Last Will association, indicted last week for illegally assisting suicide (see the Netherlands: criminal investigation against an association offering a lethal powder), to "cease its activities...
Blind woman regains sight thanks to first bionic eye in Belgium
Glasses fitted with cameras, an antenna-connected hand-held computer and a retinal implant that sends signals to the optic nerve make up Argus II - the bionic eye developed by Second Sight Medical Products[1]. The system allows patients to "see" artificially without...
No medically assisted suicide in Massachusetts
The draft bill to authorise medically assisted suicide in Massachusetts has just been rejected following submission to a study committee last week. For Matt Valliere, Executive Director of Patients' Rights Action Fund, who is against assisted suicide, the...
Five key regulations for creating an ethical AI framework
In his work, MP Cedric Villani, who must submit his report on artificial intelligence (AI) tomorrow, has encountered the Ethik-IA (AI Ethics) initiative, which "seeks to create a positive framework for the use of AI and robotics in health care". According to the...