In this essay, Kathy Schmugge, investigates the differences between the secular understanding of gender dysphoria as a psychiatric diagnosis and the Catholic understanding of gender dysphoria as a mental disorder. Schmugge argues for the superiority of the Catholic approach to treat the whole person.
In this essay, Jay J. Oh comments on the disturbingly great length of time between research discovery and clinical implementation in health care. Oh argues that such a delay, born on by a lack of institutional responsibility, is morally reprehensible. Oh concludes with recommendations on how to address the issue.
In this issue of Ethics & Medics, Cody Feikles, PhD(c), HEC-C, and Victoria Velasquez-Feikles, PhD(c), address the topic of human brain organoids (HBOs), lab-grown neurons formed into a neural network to produce computing power. Feikles and Velasquez-Feikles discuss the ethical concerns surrounding HBOs, such as the acquisition of informed consent from those whose blood, skin, and hair cells are used to create the neurons for HBOs; concerns with the potential use of embryonic stem cells in the making of HBOs; and the question of whether HBOs should be considered conscious subjects in the first place.
In this issue of Ethics & Medics, Colten Maertens-Pizzo investigates the personalistic epistemology of St. John Henry Cardinal Newman as a tool to resolve bioethical disputes. First laying out the writings of those engaging in the debate over embryo adoption to show how intuition can affect one’s argument, Maertens-Pizzo then uses Newman’s principles of formal and informal inference, as well as notional and real apprehension, to argue that such intuitions may have a greater significance than we give them credit. Maertens-Pizzo concludes with a call to investigate these intuitions more deeply, and to use Newmans’ philosophy to do so.
Acceptance of physician-assisted suicide is increasing in the Western World. Already a deeply concerning trend, the movement has turned its focus to individuals with developmental disabilities. This article specifically addresses the pressure on aging members of the Down syndrome communities to accept PAS instead of quality treatment and personal care. It raises concerns about presumed competence in the medical community which assigns understanding of difficult concepts like PAS to individuals who likely cannot fully comprehend.
