Do you want to know the latest information and news about today's important healthcare topics? Join the conversation with The Point, CMDA's blog focusing on breaking news stories in bioethics and healthcare. CMDA's experts contribute to the blog and also recommend additional resources and information.
The purpose of this blog is to stimulate thought and discussion about important issues in healthcare. Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily express the views of CMDA. We encourage you to join the conversation on our website and share your experience, insight and expertise. CMDA has a rigorous and representative process in formulating official positions, which are largely limited to bioethical areas.
Archived Articles
The Three-Parent Child
By Robert E. Cranston, MD, MA (Ethics) |
Imagine the heartache of learning that your new baby will die slowly and painfully before the age of seven, or much sooner, with the same disabling, degenerative disease that killed your last two children. Now, imagine all of this could be prevented by a newly developed technique that a world-renowned physician is willing to perform on your eggs to ensure your child’s good health. Does this sound too good to be true? Dr. Robert Cranston explains the ethical issues surrounding this new procedure.
What you need to know and do about the new HHS transgender mandate
By Christian Medical & Dental Associations® |
The transgender mandate, promulgated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the assumed authority of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), went into effect July 18, 2016.
Placebos: Can we use them? Should we use them?
By Amy Givler, MD |
The word “placebo” actually comes from a mis-translation of the Bible. Psalm 116:9 in the Latin Vulgate roughly states, “I shall please the dead in the land of the living.” Later translations better reflected the original Hebrew with, “I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living,” (KJV) but in the Middle Ages, the Latin Vulgate was the only Bible most people knew.
Slip Sliding Away: Death By Organ Donation
By David Stevens, MD, MA (Ethics) |
Proponents of physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia adamantly maintain the slippery slope does not exist. The U.S. is not like the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and now Canada, they claim. They point out how well assisted suicide is working in states here.
Healthy Healthcare Marriages
By Autumn Dawn Galbreath, MD, MBA |
Doctors have had a bad rap on the marriage front for a number of years. We’ve long been accused of having a much higher divorce rate than the general public. For many years, there was not a lot of data on healthcare marriages, but strongly held popular opinion characterized a high percentage of us as overworked divorcees whose devotion to our patients cost us our marriages.
Doctors, States challenge new “Transgender regulation”
By Christian Medical & Dental Associations® |
“No doctor should be forced to perform a procedure that he or she believes will harm a child,” said Lori Windham, senior counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “Decisions on a child’s medical treatment should be between families and their doctors, not dictated by politicians and government bureaucrats.”
Political Parties Contrasted on Life Issues
By Christian Medical & Dental Associations® |
Both major political parties recently issued new platforms that communicate contrasting core values to the American people. Following is a breakdown of where each party stands on the life issues of particular concern to readers of this blog: abortion, sex education, embryos and stem cell research and assisted suicide.
The Court of Last Resort
By David Stevens, MD, MA (Ethics) |
Though I have two in my extended family, I never wanted to be a lawyer. But I admit, I have desired more legal knowledge over the last few months as CMDA has taken legal action as a last resort to deal with threats to our members and our patients.
Women in Healthcare Still Earn Less than Men
By Autumn Dawn Galbreath, MD, MBA |
And so begins a New York Times article about the recent JAMA Internal Medicine analysis of physician pay disparities. The central message of the analysis is that women in healthcare, on average, earn $20,000 less per year than their specialty-matched male colleagues.
IVF and Aging Parents
By Robert E. Cranston, MD, MA (Ethics) |
On April 19, 2016, Mohinder Singh Gill, age 79, and his wife Dajinder Kaur, 72, gave birth to their first child. Kaur, long past menopause, and Gill conceived their child with the help of Dr. Anurag Bishnoi’s IVF Clinic, reportedly employing their own egg and sperm.
Physician Burnout
By Autumn Dawn Galbreath, MD, MBA |
It was a relatively slow evening at work when I got the text. My phone vibrated on the clinic countertop as I was looking over a chart. “Are you busy? Can you talk?” I figured those words couldn’t be good, coming as they did from a young intern I mentored when she was a medical student. I found myself wondering if she had lost a patient.
Growing Human Embryos Outside the Womb: New Record, Old Questions
By David Prentice, PhD |
There needs to be a pause for a deeper discussion about just why such research is being done, and if there are any ethical lines that should not be crossed. How many lives are worth sacrificing? One? One thousand? One million?