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
Assisted Suicide Trend Portends Thousands of Deaths
By David Stevens, MD, MA (Ethics) |
“In the past two years the number of deaths as a result of physician-assisted suicide in Oregon has nearly doubled,” said Ryan T. Anderson, who researches and writes on physician-assisted suicide at The Heritage Foundation.
Doctors Impacted by New Obamacare Gender Rules
By Gene Rudd, MD |
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act cites decades-old federal laws that prohibit any individual from being denied benefits or discriminated against in any health program or federally funded activity on the basis of race, color, nationality, sex, disability and age. However, the Office of Civil Rights is now interpreting “sex” to include “gender identity” and “sex stereotypes.”
Facing Burnout in Healthcare
By Autumn Dawn Galbreath, MD, MBA |
Excerpted from "Study: Doctor burnout may increase effect of biases on care," UPI. January 13, 2016 — A national survey of doctors shows job burnout and personal bias have continued to increase in recent years, and researchers suggest the growth of both could affect the quality of care patients receive.
British Scientists to Genetically Modify Human Embryos
By David Stevens, MD, MA (Ethics) |
It remains illegal for these genetically altered embryos to be implanted in a woman. It is hoped the experiments will improve our understanding of the earliest stages of embryo development. The research, which was approved by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, will use excess embryos donated by couples who have had in vitro fertilization treatment.
The Use of Psychotropic Drugs in Survivors of Human Trafficking
By Christian Medical & Dental Associations® |
As psychiatrists who are also Christians, we evaluate and treat patients who have experienced many types of trauma, including trauma in childhood, adolescence, and trauma extended into adulthood. Prolonged, chronic trauma can be particularly damaging, affecting the minds, brain, spirits and bodies of victims, sometimes causing persistent physical and mental health problems, even when people are living under the Grace and Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Obama Advancing Gender Ideology Through Regulations
By Christian Medical & Dental Associations® |
This proposed rule, if implemented, would endanger religious liberty and create concerns for the privacy and safety of our most vulnerable citizens: the homeless and other people seeking emergency shelter for the night.
Trafficking Victims: No Health Professional Helped Me
By Christian Medical & Dental Associations® |
Recent research indicates that more than 80 percent of trafficking victims in the United States have contact with the healthcare system in the course of being trafficked. Some are even brought to the clinic by their trafficker.
Opening the Conversation About Death
By Robert Orr, MD, CM |
Excerpted from “How doctors want to die is different than most people,” CNN. August 11, 2015 — Dr. Kendra Fleagle Gorlitsky recalls the anguish she used to feel performing CPR on elderly, terminally ill patients. "I felt like I was beating up people at the end of their life," she says. It looks nothing like what people see on TV.
Human Trafficking Report Inflated by U.S. State Department
By Jeffrey Barrows, DO, MA (Bioethics) |
n the weeks leading up to a critical annual U.S. report on human trafficking that publicly shames the world’s worst offenders, human rights experts at the State Department concluded that trafficking conditions hadn’t improved in Malaysia and Cuba. And in China, they found, things had grown worse. The State Department’s senior political staff saw it differently — and they prevailed.
Research Shows Use of Medical Marijuana not Always Beneficial
By Christian Medical & Dental Associations® |
The evidence wasn't as strong to support marijuana's use for nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, sleep disorders, HIV-related weight loss and Tourette syndrome. Also, any benefits of marijuana or cannabis use must be weighed against the risk of side effects, which include dizziness, dry mouth, nausea, sleepiness and euphoria, according to the study's lead author.
Questions Arise in Brittany Maynard’s Suicide
By Karl Benzio, MD |
The fact that she ultimately took her own life the next day, just 24 hours after saying she wasn’t really ready, is still one of the most perplexing twists in the saga surrounding her life and death. Now, a psychologist who is affiliated with a group working to stop a bill in the legislature in California, Maynard’s home state, from legalizing assisted suicide, is asking some serious question about whether Maynard may have been pressured by her family to commit suicide before she was truly prepared to do so.
Senate Passes Human Trafficking Bill
By Jeffrey Barrows, DO, MA (Bioethics) |
It took a month of back-and-forth between Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the bill's author, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to find a compromise. They settled on creating two funding streams in the bill. One collects fines from traffickers and uses them for survivor services, excluding health care.