Weight Loss and the Mentally Ill

A common reason that those suffering from serious mental illness are “noncompliant” with medication is the side effect of weight gain. Of those who stay on their medication, weight gain can be the most distressing side effect. According to the National Institutes of Health, mentally ill people are 50% more likely to be overweight/obese than the general population. Weight gain has significant negative health implications and is one reason why on average mentally ill people die younger than non-mentally ill people.

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Paying Women to Provide Eggs for Stem Cell Research

Should scientists pay women who provide eggs for stem cell research? This involves both a pragmatic and ethical question. Pragmatically – how are scientists going to convince women to undergo the onerous process of hyper-ovulation and egg extraction in the … Continue reading

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Newly Tenured?

Newly tenured?  Time to start a family. Marcia Inhorn has some advice for female graduate students and other In this case, the bile becomes cheapest viagra no prescription acidic, as well. The ingredients of the bile are water, minerals, bicarbonate, … Continue reading

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Money Talks

The Supreme Court of the United States (handily referred to in short as SCOTUS) heard arguments on April 22, 2013, weighing speech rights of grant-receiving non-profit organizations against the rights of the U.S. government to put restrictive conditions on the grants which they give.  At issue is whether the U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) can require groups doing anti-HIV work supported by USAID to take a stance against prostitution.

 

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Tasmania Proposes Bill to Decriminalise Termination of Pregnancy

Whether or not women have access to safe termination of pregnancy is a critical issue for women’s health. In Australia, access to termination of pregnancy is governed by a patchwork of state laws. Many states still have abortion listed under nineteenth crimes act, creating the situation in which abortion is illegal unless certain conditions are met. These conditions may be specified in the various acts, or have been determined through case law. They usually relate to the likelihood that continuing the pregnancy will pose a grave threat to the health of the woman, and require certification from two doctors before the woman can legally be offered the procedure.

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Ginsburg on Abortion

The New York Times editorial page of April 3, 2013 cautions against putting too much stock in comments by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg “critical of the court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. It is not the judgment that was wrong, but “it moved too far, too fast,” she said at Columbia Law School last year, a view she has expressed in various speeches and law review articles.” Ginsburg’s comments are being used by those opposed to marriage equality to caution against a Court ruling that would affirm marriage equality as constitutional right.

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No More Ashley Treatments

The “Ashley treatment” (as Ashley’s parents and doctors have dubbed it) is a combination of hormone treatments and surgical procedures that Ashley, then a six-year old girl with profound cognitive and physical disabilities, underwent with the aim of attenuating the growth and inhibiting aspects of sexual development.  The procedure involves treatment with massive does of estrogen, and the removal of breast buds and uterus (leaving ovaries in place).   The parents requested these procedures and the doctors consented on the grounds that keeping Ashley small, given her profound disabilities, would allow the family to continue to care for Ashley at home and involve her in family activities.  The treatment raised a great deal of concern and disapproval but Ashley’s parents and physicians defended the treatment and even encouraged other parents because they believed that it would help other parents who were struggling with the care of children like Ashley (who they call their “pillow angel”).  This has reemerged as an issue because of reports, published in the Guardian, that the procedure is being carried out in the United Kingdom.  Peter Singer was invited to respond to an article in the Guardian.  The following is a letter I wrote to the editors, which they never published.  I am delighted to have a forum to publish the response, as well as express my regret that the only voice that was given expression was that of Singer.

Continue to read the letter…

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One Hand Holding the Other

a href=http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/12/health/bionic-hands/index.html?hpt=hp_t1This article/a by Danielle Dellorto reports on the experience of Jason Koger, the first double amputee to receive a new, incredibly sensitive bionic hand, the i-Limb Ultra Revolution (by Touch Bionics). This prosthetic is far more dexterous than previous models … Continue reading

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Old Age and Women: The Emerging Threats

During my early years in bioethics I paid a first-time visit to a nursing home. After talking with the director of the home and visiting the patient’s rooms, something caught my eye and I decided to ask him about it. “It’s mainly women here,” I said, “where are the men?” “Oh, they are outside,” he responded, “in the cemetery.” That was my introduction at first hand to the longevity gap between men and women and to the fact that, though living longer than men, that benefit is offset by having poorer health in old age. It just does not kill women so soon. I will leave moot the question of whether that should actually be called a “benefit” or not.

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Feminists Thoughts on the Shores of Lake Geneva

Dear Fabsters,

I would like to let you know of a wonderful place to spend part of a sabbatical or to come for a couple of months to do research in peace. This is my second visit to the Brocher Foundation in Geneva and it is really a wonderful place to work. I encourage everybody to take a look at the site and think about submitting a project. The staff is very nice and helpful and the place is a little piece of paradise… a beautiful old villa, newly refurbished and located on the shores of Lake Geneva.

brocher

There are also offices wholly equipped to work.  The foundation hosts about a dozen senior and junior researchers from one to four months. The only condition is on weekdays to have dinner together as a way to foster collegiality, and you are welcome to come with your partner. Besides the beautiful villa the place is surrounded not only by the lake but also by vineyards and the little village of Hermance, so you can walk or ride a bike for inspiration when the Swiss weather allows it!

More information after the jump…

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Brain Research Initiative- Is Flashy Science Winning Again?

Do not get me wrong, research dollars are always welcome. When President Obama announced a decade long scientific effort to examine the workings of the human brain, it was greeted with enthusiasm. After all, it appears as if the Human … Continue reading

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“The Humanity We All Share”: What the DSM Leaves Out

In her ethnography of manic depression Bipolar Explorations: Mania and Depression in American Culture, anthropologist Emily Martin notes that in the various support groups in which she participated for her study, people used the DSM [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] categories to talk about their illnesses rather than talking about their inner psychic states. Martin, herself “living under the description of bipolar,” realizes that while she has had years of regular one-on-one conversations with psychiatrists and social workers who taught her to recognize and describe the nuances of her psychological experiences, the people in the support groups have not. Most insurance does not pay for long-term psychotherapy and most people do not have the resources to pay for it privately. Deprived of the opportunity to explore their inner psychic states, the people she encountered in the support groups had only the language and categories of the DSM to talk about themselves. “Exploration of inner experience has the potential to challenge the uniform and bureaucratic language of the DSM. Insofar as people use DSM categories instead of exploring the phenomena of their experience firsthand, they may have only the illusion of communicating with other people what it is like to be, say, manic” (142)…

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