Here are the most popular Bioethics News items from last week based on average clicks per day:
1. Charges considered for parents who didn’t seek medical care before death of teen
(ABC News) The Wisconsin couple’s daughter died from a diabetic condition. There’s evidence the family has a religious objection to medical intervention, though the parents said they have nothing against doctors.
2. Lilly settles Alaska Zyprexa suit
(NYT) The state had accused the drug maker of sitting on information that linked the schizophrenia drug to diabetes. If Alaska’s $15 million settlement is a benchmark, Lilly could be in for billions of dollars in settlements with other states.
3. Direct-to-consumer paternity test goes on sale
(AFP) The DNA test, which had already been available in test markets, went on sale last week in thousands of drug stores across the country. Test results are available in three to five days. They’re not allowable as evidence in court, though.
4. Doubts raised about drugs based on RNAi
(AFP) The promise of drugs based on small-interfering RNA was that they would be able to very specifically “turn off” genes to treat a range of diseases. Researchers report in Nature, though, that these molecules actually are much more broadly acting and could have unintended side effects.
5. Ventilators and pandemics
(NYT) A report issued by a New York State task force says health care providers need to start thinking about how they would go about removing ventilator care from some patients during a flu pandemic.
The top 5 from last week.