Here are the most popular Bioethics News items from last week based on average clicks per day:
1. Public warms to the phrase “socialized medicine”
(LA Times) A recent survey reports that the phrase no longer conjures negative images for many Americans. Except Republicans — 70 percent of those polled still think “socialized medicine” would make the health system worse.
2. Ads with your health records
(USA Today) Google says its health records service won’t initially include ads, but didn’t rule them out in the future. One analyst says advertisers would pay “absurd amounts of money” for such ad space.
3. Hearings begin in organ harvesting case
(New York Times) A California doctor is accused of speeding the death of patient so a transplant team could retrieve the patient’s organs. The president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons called the case unprecedented.
4. First of three Wisconsin stem cell patents upheld
(AP) The trio of patents, held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, cover human embryonic stem cells and the techniques used to isolate them. The patent office has yet to rule on challenges to the other two patents.
5. Jarvik’s Lipitor ads canceled
(New York Times) Pfizer is pulling them after Congressional scrutiny focused on the fact that Robert Jarvik is not a licensed medical doctor. Apparently, he’s not a kayaker, either — even though the ad shows him rowing one.