Faculty Bibliography

Marrow transplants may even be more important. They could prove helpful in reversing the massive radiation injuries that would result from a nuclear holocaust or a Chernobyl-style nuclear plant catastrophe. There is even the possibility that those suffering from the horrors of AIDS may find marrow transplants helpful as such a procedure might allow the victims of this plague to replace their dysfunctional marrow cells with healthy, uninfected tissue

The Vatican says anyone who provides or seeks such testing with the intent of inducing an abortion depending on the results is committing a "gravely illicit act." It further condemns civil or health authorities who in any way favor a link between prenatal diagnosis and the option of abortion

Viewed in another way, however, the statement is not so much new as it is a reaffirmation of the Roman Catholic Church's longstanding teaching against sexual conduct outside the realm of marriage and procedures, including contraception, that separate sex from procreation. Add to these views the Vatican's recent statements on the moral illicitness of homosexuality, and there should have been no doubt in anyone's mind about what would ensue when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith turned its collective mind to evaluating technologically assisted forms of reproduction

Arthur L. Caplan reviews "A History and Theory of Informed Consent," by Ruth R. Faden and Tom L. Beauchamp

What do those with AIDS owe the rest of us? They owe us the truth. There is no way the teacher, the physician, the employer, the minister, or anyone else can combat hysteria unless those who have the disease are willing to disclose this fact. Fear and ignorance are the breeding grounds for AIDS hysteria. Those who have the disease must use the truth to combat the causes of hysteria

Those at risk for AIDS understand the importance of privacy better than many other people. GLC Voice editor Tim Campbell, who used his Minneapolis newspaper to reveal that the former president of Dayton's likely died from AIDS, did so on the grounds that the public had a right to know. But on the same page on which that revelation appeared was a story about the creation of a new Twin Cities program to provide community-based housing to AIDS victims. The newspaper did not print, nor is the gay community eager to reveal, the exact location of these shelters

[Ronnie DeSillers] first received national attention - even the attention of the president of the United States - when money raised for a life-saving liver transplant was stolen from his school. The resulting publicity helped raise $400,000, but the cost of three transplants, more than $600,000, exhausted even these funds. Throughout Ronnie's ordeal, the media, the politicians and the public took a keen interest in his story. How could anyone not do so?