Faculty Bibliography

Dr. Conrad Murray has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson. It hardly could have been otherwise. The mere fact that Murray used a highly dangerous and difficult to manage drug, propofol, to treat Jackson's insomnia showed that he was acting in an irresponsible way. Even highly trained anesthesiologists in hospitals know they have to be extra careful with that drug

Picking on someone as being "not religious enough" for high office or on a religion as being insufficiently pious to produce a viable candidate for any office -- from county sheriff to president -- is intolerant bias, simply out of bounds in American political discourse

Ethical issues are present at each stage in the vaccine product life cycle, the period extending from the earliest stages of research through the eventual design and implementation of global vaccination programs. Recent developments highlight fundamental principles of vaccine ethics and raise unique issues for ongoing vaccination activities worldwide. These include the 2009-10 H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccination campaign, renewed attention to the potential global eradication of polio, and the ongoing evaluation of vaccine risk controversies, most notably the alleged link between childhood vaccines and autism. These cases present ethical challenges for public health policy-makers, scientists, physicians, and other stakeholders in their efforts to improve the health of individuals, communities, and nations through vaccination.

The movement to try to close the ever-widening gap between demand and supply of organs has recently arrived at the prison gate. While there is enthusiasm for using executed prisoners as sources of organs, there are both practical barriers and moral concerns that make it unlikely that proposals to use prisoners will or should gain traction. Prisoners are generally not healthy enough to be a safe source of organs, execution makes the procurement of viable organs difficult, and organ donation post-execution ties the medical profession too closely to the act of execution.

Caplan relates the story of a pregnant woman who attempted to kill herself by swallowing a rat poison. Her life was saved but it resulted to the death of the baby after she gave birth. She was arrested , charged with murder and attempted feticide, and sent to jail. Prosecutors called her a "cold-blooded" murderer. If convicted, she will get a minimum sentence of forty-five years. The death penalty or life in prison without parole are also possibilities. This story is disturbing not just because it is unconscionable to prosecute as a murderer a pregnant woman who tried to kill herself, but because it is likely that the case was brought to make a point in the ongoing national battle over abortion

Some forms of stem cell research involving the use of embryos require embryo destruction to extract a stem cell. Others, involving cloning, require transferring a full set of genes from an adult cell into an egg. Both procedures have received heavy criticism from those opposed to embryo destruction or embryo creation by a technique other than sex. While there's a good deal of focus on the problems generated by the power of money in generating bias in science and medicine, the battle over stem cell research makes very clear that religious views can also be a huge source of distortion and bias. Here, Caplan talks about the ongoing debate about stem cell research in the US