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Australasian Bioethics Information Newsletter |
For health and legal professionals with an interest in bioethics |
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16 November 2001 IVF / Victoria opens door to lesbians Sperm donors / NSW children to trace genetic fathers Confidentiality / Genetic privacy paper released Stem cells / Blow to UK cloning law In brief / Americans get organs of Chinese convicts... Interview / "Death is inevitable, but severe suffering is not" IVF / Victoria opens door to lesbians "Psychologically infertile" women will have access to IVF and donor insemination in Victoria if new guidelines are approved. Premier Steve Bracks said that the services would not be an undue concession to lesbians. The unusual notion of psychological infertility, or an unwillingness to have normal sexual intercourse, was proposed by the Victorian Infertility Treatment Authority. It was seeking a way to comply with last year's Federal Court ruling that single women and lesbians should have access to IVF, not just heterosexual couples. Chief executive Helen Szoke said that applicants would have to prove clinically that they were unable to have intercourse, possibly through psychiatric assessment. However, as The Age observed in an editorial, most doctors would probably rubberstamp such a request. Opposition leader Denis Napthine will try to block the guidelines. He has the support of independent MP Russell Savage, who says the authority's move is outrageous. Remarkably, there were no protests from lesbian groups at the implication that their sexual orientation was a psychological illness. -- The Age, Nov 15 top Sperm donors / NSW children to trace genetic fathers NSW children conceived through donor sperm, eggs or embryos would have a right to information about their biological parents under proposed legislation. The government is expected to set up a register allowing access to the donor's name when children turn 18, and other information earlier. Similar provisions are already in place in Victoria. About 2,000 children are born through donor insemination each year in Australia. It is estimated that only one in ten is told about his or her biological father. According to Geraldine Hewitt, an 18-year-old with a donor father interviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald, 43 out of 46 people she interviewed for a HSC project admitted to questioning their identity because they did not know their biological parents. Many discovered how they were conceived only after their fathers had died or in the heat of an argument. -- Sydney Morning Herald, Nov 12 top Confidentiality / Genetic privacy paper released A 442-page discussion paper on confidentiality and genetic information was released this week. The document, from the Australian Law Reform Commission and the Australian Health Ethics Committee, makes no recommendations or proposals, but raises 68 issues and describes some controversial scenarios. These include DNA testing for Aboriginals claiming benefits or native title and for asylum seekers claiming to be a member of an ethnic group. The paper is the first step in a public inquiry about protecting human genetic information which will be completed in June next year. The inquiry follows many warnings that a genetic underclass could be created if people are refused insurance because of apparent health or lifestyle risks. The paper is available at www.alrc.gov.au. -- The Age, Nov 15 "That's the danger with having all of these electronic records," said a former president of the American Psychiatric Association. "If you push the wrong button or put something in the wrong spot on your web site, it [can mean] immediate distribution of a massive amount of private medical information." A few health care providers offer a paper records option, but more and more often, US insurers and health maintenance organisations rely upon routine transfers of digitised records. -- Los Angeles Times, Nov 7 top Stem cells / Blow to UK cloning law The English high court has ruled that cloned embryos are not covered by existing laws. Hence they are not protected by the meagre safeguards in place for embryos created by the fusion of sperm and eggs. In a suit brought by pro-life advocates, the court effectively ruled that a 1990 act was inadequately worded and did not control cloning at all. "The law as it stands at the moment is so full of loopholes and uncertainties that scientists could go right ahead and clone human embryos without any restrictions and without any possible sanction from the government," the director of the Pro-Life Alliance told the BBC. The judgement, if upheld, will force a reopening of the debate on the scientific and medical use of human embryos when the government presents a bill to close the loophole. -- BBC, Nov 15 In brief / Americans get organs of Chinese convicts... Interview / "Death is inevitable, but severe suffering is not" The New York Times recently interviewed the woman who founded the first American pain service in a cancer centre. Dr Kathleen M. Foley is the director of the Project on Death in America, a US$45 million effort to alter the culture of dying through initiatives and research. Below are some excerpts. Q. What are some of the obstacles to providing palliative care to cancer patients? A. They're multiple. But they begin with the fact that it has not been given a high priority at the National Cancer Institute. We have been so focused on the research for cure, we have not done the research for care. Less than 1% of the NCI's annual US$2.9 billion budget goes to researching care. Q. Are doctors and medical staff receiving training in palliative care? A. That's a second piece of this. Symptom management has not had a high priority in the training of medical oncologists and specialists or of medical students in general. There are at the present time about 19 palliative care fellowship programs in the country. Moreover, studies have shown that less than 1% of standard medical textbooks had any chapter that focused on things like end of life care, pain management, the psychological needs of patients with advanced disease, or the importance and role of the family in caring for a patient with serious disease... Q. Do nursing schools do a better job than medical schools at training students in palliative care? A. We thought because of their emphasis on patient care they might, but they don't -- the nursing textbooks are just as woefully inadequate as the ones for medical students... Q. Are patients themselves part of the problem, when it comes to inadequate treatment of symptoms? A. Absolutely. One of the issues we've come to recognise is that patients think that suffering is a normal part of their treatment. They have low expectations for its being better and don't know how to advocate for better care... top To subscribe to our weekly email newsletter, click here. To cancel your newsletter subscription, click here. Australasian Bioethics Information ISSN 1446-2117 www.australasianbioethics.org Director: Dr Amin Abboud PO Box 975, Chatswood NSW 2057, Australia Editor: Michael Cook 31 Alexander St, Sandy Bay TAS 7005, Australia |