Finally two doctors examined Mr Foster and found that he was brain- dead. The second doctor, Ms Sanchez recalled, threw a document on her father's legs and said "We've got two signatures. We're pulling the plug. That's hospital policy." However, a nurse performed her own examination shortly afterwards and had some reservations. Then a neurosurgeon examined the patient. He declared that Foster was not brain-dead and should not be removed from life support. Foster died 11 days later; by that time his organs were unusable.

Earlier this month Indiana formally expressed its regret for this misguided policy. An historic marker was unveiled opposite the Statehouse to commemorate the sterilisation of "imbeciles" and paupers. Present was Jamie Renae Coleman, a woman who was sterilised in 1971. Two years later she sued her mother, her doctor and the authorising judge. It was an historic case which went all the way to the Supreme Court, but the outcome was not a vindication of her plea. Instead it became the leading Supreme Court decision on judicial immunity.

The man who has requested the clinic to screen his embryos has several relatives who died from the condition in their 40s. If he himself is a carrier, half of his children are likely to be affected as well.

The distinctive ethical issue with screening for early-onset Alzheimer's disease is that the person will not develop symptoms for more than four decades, if ever. However, these experts suggest that 40-plus years of a disease-free life is not the only factor to be considered. First of all, screening gives couples a choice between childlessness and risk. "PGD is all about choice for individual patients at risk of transmitting genetic disease to help prevent suffering for their families," they argue.

Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which carries out a quarter of all abortions performed in England, says: "There is a real crisis looming. Unless we can address the problem and motivate doctors to train in abortion, we may well face a situation in five years' time in which women's access to abortion is severely restricted. It is our biggest headache."

According to the Independent newspaper, a key factor is "the dinner party test": " gynaecologists who specialise in fertility treatment creating babies for childless couples are almost universally revered -- but no one boasts of being an abortionist." The RCOG is very worried about the situation. Although it recognises a right to conscientious objection, it says that "careful workforce planning" will be needed to enable on-going abortion services.

Professor Lee Byeong-chun claimed in the international journal Cloning and Stem Cells that he had cloned two wolves. Now a group of Korean scientists has expressed their scepticism and his University has announced a probe into his results.

Ms Evans and her boyfriend Howard Johnston had six embryos frozen in 2001 before she underwent chemotherapy which left her infertile. But afterwards the couple broke up and her boyfriend adamantly refused to consent to using the embryos. He does not want to have his child raised by a woman with whom he is no longer connected. The law in the UK clearly requires that both partners consent to a pregnancy.

Now, after exhausting her options in the British system, Ms Evans has been told by the European Court of Human Rights that her right to become a parent in a genetic sense did not deserve greater respect than her former fiance's right not to have a child with her.

Dr Burt and his colleagues received some criticism for the ethics of the study, which involved only 15 patients, one as young as 14. He says that he needed to go to Brazil as US doctors were not interested in his approach. He worked there with Dr Julio Voltarelli. The treatment involved stimulating the body to produce new stem cells and harvesting them from amongst blood cells. Several days of high-dose chemotherapy shut down the immune system, stopping the destruction of the few remaining insulin-producing cells in the body. Then the harvested stem cells were reinjected to help build a healthier immune system.