From 1946 to 1948, American and Guatemalan physicians infected prostitutes and prisoners with syphilis without their knowledge or consent in order to test penicillin. The research was discovered by a Wellesley College professor in 2009, and lawyers for the victims filed a class-action lawsuit against the United States. The Obama administration claims that the US is immune from such lawsuits, but has announced that it will spend $1 million to review new rules to protect medical research volunteers, $775,000 to fight sexually transmitted diseases in Guatemala, and will develop a system to compensate anyone harmed in medical research. Lawyers for the Guatemalan victims say that the promised action is inconsistent with the claim of immunity. [Washington Post]
Category: News
United Kingdom report recommends compulsory referral for assisted suicide
A report produced by a privately established and funded Commission on Assisted Dying has recommended that assisted suicide be legalized in the United Kingdom for any competent person over 18 years old who is terminally ill and expected to live less than 12 months. It also recommends that physicians who refuse to assist with suicide for reasons of conscience be compelled to refer patients to colleagues who will do so [P. 311, Report]. The eleven members of the Commission included Lord Falconer, a lawyer and former solicitor general, who acted as Chair. The validity of the Commission has been challenged from the outset, and a number of groups, including the British Medical Association, refused to take part, though about 1,300 sources gave evidence. [BBC]
Comment following meeting of Illinois Catholic bishops and governor
Following a meeting with Illinois State Governor Pat Quinn with nine Catholic bishops from the state, Francis Cardinal George commented, “As Catholic pastors we wanted to remind the governor that conscience, while always free, is properly formed in harmony with the tradition of the church as defined by scripture and authentic teaching authority. A personal conscience that is not consistent with authentic Catholic teaching is not a Catholic conscience.” [National Catholic Reporter]
Catholic Medical Association provides comment on HHS defintion of religious employer
Bala Cynwyd, PA — On August 1, 2011, the Secretary of HHS effectively mandated that abortifacients, contraceptives, and sterilization be offered and subsidized by all insurance plans and issuers, and proposed to exempt only a narrow set of “religious employers,” using a definition supplied by the ACLU and recognized in only 3 states. Today, the CMA submitted comments to HHS, criticizing this mandate and HHS’s draconian approach to respect for religious freedom.
Equality legislation used to defend conscientious objection to abortion
(United Kingdom: 2011)
- John Smeaton* | The two nurses . . .were employed at a hospital for ordinary nursing duties. They were then allocated to work once a week at an abortion clinic in the hospital. The abortion process did not involve surgical abortion but the increasingly common process of “early medical abortion” . . .When they became aware that they were participating in abortion they told their management that they did not want to continue but were then told that they had no choice in the matter. . . Full Text