Indiana could create new crime of ‘fertility fraud’ after painful scandals
by Michael Cook | 8 Dec 2018 |
A string of scandals about IVF doctors who have used their own sperm to impregnate their patients has led to an Indiana bill penalising “fertility fraud”. The proposed law would punish doctors with up to 2½ years in prison.
Sean Tipton, of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, opposes the legislation. He told the Washington Post that “errors and fraud in the industry are rare, and are easily addressed under existing laws.” He assured the Post that “Clinics maintain rigorous safety protocols to ensure that the correct genetic material is transferred, that donors are properly screened and that medical workers adhere to stringent ethical standards”.
However, this does not take into account the anger and anguish experienced by people who discover late in life that their real father was someone else.
More than 30 years after she was born, Indiana woman Jacoba Ballard discovered that her real father was fertility doctor Donald Cline. “My mother was violated. He took advantage of her in one of the most vulnerable moments of her life,” Ballard says.
Cline was found guilty, but Ballard believes that he should have been punished more harshly. He may have used his own sperm as many as 50 times without telling his female patients. But he was only deregistered (he was already in his late 70s) and fined US$500, plus put on a year’s probation. The sentence was “not enough to send a message”, says Ballard.
Sunday, December 9, 2018
It’s hard enough for doctors and scientists to resist the allure of profit in a democratic society, as an article below about Australian cosmetic surgery demonstrates. But when science becomes an arm of government propaganda, the pressures must be immense.
The picture is still cloudy, but the Chinese scientist who edited the genome of two babies, He Jiankui, seems to have succumbed. According to a Chinese bioethicist working in New Zealand (see article below), he was a dazzling star who was reaching the “commanding heights”, as President Xi Jinping had exhorted Chinese scientists to do earlier this year in a major policy speech.
Xinhuanet, the official newsagency, reported that Xi told scientists and engineers to have the “courage to explore the uncharted courses and realize the goal that key and core technologies are self-developed and controllable.”
Now He, having embarrassed the government over the questionable ethical standards of his work, has disappeared. He may be in jail. This must surely send mixed message to his colleagues. Be ethical and obscure. Or see what you can get away with and become gloriously rich.
It must be hard to be a scientist in today’s China.
The picture is still cloudy, but the Chinese scientist who edited the genome of two babies, He Jiankui, seems to have succumbed. According to a Chinese bioethicist working in New Zealand (see article below), he was a dazzling star who was reaching the “commanding heights”, as President Xi Jinping had exhorted Chinese scientists to do earlier this year in a major policy speech.
Xinhuanet, the official newsagency, reported that Xi told scientists and engineers to have the “courage to explore the uncharted courses and realize the goal that key and core technologies are self-developed and controllable.”
Now He, having embarrassed the government over the questionable ethical standards of his work, has disappeared. He may be in jail. This must surely send mixed message to his colleagues. Be ethical and obscure. Or see what you can get away with and become gloriously rich.
It must be hard to be a scientist in today’s China.
 Michael Cook Editor BioEdge |  |  |  |
NEWS THIS WEEK
by Michael Cook | Dec 09, 2018
On a monthly basis, deaths rose 75% by Michael Cook | Dec 09, 2018
He Jiankui, creator of ‘unethical’ gene-edited babies, has disappeared by Michael Cook | Dec 08, 2018
Harvard scientists continue working on human genome editing by Michael Cook | Dec 08, 2018
Accused of a ‘cookie-cutter approach to surgery’ by Michael Cook | Dec 08, 2018
IVF industry objects BioEdge
Suite 12A, Level 2 | 5 George St | North Strathfield NSW 2137 | Australia
Phone: +61 2 8005 8605
Mobile: 0422-691-615
.png)
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario