Bioethics Archives

We need to resist brave new world of ‘Gattaca’ before it’s too late

It became official this week: We can now edit the genetic material of embryos. It’s being hailed as a major breakthrough to fight disease, but as the movie “Gattaca” so brilliantly demonstrated two decades ago, there are numerous, profound ethical questions when such a practice is normalized. If we wait for our grandchildren to resolve them, it will be too late.

Is British or American view of Charlie Gard tragedy more Catholic?

A decision on Monday by the parents of Charlie Gard, an 11-month-old infant battling a rare genetic disorder, to drop their legal battle to purse experimental treatment and to “let our son go and be with the angels” leaves no one rejoicing. However, the question will have to be raised: Which is closer to a Catholic ethical standpoint — the American approach or the British?

U.S. neurology expert will visit UK to examine Charlie Gard
- Catholic News Agency, Global Church
- July 14, 2017
A neurologist who testified via video July 13 at a court hearing on baby Charlie Gard will now travel to London to examine the child. The doctor believes the 11-month-old has at least a 10 percent chance of improving under his treatment, and possibly as high as a 56 percent chance.
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Charlie Gard case shows dangers of “technocratic paradigm”
- Commentary
- July 8, 2017
The Charlie Gard case makes us consider the two great dangers of modern medicine: To reject the apparently ugly reality of disability and deformity by killing off human beings that fail to make the grade; and to prolong life at all costs, to impose experimental treatments on a dying baby, to rage against the passing of a tiny life by clutching at the straws of technology.
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Vatican hospital proposes experimental treatment for Charlie Gard; case back in court
- Global Church
- July 7, 2017
Doctors at the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesù say an experimental treatment had shown “dramatic clinical improvements” in mice and other patients with a similar genetic condition to the one from which baby Charlie Gard suffers. The Great Ormond Street Hospital said on Friday it has applied to the High Court for a new hearing “in light of claims of new evidence relating to potential treatment for his condition.”
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