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Reposted by Susan Gilbert

The Hastings Center for Bioethics @hastingscenter.bsky.social · Aug 19

Most troubling part about removing uncomfortable truths from history is the whitewashing that follows. If you disagree, the answer isn’t to erase them,it’s to challenge them w/ thoughtful counterarguments.🤔

NEW HC Bioethics Forum essay by Barron Lerner https://bit.ly/47EEFFN

The Price Increases That Should Cause Americans More Alarm - KFF Health News

Reposted by Susan Gilbert

The Hastings Center for Bioethics @hastingscenter.bsky.social · Aug 21

🎙️ Episode 4 of Bioethics Chats is OUT NOW!

@varditravitsky.bsky.social chats with Dorothy Roberts, George A. Weiss Professor at UPenn, on the “trifecta of violations of reproductive justice” & what bioethicists & healthcare providers must do to address them. 👩🏾‍⚖️📚

https://bit.ly/45sYBdn

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Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · Aug 22

Health insurance premiums for people with employer-provided coverage have more than quadrupled since 1999. From 2023 to 2024 alone, they rose more than 6% for both individuals and family coverage — a steeper increase than that of wages and overall inflation. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

The cost of health insurance is rising faster than the price of eggs or gasoline.

kffhealthnews.org

Experts Advise on How to Study DEI in Cancer

Reposted by Susan Gilbert

Torod Neptune @torodneptune.bsky.social · Aug 22

The NIH's longstanding commitment to funding research that uncovers and addresses health disparities has not only advanced our understanding of cancer outcomes across different populations but has also led to improvements that benefit all patients.

Clinicians acknowledge significant barriers to conducting DEI-related medical research, but they also provide a glimmer of hope, suggesting how to find funding in these uncertain times.

www.medscape.com

Ethical Considerations for First-In-Human Pig Kidney Xenotransplant Clinical Trials : The Hastings Center for Bioethics

Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · Aug 1

www.thehastingscenter.org/ethical-cons... The first clinical trial involving pig kidney transplants has been approved. There are many ethical issues. Read recommendations on how to address them. New in Hastings Bioethics Forum

The first clinical trial transplanting gene-edited pig kidneys into humans could start this year. They raise important ethical issues.

AI Can Make You Laugh. But Can It Ever Be Truly Humorous?

Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · Jul 25

undark.org/2025/07/21/a... Generating some kinds of humor is easier for AI than driving a car safely. Still, much of AI-generated comedy is mediocre. Interesting article by Jyoti Madhusoodanan.

As people turn to AI for therapy and companionship, some say the models still need to learn the nuances of human humor.

undark.org

Collecting Migrant Children’s DNA: A Troubling, but Predictable, Trend in the U.S. : The Hastings Center for Bioethics

Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · Jul 7

www.thehastingscenter.org/collecting-m... The latest expansion in the use of DNA samples for law enforcement raises ethical and legal concerns. James Hazel explains.

Recent reports reveal that the U.S. government is systematically collecting DNA from migrant children, some as young as 4 years old, and storing it

Sweet Vindication for Stem Cell Research, and American Science : The Hastings Center for Bioethics

Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · Jul 3

Can we be sure that the research that is to this achievement would be possible now? Jonathan Moreno’s latest in Hastings Bioethics Forum www.thehastingscenter.org/sweet-vindic...

A small group of people with a severe form of type 1 diabetes have been successfully treated with pancreatic cells derived from human embryonic stem cells. This moment should not pass without recognit...

A Clinical Ethicist Reflects on the Life and Death of a Beloved Pet : The Hastings Center for Bioethics

Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · Jun 10

Beautiful piece. Read with a box of tissues. www.thehastingscenter.org/a-clinical-e...

In my role as a clinical ethicist, I regularly explore the risks and benefits of proposed treatments, especially for terminal diseases. But for Sheba this moral question felt unique.

Health secretary RFK Jr. abruptly fires CDC vaccine advisory panel

Reposted by Susan Gilbert

Maxwell Smith, PhD @maxwellsmith.bsky.social · Jun 9

More needs to be made of the distinction between trust and trustworthiness. Lower levels of trust in vaccines and ACIP are more likely a function of attempts to actively undermine trust from the likes of RFK Jr and company, not the trustworthiness of ACIP.

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Jun 9

This is the big one: Kennedy is firing the entire #ACIP in a move he says is needed to restore confidence in vaccines.
"It scares me to think of what’s ahead,” Mike Osterholm of CIDRAP told me. www.statnews.com/2025/06/09/r...

Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has taken the extraordinary step of firing the expert panel that advises the CDC.

www.statnews.com

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Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · May 31

www.thehastingscenter.org/civil-death-... Making comparisons with the Nazis and their rise to autocracy is tricky, but we must learn from history.

Civil Death: Unethical in 1933 and Today : The Hastings Center for Bioethics

The rhyme of history is disturbing, especially when played out by the professionals whom we rely on for ethical leadership, not for unethical manipulation of the law.

cwww.thehastingscenter.org

Reposted by Susan Gilbert

The Hastings Center for Bioethics @hastingscenter.bsky.social · May 8

🚨 Hastings in the spotlight! 🚨

HC President Vardit Ravitsky featured on 60 Minutes, where she discusses the growing trend of #eggfreezing and the opportunities and risks it raises about pausing the biological clock. 🧬⏳

Watch: cbsn.ws/3Z1owoI

#Bioethics

To Make America Healthy Again, Stop Divesting from Science

Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · May 9

Latest in Hastings Bioethics Forum by RobertKlitzman.bsky.social www.thehastingscenter.org/to-make-amer...

Proposed cuts to federal research funding and attacks on universities imperil the longstanding global leadership of the United States in scientific and medical discoveries and raise profound bioethica...

Bioethics: Back to the USSR?

Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · Apr 30

Will bioethics continue to exist and in what form? It’s under pressure in the US. www.thehastingscenter.org/bioethics-ba...

Will bioethics continue to exist and in what form? In the United States, where the discipline is most developed and institutionalized, it is under pressure.

De-extinction is Here. Now What?

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Reposted by Susan Gilbert

Dr. Robert Klitzman @robertklitzman.bsky.social · Apr 11

Bringing back extinct Animals: my essay via @hastingscenter.bsky.social www.thehastingscenter.org/de-extinctio...

Colossal Biosciences, a biotechnology company, announced that it has achieved a scientific first -- bringing back an extinct animal: the dire wolf. Crucial questions emerge about scientific hubris, pl...

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Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · Apr 10

This is a terrific essay, from the heart and mind.

What 23andMe Owes its Users

Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · Mar 30

Now that 23andme has filed for bankruptcy, here’s what to know about protecting your data. www.thehastingscenter.org/what-23andme...

With concern about its stability, 23andMe should consider what information and protection it owes its users. So should other DTC genetic testing companies.

I had never thought much about Alzheimer’s disease, other than to hope that I never suffer from it. But after attending a heavy metal concert, that condition began to weigh on my heart and mind. The s...

Reposted by Susan Gilbert

The Hastings Center for Bioethics @hastingscenter.bsky.social · Mar 17

Prescription drug prices have skyrocketed in the U.S., more so than in other wealthy countries! 💊 💰 What prices can be ethically justified? 💭 New chapter in our Bioethics Briefings. READ, bit.ly/41Xyt7i

#HastingsCenter #Bioethics #DrugPricing #Healthcare

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Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · Mar 18

www.thehastingscenter.org/heavy-metal-... Can listening to heavy metal, or any music, make bioethicists better at what they do? This bioethicist-drummer thinks so.

Heavy Metal Bioethics

Many think that the decision 20 years ago to permit Terri Schiavo to die was a victory for medical choice. On the contrary, her death triggered a series of events that have corroded individual control...

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Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · Mar 14

www.thehastingscenter.org/terri-schiav...
The Schiavo case became a battlefield in the larger culture war playing out to this day. @artcap.bsky.social dominicsisti.bsky.social

Terri Schiavo’s Legacy

Industry-Backed Legislation Would Bar the Use of Science Behind Hundreds of Environmental Protections

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Reposted by Susan Gilbert

Dan Vergano @danvergano.bsky.social · Mar 9

Industry-Backed Legislation Would Bar the Use of Science Behind Hundreds of Environmental Protections

www.propublica.org/article/legi...

"championed by companies that make and use chemicals, along with industry groups that have long opposed environmental rules"

Two bills in Congress would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from using hundreds of chemical assessments completed by its IRIS program in environmental regulations or enforcement.

www.propublica.org

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Reposted by Susan Gilbert

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · Mar 9

The CDC, under RFK Jr., will research the widely-debunked, nonexistent link between vaccines and autism.

The move comes during the worst measles outbreak in the U.S. in the past five years. @msnbc.com

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Susan Gilbert @susangilb.bsky.social · Mar 6

Very moving and revealing.

www.statnews.com/2025/03/06/c...

I was an incarcerated nursing assistant during Covid. This is what I saw

“It’s not an understatement to say prisoner CNAs are the backbone of the prison medical system. For this work, we earned $1.75 a day,” writes Abraham Santiago.

www.statnews.com