Making Sense Out of Bioethics

In recent years, the number of young people with gender dysphoria, or extreme discomfort in one’s biological sex, has skyrocketed in the US and Western Europe.

Embryonic stem cells have held out a certain appeal and promise because they are remarkably flexible. Researchers can make various cell types out of them, whether nerve cells or pancreatic islet cells, and these could, in theory, be used to treat diseases like Parkinson’s or diabetes.

In recent years, a number of US states have legalized a new way to process human corpses that some have called “dissolving the dead.” Its technical name is “alkaline hydrolysis,” but it is also known as biocremation, aquamation, green cremation, and resomation.

This past weekend in Houston, I had the opportunity to speak at a religious liberty conference about transgender issues, homosexuality and contraception. The conference happened to open on the same day that the Dobbs decision overturning Roe vs. Wade was released by the Supreme Court.

29-year old Dom Brand of South Carolina, in an apparently random act in 2020, shot and killed an 80-year-old woman named Mary Ann Elvington. His action resulted in several tragedies unfolding simultaneously.

A female sharpshooter nicknamed “Lady Death” has recently become a Ukrainian folk hero for defiantly attacking Russian soldiers undercover. The young markswoman fought for several years in eastern Ukraine against Kremlin-backed separatists, before shifting to the front line of hostilities as Russia initiated its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

To help people navigate some of the complex decisions involved in end-of-life situations, the National Catholic Bioethics Center offers a free and confidential consultation service via e-mail or phone. Often we are asked about the appropriate use of morphine and other opioids. Family members may be understandably concerned about the potential for overdosing their loved ones, as hospice workers appear to “ramp up” the morphine rapidly, especially in the last few hours of life.

Early this year, a Maryland man suffering from severe heart failure underwent a new experimental procedure, receiving a pig heart transplant. His medical team had determined he would be a poor candidate for a human heart transplant or for an artificial heart, so he was offered the opportunity to participate in a novel treatment using a genetically modified pig’s heart.