> Issue Briefs > Life

COVID Stories: Decisions to Treat and the Quality of Life

Posted: July 14, 2020
By: R. J. Snell, Ph.D.

In June of this year, Michael Hickson, 46, who had three years earlier suffered a heart attack which left him a quadriplegic, was denied food and water by medical professionals who judged him to not “have much of” a quality … Read

Capillary Dysfunction and COVID-19 Survival

Posted: July 8, 2020
By: Dr. Pilar Calva, M.D.

Mexican doctors and health researchers Jaime Igartúa Araiza and Alejandro Franco Díaz de León, who coined the concept of “global capillary” in their recently published text on “Elastosis: Global Capillary”, highlight the impact our capillary blood vessel system has on … Read

“Going to Die Anyway”: COVID-19 Deaths of the Elderly are No Laughing Matter

Posted: May 25, 2020
By: R. J. Snell, Ph.D.

There are, of course, competing viewpoints about how states should end the coronavirus lockdowns, with some urging greater caution while others think it’s time to get the economy and life open again, and fast. Given the uncertainties, such disagreements are … Read

A Hard Truth: IVF is Not Moral

Posted: January 24, 2020
By: R. J. Snell, Ph.D.

In the past days, several news outlets have noted the “demographic bomb” facing much of Europe. With below-replacement rates of fertility, many European countries risk an acute shortage of workers and tax-payers needed to sustain their economies and the welfare … Read

No Religion Needed: The Moral Horror of Assisted Suicide

Posted: December 27, 2019
By: R. J. Snell, Ph.D.

In the past few days, there has been a dispute within Roman Catholic circles over comments made by Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia concerning his willingness to accompany a person undergoing assisted suicide. Other leaders of the Church took quite a … Read

The Immorality of Happiness?

Posted: November 21, 2019
By: R. J. Snell, Ph.D.

Many of the debates in bioethics are really about competing visions of happiness. For example, if happiness is a mental-emotional state of good-feeling, then negative or bad feelings are tantamount to unhappiness, and an ethical system which forbids actions which … Read

Does Climate Change Justify Engineering a New Type of Person?

Posted: September 11, 2019
By: R. J. Snell, Ph.D.

Out of concerns for the environment, and especially due to climate, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle recently announced their intention to have no more than two children. Some believe this is not sufficient and have committed to “BirthStrike,” that is, … Read

Protecting the Body: Principles for the Future

Posted: September 3, 2019
By: R. J. Snell, Ph.D.

“There’s a war going on over our bodies,” argues a recent essay by Susie Orbach, a noted therapist. She speaks not of overt violence, but rather the alluring “promise of trouble-free, almost body-free existence as we move towards futures constituted … Read

“Not Really Asking.” Representative Sims and the Threat to Reason

Posted: May 10, 2019
By: R. J. Snell, Ph.D.

Over the last several days, videos of Pennsylvania State Representative Brian Sims accosting protestors quietly praying outside of a Philadelphia-area Planned Parenthood clinic have received wide notice and commentary. In one video, Sims appears to offer a financial reward to … Read

Persons, not Compost: How to Think About Dead Bodies

Posted: February 15, 2019
By: R. J. Snell, Ph.D.

“Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Familiar words to many, a reminder of the shortness of life and the need to use our time well. While some may find the sentiment morbid, it is actually a … Read

Send this to friend

Your emailRecipient email