MedicalTranscriptions

1.History of Medical Issues
If a woman chooses to terminate a pregnancy because prenatal diagnosis reveals foetal abnormalities, does this threaten disability rights? The editorial reflects on the story of Niketa Mehta who went to court seeking an abortion in the 23rd week of pregnancy when she learned that the foetus she was carrying had a serious heart problem and would be born with severe disabilities.
The Right to Information Act, 2005, may be seen to threaten the privacy of patients and research subjects, especially those in government institutions. The RTI Act permits disclosure of personal health information to third parties only under unusual circumstances when the larger public interest is properly certified to warrant it. A paper in this issue discusses a legal case that used the RTI Act to expose patient information of a public official.
Medical ethics help set forth the rules of one of life's most basic relationships: that between doctor and patient. The practice of medicine involves many ethical issues. One of the most basic issues a doctor faces is deciding how to balance potential good and potential harm. The other problem with xenotransplantation is that it could potentially redirect resources from existing treatments. This would be especially true if the infectious disease scenario came to pass.
For these reasons, Hughes concludes that a "moratorium should be imposed on transplantation procedures at least until possible avenues for increasing the supply of human organs have been exhausted and a more reassuring judgment can be reached on the prospects for preventing and containing transmitted infections."