Dick Teresi, the author of a new book called The Undead, has been in the recent press. His argument is related to how we determine if a patient is dead enough to be a deceased organ donor,while still having organs that are alive enough to be donated.
In the WSJ: What You Lose When You Sign That Donor Card: Giving away your organs sounds noble, but have doctors blurred the line between life and death?
And in McCleans: Dick Teresi: On the debate over when life really ends, and the possibility cadavers can feel pain
***********
Even if you think this author is alarmist, if we want to make transplantation more available, we have to understand and address the barriers--informational, psychological, esthetic--to becoming a donor. That being said, the comments I've heard on this subject from people at organ procurement organizations suggests that Teresi is indeed alarmist, and that people declared brain dead are adequately tested to make sure they are very dead indeed.
Here are my previous posts on deceased donation.
Update: today's WSJ published a letter in reply, which I reproduce in full below (Thanks for the pointer to Zeeshan Butt at Northwestern):
Dick Teresi's "What
You Lose When You Sign That Donor Card" (Review, March 10) grossly
misinforms the public about both the medical determination of brain death and
the organ donation process in the U.S.
First, there has never been a documented case of patient recovery after a
properly performed determination of death by neurological criteria. Ever.
Second, the diagnosis of brain death requires extensive neurological
examination, irrespective of a patient's organ donor status or the family's
support for donation. Electroencephalography is generally no longer used because
it's outmoded, not because physicians have something to hide. When donation is
an option, the organ recovery agency must verify that all clinical testing has
been done and all legal documentation is in the patient's chart.
Organ donation saves lives. Eighteen Americans will die today waiting for a
life-saving organ. We hope that Mr. Teresi's misinformed comments do not add to
that number.
Tia Powell, M.D.
Director, Montefiore-Einstein Center for Bioethics
Bronx, N.Y
James Zisfein, M.D.
Chief, Division of Neurology
Lincoln Medical Center
Bronx, N.Y.
Helen Irving
President and CEO
New York Organ Donor Network
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
SF parking meters
SFPark.org in the NY Times: A Meter So Expensive, It Creates Parking Spots.
Previous posts on congestion pricing and parking generally.
Doubt on college admissions reform in Britain
In an earlier post I wrote about plans for change in Britain's college admissions system.
Apparently that is far from a sure thing: Admissions Debate in Britain
"Several universities have threatened to withdraw from Britain's centralized admissions system if "post-qualifications applications" are introduced, casting doubt on the future of the proposed reforms.
"Without support from universities, which fund UCAS through subscriptions, the plans are “highly unlikely to be picked up,” said Matthew Andrews, chair of the Admissions Practitioners’ Group of the Academic Registrars Council."
Apparently that is far from a sure thing: Admissions Debate in Britain
"Several universities have threatened to withdraw from Britain's centralized admissions system if "post-qualifications applications" are introduced, casting doubt on the future of the proposed reforms.
"The threat to “opt out” of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service was made by members of the 1994 Group, which represents 19 smaller research-intensive institutions, in its response to plans for students to apply to higher education after receiving their A-level results. Other groups have also voiced their opposition to the radical shake-up of admissions put forward for consultation by UCAS in October, placing the overall project in jeopardy.
"Under the proposals – earmarked for introduction in 2016 – students would sit their A-level exams six weeks or a month earlier and receive their results in July rather than August. They would then apply to just two universities and start the academic term in early October.
..."Without support from universities, which fund UCAS through subscriptions, the plans are “highly unlikely to be picked up,” said Matthew Andrews, chair of the Admissions Practitioners’ Group of the Academic Registrars Council."
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Assisted suicide in the U.S.
Assisted suicide is a prototypically repugnant transaction, in the sense that there are people who want to engage in it, and others who object. Here's an article from yesterday's WSJ, about a doctor who benefited from his own efforts to legalize assisted suicide in Oregon: Right-to-Die Advocate Ends His Life
"Peter Goodwin, a family physician who wrote and campaigned for Oregon's right-to-die law in the 1990s, died Sunday after taking a cocktail of lethal drugs prescribed by his doctor, as allowed under the legislation he championed.
"Dr. Goodwin, 83 years old, had been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder similar to Parkinson's disease and had been given less than six months to live.
"The Oregon law was the first in the nation to authorize patients to end their lives with the assistance of physicians. It doesn't allow for doctors to administer euthanasia by injection, though it authorizes them to prescribe lethal drugs that the patient can choose to take.
"The law has withstood legal challenges including a case brought by the Bush administration. In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Oregon, saying that the federal government couldn't forbid doctors from prescribing drugs to help a patient die.
...
"Oregon voters approved the Death With Dignity Act at the polls in 1994, and voted down legislation that would have repealed it in 1997. A total of 597 people have died under its provisions, including 71 in 2011, according to Oregon state statistics.
...
"The act has had an impact beyond Oregon, serving as a model for a Washington State law that took effect in 2009. Massachusetts is scheduled to vote on a similar law in November, while Montana allows physician-assisted suicide as a result of a court case.
"John Kelly, director of Second Thoughts, a Massachusetts-based organization of disability activists who oppose the assisted-suicide ballot petition, said assisted suicide brings up big problems. "Dr. Goodwin "created a monster," Mr. Kelly said. "Assisted suicide is a deadly mix with the profit-driven health-care system. There are so many problems with assisted suicide. These bills sound good in some kind of a perfect-knowledge fantasy universe, but when we get down to real life they become a disaster."
...
"The Death With Dignity Act had a wide effect on end-of-life decisions, said Barbara Coombs Lee, executive director of Compassion & Choices, a national right-to-die organization that is a successor to the Hemlock Society. "Palliative care and hospice care got a big boost in Oregon," Ms. Lee said. "It levels the playing field between patients and physicians who are invested in giving more treatment."
"Peter Goodwin, a family physician who wrote and campaigned for Oregon's right-to-die law in the 1990s, died Sunday after taking a cocktail of lethal drugs prescribed by his doctor, as allowed under the legislation he championed.
"Dr. Goodwin, 83 years old, had been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder similar to Parkinson's disease and had been given less than six months to live.
"The Oregon law was the first in the nation to authorize patients to end their lives with the assistance of physicians. It doesn't allow for doctors to administer euthanasia by injection, though it authorizes them to prescribe lethal drugs that the patient can choose to take.
"The law has withstood legal challenges including a case brought by the Bush administration. In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Oregon, saying that the federal government couldn't forbid doctors from prescribing drugs to help a patient die.
...
"Oregon voters approved the Death With Dignity Act at the polls in 1994, and voted down legislation that would have repealed it in 1997. A total of 597 people have died under its provisions, including 71 in 2011, according to Oregon state statistics.
...
"The act has had an impact beyond Oregon, serving as a model for a Washington State law that took effect in 2009. Massachusetts is scheduled to vote on a similar law in November, while Montana allows physician-assisted suicide as a result of a court case.
"John Kelly, director of Second Thoughts, a Massachusetts-based organization of disability activists who oppose the assisted-suicide ballot petition, said assisted suicide brings up big problems. "Dr. Goodwin "created a monster," Mr. Kelly said. "Assisted suicide is a deadly mix with the profit-driven health-care system. There are so many problems with assisted suicide. These bills sound good in some kind of a perfect-knowledge fantasy universe, but when we get down to real life they become a disaster."
...
"The Death With Dignity Act had a wide effect on end-of-life decisions, said Barbara Coombs Lee, executive director of Compassion & Choices, a national right-to-die organization that is a successor to the Hemlock Society. "Palliative care and hospice care got a big boost in Oregon," Ms. Lee said. "It levels the playing field between patients and physicians who are invested in giving more treatment."
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Brides "for sale:" marriage patterns in East Asia
Soohyung Lee and Daiji Kawaguchi have a paper on marriage and matching that looks at who marries whom in East Asia. As I understand it, they argue that there's a powerful norm there for men to "marry down," (related to having "traditional" expectations of marriage) with the result that highly educated women and poorly educated men have difficulty finding suitable local spouses, and that the lower educated men marry foreign brides from poorer countries.
Brides for Sale: Cross-Border Marriages and Female Immigration
Abstract: Every year, a large number of women migrate as brides from developing countries to developed countries in East Asia. This phenomenon virtually did not exist in the early 1990s, but foreign brides currently comprise 4 to 35 percent of newlyweds in these developed Asian countries. This paper argues that two factors account for this rapid increase in “bride importation”: the rapid growth of women's educational attainment and a cultural norm that leads to low net surplus of marriage for educated women. We provide empirical evidence supporting our theoretical model and its implications, using datasets from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.
***************
And here's a NY Times story from the point of view of Vietnamese brides married to Korean men: For Some in Vietnam, Prosperity Is a South Korean Son-in-Law
Brides for Sale: Cross-Border Marriages and Female Immigration
Abstract: Every year, a large number of women migrate as brides from developing countries to developed countries in East Asia. This phenomenon virtually did not exist in the early 1990s, but foreign brides currently comprise 4 to 35 percent of newlyweds in these developed Asian countries. This paper argues that two factors account for this rapid increase in “bride importation”: the rapid growth of women's educational attainment and a cultural norm that leads to low net surplus of marriage for educated women. We provide empirical evidence supporting our theoretical model and its implications, using datasets from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.
***************
And here's a NY Times story from the point of view of Vietnamese brides married to Korean men: For Some in Vietnam, Prosperity Is a South Korean Son-in-Law
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Same sex marriage: the debate in Britain
Old repugnancies die hard...
Gay marriage is like slavery, Catholic leader says
"Britain’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, has condemned gay marriage as an “aberration”, likening it to slavery and abortion."
"Cardinal Keith O'Brien said countries which legalise gay marriage are “shaming themselves” by going against the “natural law,” and should not consider their actions “progress”. :
"He claimed same sex unions were the “thin end of the wedge” and would lead to the “further degeneration of society into immorality.”
************
And, in a related story
The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales is intensifying its campaign against the government's plan to legalise same-sex marriage.
"In a letter being read in 2,500 parish churches, the Church's two most senior archbishops say the change would reduce the significance of marriage.
"The letter says Roman Catholics have a duty to make sure it does not happen.
Gay marriage is like slavery, Catholic leader says
"Britain’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, has condemned gay marriage as an “aberration”, likening it to slavery and abortion."
"Cardinal Keith O'Brien said countries which legalise gay marriage are “shaming themselves” by going against the “natural law,” and should not consider their actions “progress”. :
"He claimed same sex unions were the “thin end of the wedge” and would lead to the “further degeneration of society into immorality.”
************
And, in a related story
The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales is intensifying its campaign against the government's plan to legalise same-sex marriage.
"In a letter being read in 2,500 parish churches, the Church's two most senior archbishops say the change would reduce the significance of marriage.
"The letter says Roman Catholics have a duty to make sure it does not happen.
Monday, March 12, 2012
John Campbell on Mortgage Market Design
John Campbell writes about Mortgage Market Design
"Although the US has roughly average levels of homeownership (67%) and mortgage debt
(72% of GDP), it is unusual in two other respects. Figure 3 plots the average number of
years that a mortgage carries a fixed rate. The lowest values (around 1 year) are in southern European countries such as Portugal, Spain, and Italy, where adjustable-rate mortgages predominate. The UK and Ireland similarly rely heavily on adjustable-rate mortgages.The average fixed-rate period is 5 years in Canada, 7-10 years in Belgium, France, and Germany, almost 20 years in Denmark, and 27 years in the US reflecting a roughly 90% market share for 30-year nominal fixed-rate mortgages. These instruments, which are taken for granted in the US, are anomalous within the global mortgage system.
"Figure 4 plots an index of government participation in housing finance, constructed by
the IMF (2011), against the homeownership rate. The IMF index combines information on subsidies to home purchases, government funding or guarantees for mortgage loans, preferential tax treatment for mortgage interest or capital gains on housing, and the existence of a dominant state-owned mortgage lender. The figure shows that US housing policy is highly interventionist, more so than any other country illustrated except Singapore. The high value of the government participation index for the US results from subsidies to low and middle income homebuyers, subsidized mortgage guarantees by the government sponsored entities (GSEs), and favorable tax treatment of mortgage borrowing and housing capital gains. The main stated goal of much US housing policy is to increase the homeownership rate, but as previously noted the US has only average homeownership, and more generally there is only a very weak positive cross-country correlation between housing market intervention and
homeownership."
...
"I argue that there is a legitimate public interest in a stable, efficient mortgage system and call for deliberate experimentation with mortgage market design. Although our theoretical understanding of mortgage markets is still quite weak relative to the theory that underpins classic applications of market design (to auctions and matching problems, for example), financial theory and theoretically grounded empirical research will be important for this enterprise. Thus mortgage research offers financial economists an exciting opportunity to contribute to the well-being of society.
"Although the US has roughly average levels of homeownership (67%) and mortgage debt
(72% of GDP), it is unusual in two other respects. Figure 3 plots the average number of
years that a mortgage carries a fixed rate. The lowest values (around 1 year) are in southern European countries such as Portugal, Spain, and Italy, where adjustable-rate mortgages predominate. The UK and Ireland similarly rely heavily on adjustable-rate mortgages.The average fixed-rate period is 5 years in Canada, 7-10 years in Belgium, France, and Germany, almost 20 years in Denmark, and 27 years in the US reflecting a roughly 90% market share for 30-year nominal fixed-rate mortgages. These instruments, which are taken for granted in the US, are anomalous within the global mortgage system.
"Figure 4 plots an index of government participation in housing finance, constructed by
the IMF (2011), against the homeownership rate. The IMF index combines information on subsidies to home purchases, government funding or guarantees for mortgage loans, preferential tax treatment for mortgage interest or capital gains on housing, and the existence of a dominant state-owned mortgage lender. The figure shows that US housing policy is highly interventionist, more so than any other country illustrated except Singapore. The high value of the government participation index for the US results from subsidies to low and middle income homebuyers, subsidized mortgage guarantees by the government sponsored entities (GSEs), and favorable tax treatment of mortgage borrowing and housing capital gains. The main stated goal of much US housing policy is to increase the homeownership rate, but as previously noted the US has only average homeownership, and more generally there is only a very weak positive cross-country correlation between housing market intervention and
homeownership."
...
"I argue that there is a legitimate public interest in a stable, efficient mortgage system and call for deliberate experimentation with mortgage market design. Although our theoretical understanding of mortgage markets is still quite weak relative to the theory that underpins classic applications of market design (to auctions and matching problems, for example), financial theory and theoretically grounded empirical research will be important for this enterprise. Thus mortgage research offers financial economists an exciting opportunity to contribute to the well-being of society.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Summer school in algorithmic economics at CMU in August
The announcement is here.
Important dates
Confirmed speakers:
Important dates
- April 15, 2012: Application deadline
- May 6, 2012: Notification of selection
- August 6-10, 2012: Summer school
Confirmed speakers:
- Itai Ashlagi, MIT (Sloan)
- Avrim Blum, Carnegie Mellon (CS)
- Vincent Conitzer, Duke (CS & economics)
- Constantinos Daskalakis, MIT (EECS)
- Jason Hartline, Northwestern (EECS)
- Herve Moulin, Rice (economics)
- Eva Tardos, Cornell (CS)
- Rakesh Vohra, Northwestern (Kellogg)
- Leeat Yariv, Caltech (economics)
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Market design in Trento
13th Trento Summer School
Intensive course in Market Design: Theory and Pragmatics
Co-Directors:
Dan Friedman, Economics Department, Santa Cruz University
CA
David Parkes, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
Harvard University
Guest lecturers: Tuomas Sandholm, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Peter Cramton, Economics Department, University of Maryland, Paul J. Healy, Economics Department, Ohio State University, S. N. Muthu Muthukrishnan, Computer Science Department, Rutgers University, Estelle Cantillon, ECARES, Université Libre de Bruxelles
For the last
several centuries, markets have spread spontaneously and have organized an
increasing share of human activity. Globalization and information technologies
accelerated the process in the early 21st century and, at the same time, opened
unprecedented new opportunities for deliberate design.
Market design has much to learn from success stories like Amazon and eBay, online advertising, labour markets for medical interns and residents, wireless spectrum auction design, expressive auctions for sourcing, and mobile phone banking in the developing world. Market designers can also learn from disasters such as the California energy market of May 2000 through September 2001 and the credit-default swap market freeze in September 2008.
Market design is a multi-disciplinary problem with relevant expertise coming from economic theory, computer science, and operations research. Advances are made with the right combination of theory and pragmatics, with theoretical ideals balanced against requirements for computational and informational efficiency, as well as simplicity and robustness.
Market design has much to learn from success stories like Amazon and eBay, online advertising, labour markets for medical interns and residents, wireless spectrum auction design, expressive auctions for sourcing, and mobile phone banking in the developing world. Market designers can also learn from disasters such as the California energy market of May 2000 through September 2001 and the credit-default swap market freeze in September 2008.
Market design is a multi-disciplinary problem with relevant expertise coming from economic theory, computer science, and operations research. Advances are made with the right combination of theory and pragmatics, with theoretical ideals balanced against requirements for computational and informational efficiency, as well as simplicity and robustness.
The 2012 Trento
Summer School faculty will bring together experts from many fields:
- artificial intelligence and multi-agent systems
- experimental economics
- mechanism design theory
- prediction markets
- theoretical computer science
They will provide
an integrated series of lectures on topics such as
- two-sided platforms
- matching markets
- double auction markets
- virtual economies
- combinatorial auctions
Students participating in this Summer School will gain an up-to-date overview of the relevant theory, current evidence on what sorts of market formats work well under various conditions, and pragmatic issues that arise when theoretical paradigms meet real-world challenges.
In addition to overview lectures in the mornings, the school will feature intensive seminar-style discussions in the afternoons of participants’ research.
The Trento Summer Schools are intended for advanced graduate students and post-doctoral scholars in economics, computer science and operations research. People interested in participating in the Summer School are encouraged to apply by submitting a curriculum vitae, a two-page essay describing their interest in Market Design, a course transcript from their PhD program, including advanced examinations passed, two letters of recommendation, and statements about their current or projected research, along with relevant research papers, if any.
Applications are
due by Saturday, 17 march 2012. Persons interested in participating in the
Summer School should follow the application
procedure.
Admissions
decisions will be announced by 10 April 2012. All applicants will be informed by
e-mail about the results.
The sessions will
be held at Hotel Villa Madruzzo, Trento, Italy. All participants are required to
stay for the entire duration of the event. Food and accommodation will be
covered by the School (except for meals during the weekend) and participants
will have to cover travel expenses.
Please direct
logistical questions to the Summer School secretary (ccschool@economia.unitn.it).
This is the
13th of a series of intensive courses to be offered by the Cognitive
and Experimental Economics Laboratory (CEEL) with the financial support of John
S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, an Athens-based Foundation supporting
public benefit activities in Greece and abroad: www.latsis-foundation.org.
Previous courses were
offered in Computable Economics (2000, Director K. Vela Velupillai),
Experimental Economics (2001, Director Daniel Friedman), Adaptive Economic
Processes (2002, Director Peter Howitt), Behavioral Economics (2003, Directors
Daniel Friedman and David Laibson), Institutional Economics (2004, Director
Richard N. Langlois), Evolutionary Economic Dynamics (2005,Directors Ken Binmore
and Larry Samuelson), Agent-Based Computational Economics (2006, Directors Leigh
Tesfatsion and Robert Axtell), Agent-Based Finance (2007, Directors Cars Hommes
and Thomas Lux), Financial Instability and Crises (2008, Directors Domenico
Delli Gatti and Mauro Gallegati), Networks and Innovation (2009, Directors John
Padgett, Lee Fleming and Massimo Riccaboni), Macroeconomics and Financial Crises
(2010, Directors Peter Howitt, Daniel Heymann and Axel Leijonhufvud) and
Evolution of Social Preferences (2011, Directors Dan Friedman and Luigi Mittone)
|
Program
Directors: Axel Leijonhufvud, UCLA and University of Trento and
Enrico Zaninotto, University of Trento
Co-Directors
of the School:
Guest
Lecturers:Dan Friedman, Economics Department, Santa Cruz University CA David Parkes, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University Tuomas Sandholm, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Peter Cramton, Economics Department, University of Maryland, Paul J. Healy, Economics Department, Ohio State University, S. N. Muthu Muthukrishnan, Computer Science Department, Rutgers University, Estelle Cantillon, ECARES, Université Libre de Bruxelles Laboratory Director: Luigi Mittone, University of Trento
Lab Technical
Assistant: Marco Tecilla, University of Trento
Summer School
Secretary: ccschool@economia.unitn.it
The course is offered by the Cognitive and Experimental
Economics Laboratory CEEL of the University of Trento with the financial support
of John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, an Athens-based Foundation
supporting public benefit activities in Greece and abroad: www.latsis-foundation.org.
|
Friday, March 9, 2012
More on Rosemarie Nagel's famous experiment in game theory
In an earlier post, I wrote about Nagel's guessing/beauty contest game: a famous experiment in game theory. Now Christoph Büren, Björn Frank and Rosemarie Nagel have written a brief note called A Historical Note on the Beauty Contest.
And here's the comic version of the game (from another earlier post which highlighted the connection to unraveling):
And here's the comic version of the game (from another earlier post which highlighted the connection to unraveling):
Thursday, March 8, 2012
The path to becoming a live kidney donor
Here's the story of an nondirected live kidney donor at the Cleveland Clinic: Sagamore Hills man finds that donating a kidney is no simple thing
From decision to donation took about six months, with a variety of physical and psychological screens to pass through.
From decision to donation took about six months, with a variety of physical and psychological screens to pass through.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
A different shade of red
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| http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1465 |
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| cardinal: Pantone 201 |
rgb(164, 16, 52) crimson
Who eats what
The Economist reports on The moral and culinary merits of exotic flesh
"Andrew Thornton, manager of the Budgens supermarket in the north London suburb of Crouch End, says sales of squirrel meat have soared since he started selling it in 2010.
"The bushy-tailed tree-dwellers are just one category in a burgeoning market. Osgrow, a British-based firm, exports bison, crocodile (“ideal for barbecues”) and kudu meat (“juicy and low-fat”) to customers in countries where controls on wild meat are tighter. One such market is Germany, where hygiene laws forbid the eating of “cat and doglike flesh”. The German environment ministry confirms that this includes squirrel; the country’s media mock English rat-eaters. Australia sent quantities of kangaroo meat to Russia until an import ban in 2009, ostensibly on hygiene grounds (it is now being reconsidered).
...
"No legal obstacle exists to eating the king of beasts, but roars of opposition prevented a restaurant in Tucson, Arizona, from selling lion flesh in tacos."
HT: NicolaLacetera
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
A language is a marketplace: Defending local languages versus teaching in English
A headline in Haaretz takes a strident tone on a sensitive issue, but the story presents both sides of a complicated argument, that revolves around the fact that not only are universities marketplaces, but so are languages: Israel's Academy of the Hebrew Language declares war – on English
"Tali Ben Yehuda, the academy's director-general, said "demands that students study in English represent the gravest expression of the trend" of minimizing Hebrew's role in academia. Demands that students speak or study in English constitute a phenomenon "that is expanding considerably."
"Tali Ben Yehuda, the academy's director-general, said "demands that students study in English represent the gravest expression of the trend" of minimizing Hebrew's role in academia. Demands that students speak or study in English constitute a phenomenon "that is expanding considerably."
"Unless steps are taken, she warned, "academic departments will instruct solely in English, and this will spread to the high schools, because a conscientious parent will not send his or her child to a high school that doesn't prepare the youngster for university study.
...
"Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's chemistry department has sent a letter in English to students saying that research papers written in Hebrew will no longer be accepted. It said advanced research seminars would be conducted in English. This is because "the language of science is English."
Yehuda Band, the head of the university's chemistry department, said last night that this English-use requirement did not apply to undergraduates. He said that "if someone tries to record research results in Hebrew, that consigns his or her work to oblivion - nobody will read the research summary. Every person who deals in science today in Israel reads English."
...
"According to Band, another argument in favor of English is Ben-Gurion University's desire to recruit foreign students. The moment there's a student in a class who doesn't speak Hebrew, the lesson has to be conducted in English.
"Of course, these circumstances make things harder for people whose native tongue is Hebrew, and yet the use of English is something that any scientist has to master to advance in his or her work," Band said. "If a researcher doesn't know English, he's finished. If he doesn't know how to write in English, he won't be able to publish on his own and will depend on the largesse of others."
Monday, March 5, 2012
Podcast on kidney exchange, and ethical issues in organ transplantation
The March 2012 issue of the AMA journal Virtual Mentor is a special issue on Organ Transplantation.
It contains a two part podcast of an interview with me about kidney exchange:
http://www.soundprescribing.org/podcast/ethics-talk-kidney-patient-donor-exchanges-part-one.mp3
http://www.soundprescribing.org/podcast/ethics-talk-kidney-patient-donor-exchanges-part-two.mp3
Organ Transplantation
It contains a two part podcast of an interview with me about kidney exchange:
http://www.soundprescribing.org/podcast/ethics-talk-kidney-patient-donor-exchanges-part-one.mp3
http://www.soundprescribing.org/podcast/ethics-talk-kidney-patient-donor-exchanges-part-two.mp3
Organ Transplantation
Ethics Poll
FROM THE EDITOR
The Frontiers of Organ Transplantation: “Oh, The Places We’ll Go”
Alon B. Neidich
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:184-185.
Alon B. Neidich
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:184-185.
EDUCATING FOR PROFESSIONALISM
Ethics Cases
Assessing the Motives of Living, Non-Related Donors
Commentary by Katrina A. Bramstedt, and Francis L. Delmonico
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:186-189.
Commentary by Katrina A. Bramstedt, and Francis L. Delmonico
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:186-189.
Should a Nonadherent Adolescent Receive a Second Kidney?
Commentary by John D. Lantos and Bradley A. Warady
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:190-193.
Commentary by John D. Lantos and Bradley A. Warady
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:190-193.
Family Physicians’ Role in Discussing Organ Donation with Patients and the Public
Commentary by Keren Ladin and Douglas W. Hanto
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:194-200.
Commentary by Keren Ladin and Douglas W. Hanto
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:194-200.
Medical Education
Online Ethics-Education Modules and Ethics Forums of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons
John M. Ham
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:201-203.
John M. Ham
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:201-203.
The Code Says
AMA Code of Medical Ethics’ Opinions on Organ Transplantation
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:204-214.
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:204-214.
Journal Discussion
Living-Donor Grafts for Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Mohamed Elhassan Akoad
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:215-220.
Mohamed Elhassan Akoad
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:215-220.
State of the Art and Science
Severe Brain Injury and Organ Solicitation: A Call for Temperance
Joseph J. Fins
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:221-226.
Joseph J. Fins
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:221-226.
LAW, POLICY, AND SOCIETY
Health Law
Reproductive Tissue Transplants Defy Legal and Ethical Categorization
Valarie Blake and Kavita Shah
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:232-236.
Valarie Blake and Kavita Shah
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:232-236.
Policy Forum
Contemporary Debates over the Acceptability of Kidneys for Donation
Benjamin Hippen
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:237-244.
Benjamin Hippen
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:237-244.
Rationing Livers: The Persistence of Geographic Inequity in Organ Allocation
Bruce C. Vladeck, Sander Florman, and Jonathan Cooper
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:245-249.
Bruce C. Vladeck, Sander Florman, and Jonathan Cooper
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:245-249.
Implications of the Affordable Care Act for Kidney Transplantation
Christine S. Rizk and Sanjiv N. Singh
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:250-255.
Christine S. Rizk and Sanjiv N. Singh
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:250-255.
Medicine and Society
HISTORY, ART, AND NARRATIVE
History of Medicine
The Ethics of Organ Transplantation: A Brief History
Albert R. Jonsen
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:264-268.
Albert R. Jonsen
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:264-268.
Medical Narrative
Liver Transplantation: The Illusion of Choice
Carol Panetta Zazula
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:269-271.
Carol Panetta Zazula
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:269-271.
OP-ED AND CORRESPONDENCE
Op-Ed
The Limits of Altruism: Selecting Living Donors
Richard B. Freeman Jr.
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:272-277.
Richard B. Freeman Jr.
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2012; 14:272-277.
RESOURCES
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Organ donation in Britain
The BBC reports on a new report by the British Medical Association: BMA calls for fresh debate on rate of organ donation. It focuses on some of the same issues that have been discussed in the U.S. and elsewhere.
You can find the report here: Building on Progress: Where next for organ donation policy in the UK? (direct link to pdf here).
"This report documents the changes that have taken place since the Organ Donation Taskforce published its report in January 2008. It records the significant improvements that have been made to the infrastructure and the projected 34% increase in donation rates over the four years to April 2012. The report notes, however, that even if the Taskforce’s target of a 50% increase in donation rates by 2013 is achieved, people will still be dying unnecessarily while waiting for an organ.
"We believe that, as a society, we now need to decide whether we should be satisfied that we have done all we can or whether we should seek to build on what has already been achieved by shifting out attention to additional ways of increasing the number of organ donors.
"The report examines a range of options that have been suggested for increasing the number of donors including a system of mandated choice, reciprocity, a regulated market or paying the funeral expenses of those who sign up to the Organ Donor Register and subsequently donate organs. The report also explains why we remain convinced that an opt-out system with safeguards is the best option for the UK."
You can find the report here: Building on Progress: Where next for organ donation policy in the UK? (direct link to pdf here).
"This report documents the changes that have taken place since the Organ Donation Taskforce published its report in January 2008. It records the significant improvements that have been made to the infrastructure and the projected 34% increase in donation rates over the four years to April 2012. The report notes, however, that even if the Taskforce’s target of a 50% increase in donation rates by 2013 is achieved, people will still be dying unnecessarily while waiting for an organ.
"We believe that, as a society, we now need to decide whether we should be satisfied that we have done all we can or whether we should seek to build on what has already been achieved by shifting out attention to additional ways of increasing the number of organ donors.
"The report examines a range of options that have been suggested for increasing the number of donors including a system of mandated choice, reciprocity, a regulated market or paying the funeral expenses of those who sign up to the Organ Donor Register and subsequently donate organs. The report also explains why we remain convinced that an opt-out system with safeguards is the best option for the UK."
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Organ donation and kidney exchange in Canada
Canada maintains a number of registries for organ donors and patients, including one for kidney exchange (on which see also Q & A: How does the Canadian kidney exchange work?).
However, there's still a big shortage of organs from either deceased or living donors: Thousands still wait for transplants: Organ donor rates stagnate; kidneys most needed
See the report: Canadian Organ Replacement Register Annual Report: Treatment of End-Stage Organ Failure in Canada, 2001 to 2010
Friday, March 2, 2012
Fifth Barcelona LeeX Experimental Economics Summer School in Macroeconomics
Applications are now being accepted for the
Fifth Barcelona LeeX Experimental Economics Summer School
in Macroeconomics, BLESS-M-2012,
to be held: June 11-15 2012 at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain.
The deadline for applications is 1 April 2012.
The aim of the summer school is to introduce
macroeconomists to experimental methods and to further promote the use of
experiments in the evaluation of macroeconomic models. While macroeconomic
theories have traditionally been tested using non-experimental “field” data,
many modern, micro-founded macroeconomic models can also be tested in the
laboratory and researchers have begun to pursue such experimental tests.
Graduate students specializing in macroeconomics or experimental economics, as
well as junior faculty members and other macroeconomic researchers who have an
interest in experimental or behavioral approaches are encouraged to apply.
During the intensive 5-day summer school students will be
taught experimental methods and exposed to a number of macroeconomic
applications that have been tested experimentally. Students will be asked to
participate in experiments and to develop their own experimental macroeconomic
projects. Faculty will assist with and critique these projects. Past summer schools have resulted in the
production of a number of high quality collaborative experimental projects.
For a detailed outline of the program, lectures and
application procedures, please visit the summer school website at: http://www.upf.edu/leex/events/bleess_2012/index.html
As last year the summer school will be followed by the
3rd Leex International Conference on Theoretical and Experimental Macroeconomics,
June 18-19, 2012. Registered summer school students will be invited to attend
that workshop as well. Details on this conference are available at: http://www.upf.edu/leex/
The summer school instructors are:
Guest lecturers
Charles Noussair, Tilburg University
Shyam Sunder, Yale University
Lecturers and Organizers
John Duffy, University of Pittsburgh
Frank Heinemann, Technische Universität Berlin Rosemarie
Nagel, ICREA, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Should unpaid internships be repugnant? (Many are already illegal...)
The NY Times hosts a debate: most of the debaters think the answer is "yes": Do Unpaid Internships Exploit College Students?
Alex Peysakhovich writes
"I talked to a friend of mine who is in the music
recording business about this. He started work in a studio as an unpaid intern
(for about 6 months) then got hired onto the staff. For reference: they usually
have about 3-4 interns and 1-2 staff in the studio during business hours, so
most of their labor hours come in from free sources (but it counts as training
since interns do most of the tech work).
"He gave me the "well, that's how the business
works... if they want to enter the business they need to put in the time."
He didn't really buy the "lots of unpaid internships are
exploitative" arguments making the, very economist point, that they're
giving a chance to let the interns signal their actual interest and ability.
"How much of this is selection (he thought it was ok so he
did it) vs how much is "it's hard to make a man understand something when
his paycheck depends on him not understanding it," I'm not sure."
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
From repugnant, to legal, to mandatory?
The Telegraph reports on the intersection of prostitution law (it's now legal) and unemployment law (you can lose your benefits if you turn down a job) in Germany: 'If you don't take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits'
"A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services'' at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year.
"Prostitution was legalised in Germany just over two years ago and brothel owners – who must pay tax and employee health insurance – were granted access to official databases of jobseekers.
"The waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, had said that she was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe.
"She received a letter from the job centre telling her that an employer was interested in her "profile'' and that she should ring them. Only on doing so did the woman, who has not been identified for legal reasons, realise that she was calling a brothel.
"Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job – including in the sex industry – or lose her unemployment benefit. Last month German unemployment rose for the 11th consecutive month to 4.5 million, taking the number out of work to its highest since reunification in 1990.
"The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars. As a result, job centres must treat employers looking for a prostitute in the same way as those looking for a dental nurse."
...
"Tatiana Ulyanova, who owns a brothel in central Berlin, has been searching the online database of her local job centre for recruits.
"Why shouldn't I look for employees through the job centre when I pay my taxes just like anybody else?" said Miss Ulyanova."
**************
So we have here a situation in which a formerly repugnant transaction became legal and might, under some circumstances become mandatory (at least for those seeking unemployment benefits). This reminds me of one of the better arguments against legalizing kidney sales and other payments to organ donors: once they were legal, some future Congress might want to make unemployment benefits available only to people who had already utilized their kidney resources, for example… See my posts on the fraught debate about compensation for donors.
HT: Itay Fainmesser
Update from the comments: no women have been forced into prostitution by this potential legal technicality...http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/brothel.asp
"A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services'' at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year.
"Prostitution was legalised in Germany just over two years ago and brothel owners – who must pay tax and employee health insurance – were granted access to official databases of jobseekers.
"The waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, had said that she was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe.
"She received a letter from the job centre telling her that an employer was interested in her "profile'' and that she should ring them. Only on doing so did the woman, who has not been identified for legal reasons, realise that she was calling a brothel.
"Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job – including in the sex industry – or lose her unemployment benefit. Last month German unemployment rose for the 11th consecutive month to 4.5 million, taking the number out of work to its highest since reunification in 1990.
"The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars. As a result, job centres must treat employers looking for a prostitute in the same way as those looking for a dental nurse."
...
"Tatiana Ulyanova, who owns a brothel in central Berlin, has been searching the online database of her local job centre for recruits.
"Why shouldn't I look for employees through the job centre when I pay my taxes just like anybody else?" said Miss Ulyanova."
**************
So we have here a situation in which a formerly repugnant transaction became legal and might, under some circumstances become mandatory (at least for those seeking unemployment benefits). This reminds me of one of the better arguments against legalizing kidney sales and other payments to organ donors: once they were legal, some future Congress might want to make unemployment benefits available only to people who had already utilized their kidney resources, for example… See my posts on the fraught debate about compensation for donors.
HT: Itay Fainmesser
Update from the comments: no women have been forced into prostitution by this potential legal technicality...http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/brothel.asp
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