A new British Medical Journal study has found that non-religious doctors are more likely to discuss end of life decisions with their patients. The study by Dr Clive Seale from the Centre for Health Sciences at Queen Mary University concludes that greater acknowledgement of the relationship between doctors’ values and clinical decision making would improve patient care.

An injunction by a federal judge has put federally funded stem cell research on hold across the US, compromising the progress of vital medical breakthroughs, the American Humanist Association (AHA) said today. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled on Monday that funding of stem cell research violates a federal ban on taxpayer dollars going towards the destruction of embryos.

On October 10, 2009, the French National Federation of the Free Thought (FNLP, an IHEU Member Organization) organized a colloquium on the review of the law passed on August 6, 2004 concerning bioethics. At the end of this colloquium, and without renouncing to carry on the reflection of today’s free and fruitful debate, the FNLP insists on recalling that no special morality should curb or guide scientific research towards any other goa but knowledge and the improvement of the conditions of humankind.

IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics and Bioethics International cordially invite you to a one-day conference concerning New Dilemmas in Medicine: Three Current Controversies in Genetics, Religion, and Big Pharma.

"The Impact of Obstetric Fistulas on Economic Empowerment” was the title of a topic dissected by a unique panel discussion held 3 March 2008 in New York City. The medical and socioeconomic impact of obstetric fistulas was considered under the auspices of the United Nations Commission of the Status of Women, with the co-sponsorship of the IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics.

The IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics is to co-sponsor a side event at the 52nd UN Commission on the Status of Women, on 3 March 2008 in New York City, USA.

The IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics has a new channel on YouTube with details of its events. The channel includes videos of presentations made at a number of past events sponsored by the Center.

Ana Lita, Director of the IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics, reports on the panel discussion held in New York City by the Center.

The IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics in New York was started in 2004 by a generous grant from the Louis J. Appignani Foundation. It is truly the first of its kind – a bioethics project dedicated to understanding contemporary bioethical challenges from an explicitly Humanist perspective.