Stem Cells: The Ethical Debate
Anne Dickinson and Michael McCabe
Issue 2, November 2000
Cells
All living things are made up of cells of various types. The human body contains millions of cells. A collection of similar cells specialised for a particular purpose is called a tissue. For example, skin tissue is made of skin cells, muscle tissue is made up of muscle tissue.
Coronary Artery Calcification Scanning : Ethical Issues of a New Diagnostic Test
Sharron Cole
Issue 5, November 2001
"Radiation zap test too risky, says Heart Foundation" was a recent headline in the local evening newspaper. The first two paragraphs of the article described how the National Heart Foundation did not support the technique for checking patients' hearts because "the technique is expensive, has not been adequately studied and carries the risk of giving a radiation dose equivalent to up to 400 chest x-rays". In response, the test's provider claimed the radiation figures were scare mongering and that there was good evidence for the value of the scan. [1]
Forward: In the Healthy Company of Tradition
Rob Greenfield
Issue 5, November 2001
In June 2001, Cardinal Thomas Williams officially launched a new Catholic entity, Aotearoa New Zealand Catholic Healthcare Limited. The formation of the company brought together sixteen Catholic congregations and entities that have a common interest in health care from a Catholic perspective. For a number of the founders it was the culmination of a long journey.
Editorial : Remembering Rosa
Michael McCabe
Issue 6, April 2002
Rosa Therese had a significant impact on the lives of many - myself included. I met her late one evening shortly after her birth in September 2000. Her parents, Peter and Rachel, had asked me to baptise her. She had been diagnosed earlier that day with a serious heart condition and was to be flown to Greenlane Hospital the following morning for further assessment and possible treatment.
Rosa's Story
Rachel Nankivell and Peter Zwart
Issue 6, April 2002
Our daughter, Rosa, was born on 19 September 2000. She was small but strong, with red hair and blue eyes. For twelve hours we cradled and rejoiced in our new, healthy, beautiful baby. But this was not to last. To our shock and initial grief, later that day Rosa was diagnosed with Down syndrome and our neatly imagined future disintegrated. We took Rosa home to the security of loving family.
Medicalising Normal Human Experience: The Example of Hormone Replacement Therapy
Sharron Cole
Issue 8, November 2002
The human condition is a mass of contrasting states – wellness and sickness, youth and old age, vigour and increasing frailty, obesity and thinness, baldness and hairiness – the list could go on interminably. Many of the processes cannot be controlled – they are simply a part of what it means to be human. Others, for example excessive weight gain or high blood pressure, can be helped by lifestyle changes such as improved nutrition and increased exercise.
Editorial: Organ donation - An Enduring Gift
Michael McCabe
Issue 12, April 2004
Christopher had been crossing the road on a drizzly wet Wellington day when he was hit by two cars. He
suffered multiple injuries and was placed on life support in Intensive Care.
While it was well known that 16-year old Christopher had no love affair with schooling it soon became clear that he was much loved by his family and friends, judging by the numbers in the waiting room at Intensive Care. After a week on life-support and after a diagnosis of brain-death the decision was made to withdraw ventilation and allow him to die. The night before this happened the attending-physician asked Christopher's mother and sister if they would allow his kidneys and corneas to be donated for transplant. The family agreed and the following day Christopher's two kidneys and two corneas were transplanted into four patients at Wellington Hospital.
My Experience of Renal Failure and its Treatment
Brian Quin, SM
Issue 12, April 2004
Tuesday, 9 June 1992 was a very important date in my life story. On that day, at Wellington Hospital, my brother Alan gave me one of his kidneys.