Nina Martin at ProPublica writes U.S. Bishops Take Aim at Sterilization. An excerpt:
The Vatican has an absolute prohibition on sterilization for the purposes of birth control. The U.S. Catholic bishops consider the procedure "intrinsically immoral," on par with abortion. Yet for years, Genesys Health System, a Catholic medical center near Flint, Mich., allowed doctors delivering babies there to tie the tubes of new mothers who wanted to ensure they never got pregnant again.
Genesys's policy wasn't hard to fathom: Performing a tubal ligation immediately after childbirth is the long-established standard of care, especially if a woman is having a cesarean section. "She's already cut open — her tubes are right there," said Sarah Ward Prager, an associate professor in obstetrics and gynecology and director of family planning at the University of Washington Medical School. Subjecting a new mother to a second surgery carries "unnecessary risk," Prager said. "It is simply unethical to say, 'I'm going to make you come back to a different hospital to have another surgery in six weeks because the bishop says I can't tie your tubes right now."
Then, seemingly out of the blue, Genesys reversed course. Starting November 1, sterilization with the "direct" aim of preventing pregnancy—as opposed to for some other medical ("indirect") reason—was banned. Patients who had planned to have the procedure after childbirth were left scrambling; their irate doctors were, too.
Genesys won't say why it allowed sterilizations to go on for so long or why it has forbidden them now. In a statement to ProPublica, the hospital acknowledged only that it had "updated its policy on tubal ligations to comply with current Church teaching."
But this much is clear: The Genesys decision is almost certainly a sign of things to come.
In November, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to tighten its rules on partnerships and collaborations between Catholic and non-Catholic health care providers. The move has potentially sweeping implications for patients, doctors, and medical providers in thousands of communities from New York to California. […]
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2004—Science (& Technology) Friday:
Seven generations ago—just 125 years ago this year—Thomas A. Edison came up with the first commercially viable electric light-bulb pictured above. Other inventors had laid the groundwork, but it was Edison’s genius that turned their tinkering (and a 5-year-old patent he had purchased) into something practical that has changed billions of lives in the most fundamental ways.
To achieve this, he also had to develop the parallel circuit, an improved dynamo, an underground conductor network, voltage regulators, safety fuses, insulating materials, and light sockets with on-off switches.
Edison publicly exhibited his light-bulb in December 1879—such a short time ago in history, yet beyond the memory of anyone now alive. Before then, humans could light up the dark only by burning oils or natural gas, a stinky and dangerous business. Today we take for granted the gargantuan impact of Edison’s inventiveness (and commercialization efforts).
There are still people who have never seen a light-bulb (or enjoyed the benefits derived from some of Edison’s other 1000+ patented inventions). But, for the majority of the world’s inhabitants, from sophisticated metropoles to savanna villages, electric lights are part of everyday life.
We’ve made a lot of progress with electrified products since Edison came up with that first 40-hour bulb. But, a century and a quarter later, when it comes to one aspect of electricity, we've been stubbornly slow to learn. It’s estimated that Americans waste more energy than the entire U.S. military budget - $13,000 a second. U.S. investors put $70 billion a year of capital into new power plants. Lighting consumes 20% of all of electricity generated in the U.S. and Canada. […]
Tweet of the Day
To answer a few recent prayers:
No.
No.
Maybe.
OK, but he’s still gonna cheat on you.
No.
Great idea! But no.
Fine, how’s Friday?
eyeroll
— @TheTweetOfGod
On
today's "encore performance" Kagro in the Morning show, it's the 1/06/14 eposode.
Greg Dworkin brought us Jonathan Chait's "After Obamacare Is No Longer Doomed, It Will Become a Scandal," and its reference to the startlingly stupid assertion that the ACA will usher in an era of legalized beheadings. Maggie Mahar's "Anatomy of an Obamacare 'horror story,'" and "GOP confident Obamacare is a winner in 2014." The exciting conclusion of "When 'Life Hacking' Is Really White Privilege." The emerging story of the late Rep. Bill Young's first family. Murders are down pretty much everywhere. Is it about gun laws? Or some combination of pretty much everything in the world?
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