New developments in the case of boy whose parents refused his chemotherapy on religious grounds; cultivated green monkeys show promise for a type of genetic research, but stir ethics protest; new brain implant used to treat behavior disorders has some comparing it to lobotomies; adults appear to be following students’ lead and turning to drugs like Ritalin to boost performance

VARIOUS DATELINES
Moral issues were at the forefront of several major medical and scientific stories last week. Among them:

• The case of Daniel Hauser, the child whose mother absconded with him to avoid court-ordered chemotherapy for the boy’s cancer, took another turn last week. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Hauser’s parents agreed to the court-ordered chemo after the judge allowed them to use alternative treatments in conjunction with the standard medical protocol. Hauser’s family belongs to a religious group that rejects traditional medicine. According to the paper, the court also returned custody to the mother, who brought the boy back home after an arrest warrant was issued. Hauser’s cancer, according to medical experts interviewed for the piece, has a 90 percent cure rate if treated with chemo and radiation, but is almost invariably fatal if untreated.
• Scientists are confronting an ethical dilemma centering on green monkeys, the BBC reports. Researchers have modified the primates to not only glow a strikingly iridescent green but also pass the trait to their offspring. While the research is purported to be promising because it shows that genetic cures could be introduced in one generation and passed along to another, some are protesting the experiment on moral grounds, saying such tests on sentient beings are cruel and abusive, notest the BBC.
• A new technique called deep brain stimulation has shown success in treating certain movement disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease. But now that the use of the treatment, which involves a stimulation device that works like a pacemaker for the brain, is being applied to behavioral disorders, it is raising a variety of moral concerns. The Los Angeles Times quotes Dr. Helen Mayberg, a professor of psychiatry and neurology at Emory University, as comparing the sudden popularity of the procedure with the spate of lobotomies performed in the 1940s, saying there is little follow-up and scanty proof that the procedures worked.
• The Christian Science Monitor reports that the general adult population is turning to a category of drugs that youngsters have known about for years — brain stimulants like Ritalin. Ritalin and its ilk have been used to treat attention deficit disorder, but have also spilled into wider use in schools and colleges — illegally, in many cases — by students seeking to boost performance while studying and taking tests. Now, reports the Monitor, the general adult population may be following suit “to boost productivity and enhance their mental prowess on the job.” The paper notes that while some experts support the shift, saying “it’s time to consider making the stimulants legal for brain-boosting functions,” critics disagree. “In an era when people take everything from Viagra to enhance their romance to steroids to enhance their baseball statistics, they argue that the addition of so-called ‘cognitive enhancement’ drugs will only make us more dependent on the pill bottle…. Ultimately, it raises the most fundamental questions about identity and what it means to be human: Are we the sum of our experiences or the sum of our pills?”

Sources: Los Angeles Times, June 1 — Los Angeles Times, June 1 — Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 29 — Christian Science Monitor, May 29 — BBC, May 27.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, May 25 — Related Newsline story, Dec. 15, 2008 — Related Newsline Commentary, Aug. 28, 2008.