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Global Health Impacts: Nanotechnology Fighting Cancer and Disability
Published in Ilise L. Feitshans, Global Health Impacts of Nanotechnology Law, 2018
It is unclear whether by bearing children they are excluded from the protections offered under this convention or remain a child under international law, with perhaps greater support from the state due to the responsibilities that create their quasi-adult status. This question of when or whether there exists an adult status for a child who should have and enjoy the rights under this convention is especially important for nanomedicine decisions regarding personal health, treatment for sexually transmissible disease, HIV/AIDS prevention breakthroughs, LGBT reproductive health, abortion, prenatal care, and consent to treatment that impacts the health of a child whose parent is an adolescent. An individual’s status as adult or child may determine the ability to consent to procedures and treatments such as fetal surgery, neonatal treatment of cystic fibrosis, and a variety of other treatments made possible by nanomedicines. Typically, individuals who are economically independent orphans or who are teenage parents are considered mature minors or emancipated minors under law [24] in many nations, but the convention does not address this problem.
Prenatal politics: fetal surgery, abortion and disability rights in the United States
Published in The New Bioethics, 2021
The purpose of this article is to build upon Casper's (1998, 2001, 2007) and Blizzard's (2005, 2007) research on fetal surgery by mapping its relationship to abortion and disability rights. While fetal surgery—and pregnancy termination as a possible therapeutic alternative—have been examined in a number of studies (Casper 1998, Bliton 2003, Chervenak et al.2004, Casper 2007, Schmitz et al.2018), very few have addressed the issues, and in particular the tensions, that arise when prenatal surgery is considered from the standpoint of Disability Studies. This article will expose these concerns by tracing the medical development of fetal surgery; the arguments for and against prenatal surgery; and the connections between fetal surgery, abortion, and disability rights. Like other dimensions of the life cycle that involve sexuality and reproduction (e.g. fertility, pregnancy and childbirth), fetal surgery has become highly politicized in the United States which has, to a certain extent, stalled critical discussion. However, the skepticism with which many disability rights advocates and policymakers approach prenatal medical intervention in general has opened a new space for active debate concerning fetal surgery in terms of how it medicalizes pregnancy, pathologizes diversity, contributes to the valuation of life, and emphasizes ‘perfect babies’ at any cost.
Fetal surgery: how recent technological advancements are extending its applications
Published in Expert Review of Medical Devices, 2019
Based on these technological advancements in fetal surgery, the next five years are promising. Better and thinner scopes and instruments will be developed with improved quality and design. The success of fetal cystoscopy warrants better instrumentations with adequate curvature to properly visualize the urethral obstruction in the fetus as well as a system that combines cystoscopy and vesico-amniotic shunt placement for urethral atresia [10]. There is also potential in the use of gas in utero for the repair of spina bifida and other congenital anomalies. Recently, amniotic bands were released using small scissors through fetoscopy under a half gas/half amniotic fluid environment [15]. These innovative under gas fetoscopies can promote the development of new in utero therapies for gastroschisis and fetal hydrocephalus.