Read more of the Religion and Ethics interview with Dr. John Collins Harvey, who chairs the bioethics committee at Georgetown University Hospital. More →

May 21, 2004

There is a moral issue that is facing and dividing many families: what to do when someone you love is in what doctors call a persistent vegetative state. Is it best to withdraw the feeding tube, despite the objections of … More →

May 21, 2004

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: For members of the clergy, providing spiritual care for their congregants is a role they are well prepared for. But providing spiritual care to the sick can be a different sort of challenge. In the nation’s capital, … More →

April 2, 2004

In the latter half of the twentieth century, institutions run by Roman Catholic nuns could amount to virtual prisons for young women. Some spent their entire adult lives in these places. They were called the Magdalene Laundries, and they were in Ireland. THE MAGDALENE SISTERS chronicles the lives of three Dublin girls living in the Laundries. More →

August 22, 2003

The latest weapon in anti-abortion protest, photography, has triggered an ethical and legal debate. Before, the anti-abortion protestors only yelled at women, while targeting blame at doctors and staff members. Recently, they have started to take pictures of the woman … More →

September 20, 2002

“There are a lot of medicines out there that have never been tested on children so it leaves the doctors high and dry in a legal quagmire, using them without FDA approval because they have evidence above 12, above 18, but not for younger children,” says pediatrician and researcher Dr. Richard Schwartz. More →

January 18, 2002

Should a pastor offer people any counseling on sex other than to maintain abstinence outside of marriage? Does saying anything about safe sex seem to condone behavior the Bible forbids? It’s a real issue in the deep South, especially in black churches, and especially regarding women. More →

January 11, 2002

When a person has a religious experience, what happens within the brain? What kind of changes take place? In one experiment, brain scans examine the parts of the brain that are activated during prayer. In another, mystical and religious experiences are simulated by using bursts of electrical impulses. These experiments have created no small amount of controversy. More →

November 9, 2001

A new report from the Institute of Medicine, which advises the government on health policy, calls on the U.S. to do far more than is now being done to relieve the suffering of dying children and their families. Doctors and families face a dilemma in trying to choose between painful treatment that is unlikely to work and palliative care to make possible a so-called “good death.” More →

September 7, 2001

In some African coutries, more than a quarter of the adult population is infected with HIV/AIDS. But in Senegal, a largely Muslim country, the rate of infection is barely one percent. More →

March 23, 2001