Do you want to know the latest information and news about today's important healthcare topics? Join the conversation with The Point, CMDA's blog focusing on breaking news stories in bioethics and healthcare. CMDA's experts contribute to the blog and also recommend additional resources and information.

The purpose of this blog is to stimulate thought and discussion about important issues in healthcare. Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily express the views of CMDA. We encourage you to join the conversation on our website and share your experience, insight and expertise. CMDA has a rigorous and representative process in formulating official positions, which are largely limited to bioethical areas.

Treasures, Tombs and Eternity

By Autumn Dawn Galbreath, MD, MBA | April 8, 2025

One thing the Egyptians are incredibly good at is the preservation of their artifacts and education about them. The last stop we made yesterday was to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, a museum that tries to teach the 7,000+ years of Egyptian history chronologically, tying the artifacts, structures and stories together in a way that gives an arc and a progression to the story.

CMDA Should (Re)-Assert Support for Childhood Vaccination

By John Holmlund, MD, MA | March 27, 2025

The current measles outbreak in Texas, the ascension of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to the post of Secretary of Health and Human Services and broad societal trends have prompted widespread debate over the wisdom and future of vaccinating children for preventable infectious diseases with meaningful, even major, morbidity and mortality.

In the Trenches: Why Bother?

By Thomas W. Eppes, Jr., MD | March 19, 2025

The issues facing physicians are numerous, covering a broad spectrum. From the nuts and bolts of managing daily practice, providing great care as we stay up to date, dealing with the ethical dilemmas facing our patients and communities—it can be overwhelming.

Let Us Not Forget Ongoing Christian Persecution

By Jeffrey Barrows, DO, MA (Bioethics) | March 13, 2025

During Lent as we approach Resurrection Day, a number of Christians choose to “give up” something they enjoy, such as a specific food or habit, to identify with the suffering of Jesus on the cross. One habit to consider adopting during this season is the admonition found in Hebrews 13:3: “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (ESV).

Kuczewski Errs: Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

By Robert E. Cranston, MD, MA (Ethics) | March 10, 2025

In a recent Hasting Center Bioethics Forum Essay, “Supporting Patients and Students Who Are Immigrants: What to do and Why Most Bioethicists Won’t Do It,” Mark Kuczewski asserts that bioethicists, and medical systems in general, should not cooperate with any governmental attempts to identify or detain aliens who seek medical care within our hospitals and clinics.

President Trump’s Executive Order on IVF

By Andrè Van Mol, MD | March 3, 2025

On February 18, President Trump signed an executive order titled, “EXPANDING ACCESS TO IN VITRO FERTILIZATION.” Noting “the importance of family formation,” the prevalence of infertility (“as many as one in seven”), and the high cost of IVF ($12,000 to $25,000 per cycle), the administration committed itself to a policy which would “ensure reliable access to IVF treatment” by “Lowering Costs and Reducing Barriers to IVF.”

Federal Judge Blocks Gender Mandate

By Brick Lantz, MD | February 27, 2025

We want our CMDA members to be aware we are tracking the outcome of President Trump’s orders to protect vulnerable youth from transgender distortion.

The USAID Imbroglio: A Misinformation Campaign—Part 1

By Steven Willing, MD | February 26, 2025

Between my junior and senior years, I worked a summer job as a secretary-typist with the reviled United States Agency for International Development (USAID). What can I say? I was only 18 and not yet attuned to the subtle tells typically attributed to international criminal organizations.

The Corruption of Psychology: How Ideology Has Replaced Ethics and Healing

By Jeffrey E. Hansen, PhD | February 17, 2025

There was a time when psychology was dedicated to truth, healing and human flourishing. At its core, our profession was meant to serve as a beacon of understanding, guiding individuals toward mental clarity, emotional resilience and personal freedom.

An Update on PEPFAR from CMDA

By Jeffrey Barrows, DO, MA (Bioethics) | February 13, 2025

In 2003, President George W. Bush launched a program called The President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has become one of the most successful foreign aid programs in United States history. According to the State Department, as of September 30, 2023, PEPFAR has saved 25 million lives and enabled 5.5 million babies to be born HIV-free.

Treating Health Disparities on Our Knees

By Nicole D. Hayes | February 11, 2025

Ecclesiastes 9:11 contains the familiar text, “the race is not to the swift” (NIV) (or to those who run fast), but in the case of Black Americans, the race to health began well ahead of us, particularly with slavery.

“Nature” Does a Face Plant: Promoting the Transgender Suicide Myth

By Steven Willing, MD | January 16, 2025

What if an original research paper published in a respected international scientific journal declared that keeping men out of women’s sports or banning the gender transitioning of minors caused an increase in suicide attempts among transgender youth? Wouldn’t you expect them to show actual evidence of an increase? Well, you ought. But they didn’t.

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