Curious Bioethics: May 8-14, 2023
Medical conscience as a weapon, child labor, sci-fi novel, and journalism skills
Hey there, Curious Human!
In today’s curated collection, you’ll find:
Bioethics in the News: Child labor, E. Jean Carroll, nurse practitioners, conscience objections in Florida
What I’m Reading: The Measure
Educational Opportunities: Researching non-profits with expert journalist
Bioethics in the News
Rolling back child Labor protections is bad for kids
To start of the week, two 10-year-olds were found working at a Kentucky McDonalds, sometimes as late as 2am.
The Labor Department also found that Bauer Food allowed 22 other teenagers under the age of 16 to work more than legally permitted hours. Under federal labor law, 14- and 15-year-olds can work up to 40 hours on a non-school week and 18 hours during a school week.
Bauer Food was fined $39,711, the department said. Another two McDonald's operators — Archways Richmond and Bell Restaurant Group — were also fined for allowing minors to work beyond legally permitted hours.
The $40k fine is insufficient to keep companies like this from profiting off the backs of children. As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, the attacks on child labor laws will prevent kids from accessing education and support needed to thrive as adults.
A Sliver of Justice: Jury finds Donald Trump assaulted, defamed E. Jean Carroll
Sexual assault harms countless people and few ever find a just resolution. Short statutes of limitations prevent people like Carroll from suing. However, the Adult Survivors Act in New York expanded Carroll’ ability to seek civil claims against Trump, even though decades had passed since he assaulted her.
“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen,” said the 79-year-old. “He lied and shattered my reputation, and I’m here to try to get my life back.”
This is a monumental win for Carroll and feels like a sliver of justice in the fight against sexual assault and the perpetrators who lie about it.
E. Jean Carroll has Substack -
and you can read her own words on the topic, here:
Nurse Practitioners and Access to Care
In the US, patients depend on access to nurse practitioners and physician assistants for care. Florida’s SB254 trashes access to gender-affirming care, but makes access even worse by limiting any care provision to physicians.
“While the majority of discourse around SB254 focuses on its repercussions for transgender youth, a provision that has received less attention within the bill is already spelling disaster for transgender adult care. The legislation bars all nurse practitioners from offering gender affirming care and imposes additional restrictions on informed consent care for transgender adults. Considering that nurse practitioners provide the majority of gender affirming care, this could drastically reduce the number of providers, lowering it to a level that is unsustainable for Florida's transgender patient population.”
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The Doctor Will Let You Die Now
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed SB 1580, providing legal cover for medical providers and insurers to discriminate against patients and deny them care based on any strongly held ethical, moral, or religious beliefs. The bill doesn’t define what those words mean.
The Act prevents medical boards from disciplining doctors who spread misinformation, meaning employers cannot fire physicians who refuse to do their job taking care of patients.
There will absolutely be healthcare workers who delight in the ability to deny care to people they don’t like - they can refuse to take care of someone with tattoos, to return calls, to provide urgent medical care. The impact of this bill will be monumental.
Legislators named the bill “Protections of Medical Conscience Act,” but I prefer the nickname the "Let Them Die Act."
What I’m Reading This Week
Nikki Erlick’s The Measure
“What if we knew that our waiter, our cabdriver, our teacher, had a short string? Would we show them greater kindness? Would we pause before we acted?”
On a morning like any other, every person on earth who is 22 years old and older wakes up to find a small wooden box containing a string that measures the exact number of years each of them will live. Once the truth of the boxes becomes apparent, everyone who hasn’t opened their box has to ask, “should I?” Some people open them eagerly, others hide them, From personal decisions to government actions, the boxes change everything.
When my public library’s app recommended Nikki Erlick’s novel The Measure, I had no significant expectations. It ended up including wonderful meditations on several bioethics issues - predictive technology, public health interventions, transplant, medical aid in dying, and health’s impact on political action.
If you’re looking for an engaging novel, check out The Measure.
Educational Opportunities
Radical Reports’ IRS 990 Research Webinar
I recently attended
's legislative research training - it was awesome! I learned a lot in a few short hours about how to be more efficient and detailed when going down the rabbit holes of bioethics-related legistlation.Ever wonder how journalists follow the money to uncover how candidates and laws are funded through charities? Then you’ll want to check out Teddy’s IRS 990 Research Webinar. Most states rely on IRS 990 forms for charitable and other regulatory oversight and to monitor organizations claiming tax exemptions.
Date: Friday, May 19th
Time:
West Coast: 7am - 10am PST
Mountain: 8am - 11am MST
Central: 9am - 12pm PST
East Coast: 10am - 1pm EST
“Webinar will include real-world examples of IRS 990 research techniques and strategies, and participants will have an opportunity to apply these techniques and strategies during practical exercises.”
Cost: $75 [Payment via Venmo or PayPal after registration]
*Teddy is offering a special $25 discount to you as a Poppies & Propofol reader. If you register, email him at radicalreportsnewsletter@gmail.com.
Register for IRS 990 Research Webinar
That’s it!
As always, thanks for being curious!
Hit reply and let me know what ethics issues you are most curious about this week—I’d love to hear from you!
See you next week!
Be Well & Be Curious,
Alyssa