Scope, 12/01/15
--When medical knowledge is at a crossroads, how research can take patient preferences into account
This blog entry discusses how to ensure patients understand risks when normal medical care is a clinical trial. Stephanie Alessi Kraft, a clinical ethics fellow in the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics and the lead author of a paper in the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics that argues for reconsideration of the draft guidance from the federal Office for Human Research Protections, is quoted here.
http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2015/12/01/when-medical-knowledge-is-at-a-crossroads-how-research-can-take-patient-preferences-into-account/

Washington Examiner, 11/30/15
--'Designer babies' worry both parties
Several spending bills under consideration in the House of Representatives would prohibit the Food and Drug Administration from spending money related to modifying genes in a human embryo. Hank Greely is quoted here.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/designer-babies-worry-both-parties/article/2577264

San Jose Mercury News, 11/29/15
--'Gene drive' toll can prevent epidemics — but should it?
A technology called "gene drive" makes it possible to alter a population's genetics, a technique that could help eliminate malaria and other insect-borne diseases. Hank Greely, with the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, is quoted.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_29176839/gene-drive-tool-can-prevent-epidemics--but-should-it

California law give you the ability to ensure that your health care wishes are known and considered if you become unable to make these decisions yourself. Completing a form called an “Advance Health Care Directive” allows you to do a number of things:

Appoint another person to be your health care “agent”

Delineate your health care wishes, such as:

• Health care instructions, including life support, organ and tissue donation
• Revoke prior directives

A sample form is attached for reference. Acknowledgment before a notary public is not required if two qualified witnesses have signed this Directive in Part 5. In other words this is a free legally binding document.