Can the routine culture of synovial fluid be justified?

Can a routine follow-up blood culture be justified in Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteremia? a retrospective case–control study

BACKGROUND The need for mandatory confirmation of negative conversion in Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteremia (KpB) has not been adequately addressed. We conducted a retrospective case-control study of adult patients with KpB over a 5-year period in two tertiary-care hospitals to determine the risk factors for persistent bacteremia and to reevaluate the necessity of follow-up blood culture in KpB. ...

Can claims for 'wrongful life' be justified?

The authors reject Joseph Fletcher's arguments that the choice to procreate is a privilege and that parents may be responsible in certain circumstances for producing genetically defective children. They argue instead that procreation is a conditional right, but nonetheless conclude that parents may be held responsible for the "wrongful life" of genetically damaged offspring based on the legal ...

Can Routine Commercial Cord Blood Banking Be Scientifically and Ethically Justified?

BACKGROUND TO THE DEBATE Umbilical cord blood--the blood that remains in the placenta after birth--can be collected and stored frozen for years. A well-accepted use of cord blood is as an alternative to bone marrow as a source of hematopoietic stem cells for allogeneic transplantation to siblings or to unrelated recipients; women can donate cord blood for unrelated recipients to public banks. H...

Can Knowledge Be Justified True Belief?

Knowledge was traditionally held to be justified true belief. This paper examines the implications of maintaining this view if justication is interpreted algorithmically. It is argued that if we move sufficiently far from the small worlds to which Bayesian decision theory properly applies, we can steer between the rock of fallibilism and the whirlpool of skepticism only by explicitly building i...

Active euthanasia: can it be justified?