A Word from the Editor

It is my pleasure to welcome you to LJN's Bioethics Legal Review on behalf of the publisher and the Board of Editors. Few areas are as controversial, far-reaching, and important as the broad field of bioethics. Dramatic advances in scientific knowledge and technology have led to some of the most provocative and difficult issues encountered in law, science, and ethics. Questions about genetic research, AIDS research, and whether federal funding for stem cell research should be increased (or even provided) are just of few of the issues being debated by the nation's leading commentators, bureaucrats, and politicians. Some of the recent events that have presented tough bioethical issues and captured widespread public interest have included the saga of the brain-damaged Terri Shiavo – and her death after the final round of court orders from state courts in Florida to cease providing her with nutrition and water (followed by legislation passed in Congress, and failed appeals by her parents to federal courts); the cloning of human embryos in foreign countries – and the ethical and moral issues that are possible from such activities; and, the (denied) request by a death row inmate for a stay of execution long enough so that he could donate a body organ to his chronically ill sister.