Financial abuse in a mentally incapacitated old man.

A mentally incapacitated 82-year-old man with no relatives was managed by a geriatrician-led multidisciplinary team when medical staff realised he was at risk of being exploited. They initiated a series of protective measures including an emergency guardianship application. The Guardianship Board appointed the Director of Social Welfare as his public guardian. This case illustrates that hospital staff should be alert to potential elder abuse to ensure timely protection of potential victims.

Attitudes of Chinese couples in Hong Kong regarding using preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and human leukocyte antigens (HLA) typing to conceive a 'Saviour Child'.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate Hong Kong couples' attitudes and concerns about using preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and human leukocyte antigens (HLA) typing to conceive a disease-free and tissue-compatible 'Saviour Child (SC)' to save an afflicted sibling. METHODS: Two cohorts of Chinese couples, one with natural pregnancies and the other receiving in vitro fertilization (IVF) services, were studied using a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: Although most couples believed that embryos possess moral rights, they considered it acceptable to reproduce a donor child if it was safe for the child, and tissue transplantation was the only available treatment for the sick sibling. Most couples believed that the donor child would not suffer adverse physical or psychological effects but rather would gain positive psychological benefits, and opined that parents using PGD/HLA-typing suffer sacrificially for their children. In response to one specific question, one-third of the couples agreed to use the donor child as a lifetime organ donor and supported the use of PGD for non-medical gender selection. One-quarter were willing to reject PGD/HLA-typing because of its potential for non-medical genetic enhancement. CONCLUSION: Probably influenced by the Chinese tradition of strong familism, couples in Hong Kong generally show positive attitudes towards using PGD/HLA-typing to reproduce a 'SC' to save a sibling affected with life-threatening diseases amenable to treatment with genetically compatible tissue.

Human embryo cloning prohibited in Hong Kong.

Since the birth of Dolly (the cloned sheep) in 1997, debates have arisen on the ethical and legal questions of cloning-for-biomedical-research (more commonly termed "therapeutic cloning") and of reproductive cloning using human gametes. Hong Kong enacted the Human Reproductive Technology Ordinance (Cap 561) in 2000. Section 15(1)(e) of this Ordinance prohibits the "replacing of the nucleus of a cell of an embryo with a nucleus taken from any other cell," i.e., nucleus substitution. Section 15(1)(f) prohibits the cloning of any embryo. The scope of the latter, therefore, is arguably the widest, prohibiting all cloning techniques such as cell nucleus replacement, embryo splitting, parthenogenesis, and cloning using stem cell lines. Although the Human Reproductive Technology Ordinance is not yet fully operative, this article examines how these prohibitions may adversely impact on basic research and the vision of the Hong Kong scientific community. It concludes that in light of recent scientific developments, it is time to review if the law offers a coherent set of policies in this area.