Showing posts with label death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label death. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Resuscitation theater ("slow codes"), and Medical Aid in Dying

›
 Here's an article pointing out that "slow codes" often constitute resuscitation theater, i.e. they are a way to follow bureau...
Friday, June 20, 2025

Jewish cemetery and Pinkas synagogue in Prague

›
 During our visit to Prague in May we visited the Old Jewish Cemetery , crowded with the dead from the historic Jewish Ghetto.   We also ...
Tuesday, June 10, 2025

New York State senate passes medical aid in dying bill

›
 Yesterday the NY State Senate took the next step in making medical aid in dying legal in NY.  Now the bill goes to the governor... The NYT ...
Friday, June 6, 2025

Disturbing NYT report about an Organ Procurement Organization in Kentucky

›
 Deceased donation of organs mostly occurs after potential donors suffer brain death, which, roughly speaking, means the loss of all organiz...
Monday, June 2, 2025

Medical aid in dying in Canada doesn't require a terminal diagnosis--should it?

›
 Repugnance to medical aid in dying is sharpest when death isn't otherwise imminent.  Canada allows patients with irremediable pain to q...
Thursday, May 1, 2025

Palliative care involves hard conversations

›
 JAMA has a viewpoint by several palliative care physicians reflecting on why they are sometimes "fired" by their patients, i.e. w...
Thursday, April 24, 2025

Hospice care and its limitations

›
 I've recently posted about Medical Aid in Dying (MAID), which is quite controversial.  An alternative model of end of life care is a ho...
Monday, April 14, 2025

“Schrödinger’s persons". The indeterminate legal status of embryos.

›
 Courts are increasingly called on to decide who should get custody of frozen embryos. Their decisions will touch on both abortion and IVF. ...
Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Abortion bans have increased both births and infant mortality (JAMA)

›
 Not unexpectedly: US Abortion Bans and Infant Mortality , by Alison Gemmill, PhD1; Alexander M. Franks, PhD2; Selena Anjur-Dietrich, PhD1; ...
Saturday, November 30, 2024

Britain moves towards legalizing medical aid in dying

›
  The Guardian has the story: MPs vote for bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales Terminally ill adults with less than six mon...
Sunday, November 24, 2024

A medically aided death in New Jersey: Pat Koch Thaler

›
 Following a full life, a peaceful end. Pat Koch Thaler, Sister to a Famed Mayor, Chose to Die on a Saturday Ms. Thaler, a former dean at N....
Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Medical aid in dying comes up for a vote in England

›
  The upcoming vote on legalizing medical aid in dying in England and Wales has attracted controversy along lines that will be familiar to r...
Saturday, August 10, 2024

Leading Causes of Death in the US, 2019-2023.

›
 Covid has dropped out of the top 10. Leading Causes of Death in the US, 2019-2023. by Farida B. Ahmad, MPH1; Jodi A. Cisewski, MPH1; Rober...
Sunday, April 28, 2024

Main causes of death around the world, 1990-2021

›
  Here's a recent article from the Lancet that traces leading causes of death around the world, in more than a thousand countries and su...
Friday, March 8, 2024

Dr. Guy Alexandre (1934-2024), gave birth to brain death in deceased organ transplantation

›
  The father of brain death has died. Here's the NYT obit. Guy Alexandre, Transplant Surgeon Who Redefined Death, Dies at 89 . His willi...
Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Frozen embryos are children: Alabama Supreme Court ruling

›
  The Washington Post has the story, which emphasizes the implications this ruling could have on in-vitro fertilization (IVF).  That would a...
Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Brain death for organ donation, and its relation to controversy about abortion

›
 Here's a summary of the current discussion of brain death (and its possible connection to the debate on whether a fetus is a living per...
Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Medical aid in dying considered in Britain, and evolving in Canada

›
The Guardian has the story about England and Wales, and the NYT has a story on Canada. Here's the Guardian: Two former health secretarie...
Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Peter Singer on brain death

›
  Here's Peter Singer's op-ed in the Washington Post on the debate over brain death, presently used to decide when deceased donor or...
Friday, October 13, 2023

Fentanyl

›
  The NY Times has the story: Some Key Facts About Fentanyl . It’s lowering American life expectancy and influencing the nation’s politics. ...