Blog Posts (64)
May 15, 2013
Sometimes, one is delighted to find out that one's physician has made an error. That is what happened to Mark Templin. Clinicians at the Montana VA misdiagnosed him with brain cancer. They prescribed two drugs and ordered hospice...
May 15, 2013
A new study in the International
Nursing Review compares
nurses' end-of-life treatment preferences in Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy
and the USA. Nurses in every country consistently chose a more aggressive
option for patients than ...
May 14, 2013
When it rains it pours. In addition to the news out of Vermont, today the European Court of Human Rights issued its opinion in the case of Gross v. Switzerland.
Alda Gross has no known pathological condition or clinical illness. &nbs...
May 14, 2013
A month ago, I blogged about Marjorie Mangiaruca's daughter's lawsuit against a Florida hospital and nursing home for resuscitating her mother against her wishes. I also included this case in my 83-page analysis of unwanted treatment. &...
May 13, 2013
I just finished my latest “Legal Briefing” column for the Journal of Clinical Ethics. (I can't believe this is my already my fifth year.) This one covers recent legal developments involving the Patient Self Determination Act (PSDA). &nb...
May 9, 2013
It is exciting to be in Vermont this week. I am in Burlington. But just down the road in Montpelier, the State legislature is poised to become the first in the United States to affirmatively authorize physician aid-in-dying. (Washingt...
May 5, 2013
Lars Noah addresses an increasingly relevant issue that has been largely neglected by legal academics. In "Turn the Beat Around?: Deactivating Implanted Cardiac-Assist Devices," Noah observes that with the growing utilization of pacemakers, ICDs,...
April 28, 2013
Rush University Medical Center’s online capacity assessment curriculum for clinicians is beginning a new enrollment session on May 13. CME, CEU and CME credits are available.
The curriculum features six modules:
The importance of evaluating...
April 25, 2013
I was surprised to find myself in almost total agreement with these remarks that Diane Coleman made earlier this week to the independent federal agency, National Council on Disability.
As I have written, the process for unilateral re...
April 18, 2013
Significant amounts of over-treatment in the United States are due to a persistent widespread failure to do advance care planning. Most people do not want aggressive curative directed treatment at the end of life. But most leave no instruc...
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