Hot Topics: End of Life Care

News (330)

May 2, 2013 3:56 pm

Alzheimer's sufferer dies from snake bite after his family chooses NOT to give him anti-venom

Richard Flora, 76, was bitten by an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake but the family decided not to give him anti-venom and he died at hospital 11 hours later.

March 21, 2013 2:41 pm

Patients should decide what the end of life is like, study says

Finding out what dying patients want and treating them accordingly leads to happier patients who are in less pain and who use fewer healthcare dollars, UCLA researchers said Tuesday.

March 6, 2013 3:08 pm

The CPR Death At Glenwood Gardens: What Really Happened And Five Lessons You Should Learn (Forbes)

By now you know the story—or at least think you do: A nursing home nurse sees an 87-year-old resident in cardiac arrest and calls 911. Despite desperate pleas of the call center operator, the nurse refuses to do CPR and the resident dies.  Except most of the story isn’t true.

March 4, 2013 2:18 pm

Ethics required medical staff to do CPR, even if policy doesn’t, bioethicist writes (NBC News)

Last week, 87-year-old Lorraine Bayless collapsed at Glenwood Gardens, an assisted living facility in Bakersfield, Calif., and later died.  While it’s not unexpected that an elderly person would die, what’s troubling is that after she collapsed, a nurse called 911, yet wouldn’t administer CPR or look for someone else to do it, despite the request of the emergency dispatcher.

February 27, 2013 5:53 pm

'Cost of Dying' series wins national health care journalism award (Mercury News)

Two Bay Area News Group journalists have won a first-place national award for their yearlong series “Cost of Dying.” Science writer Lisa Krieger and photojournalist Dai Sugano won the top prize for their work detailing how harsh the end-of-life experience can be.

February 12, 2013 12:17 pm

FORCED DNR COMING TO TEXAS? (Center for Bioethics and Culture)

Good grief! The state with the worst futile care law in the nation now has legislation pending that would enable doctors to place DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) orders on a patient’s chart without notice or permission — even if the patient is competent!

February 6, 2013 3:51 pm

Hospice care used more, but often too late (USA Today)

Twice as many elderly people died in hospice care as in a hospital or nursing home compared with a decade ago, but hospice is often treated as a last resort — and used too late to benefit patients and their families, says a study.

January 24, 2013 12:54 pm

'Hurry up and die': Japanese finance minister doesn't want to pay for elderly (UPI)

Japanese finance minister Taro Aso told a social security council that the elderly should be allowed to “hurry up and die” rather than drain the resources of the government.

January 16, 2013 2:06 pm

Deaf twins who discovered they were going blind and would never see each other again are euthanized in Belgian hospital (Mail Online)

A pair of identical twins, who were born deaf, have been killed by Belgian doctors after seeking euthanasia when they found out they would also soon go blind.  In a unique case under the country’s euthanasia laws, the 45-year-old brothers, from Antwerp, chose death as they were unable to bear the thought of never seeing one another again.  

 

December 12, 2012 2:18 pm

Assisted suicide rate 'not higher where it is legal' (Irish Independent)

The High Court in Ireland heard evidence from U.S. professor of medical ethics Margaret Pabst Battin that laws providing for assisted suicide did not lead to unlawful practices affecting vulnerable people.