Category Archives: lifeboat ethics

John Kelly: Testimony to Boston City Council Opposing Triage Based On 5-Year Survival Predictions

ageism, bioethics, COVID-19, health disparities, healthcare rationing, john kelly, lifeboat ethics, medical discrimination, Our News & Commentary Blog, Second Thoughts, Testimony, , , ,

The following is expanded from remarks prepared for oral testimony at the April 22 hearing. I am adding information from the hearing testimony of the Massachusetts Coalition on Health Equity. Additional information is drawn from the Bay State Banner article on the hearing. A hearing on the proposed guidelines for ventilator distribution and ICU beds … Continue reading John Kelly: Testimony to Boston City Council Opposing Triage Based On 5-Year Survival Predictions →

NDY’s 24th Anniversary: Never Has the Fight For Our Lives Been More Urgent

better dead than disabled, bioethics, Bob Kafka, COVID-19, healthcare rationing, john callahan, lifeboat ethics, medical discrimination, Our News & Commentary Blog, ,

On this day, April 27, 24 years ago, I was at a national disability rights conference in Dallas. ADAPT organizer Bob Kafka called out to me and said, “I’ve got a name for your group,” a group that increasingly seemed to be needed to combat the growing public sentiment that disabled people are better off … Continue reading NDY’s 24th Anniversary: Never Has the Fight For Our Lives Been More Urgent →

Will Our “SOFA Scores” Become Self-Fulfilling Prophecies?

Andrew Pulrang, ari ne'eman, bioethics, COVID-19, Disability Rights New York, Hastings Center, healthcare rationing, life-ending decisions, lifeboat ethics, medical discrimination, Our News & Commentary Blog, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment, treatment withdrawal, ventilators, , ,

I first wrote on March 17th about my fear that the non-invasive ventilator I use everyday might be taken from me if I sought hospital care during this pandemic. The New York “Ventilator Allocation Guidelines”, developed in 2015 to address shortages in a pandemic, specifically state at page 42: In its consideration to protect vulnerable … Continue reading Will Our “SOFA Scores” Become Self-Fulfilling Prophecies? →

COVID-19 Reveals A Deadly Failure of Priorities

bioethics, COVID-19, healthcare rationing, life-sustaining treatment, lifeboat ethics, medical decisionmaking, Our News & Commentary Blog, ventilators, ,

With the looming and imminent threat of insufficient hospital and ICU beds, medical equipment and healthcare staff, I found myself recalling an old favorite TV show from my college years. MASH (mobile army surgical hospital) created both comedy and drama around the reality of having three operating room beds in an army tent on the … Continue reading COVID-19 Reveals A Deadly Failure of Priorities →

Followup on Warnock – Art Caplan Strongly Disagrees With “Duty to Die”

Art Caplan, bioethics, lifeboat ethics, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog

Art Caplan, Director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics, dropped me a line to give me his reaction to Warnock’s comments about people with dementia. He gave these to a reporter at ABC but says they weren’t used in whatever coverage they ended up giving to Warnock: No one has a duty to … Continue reading Followup on Warnock – Art Caplan Strongly Disagrees With “Duty to Die” →