You’ve taken over 300 million breaths in your life. You can’t imagine your next breath being your last. Most of us don’t like thinking about dying. Those who do think about it usually do so in a clinical or academic way. Confronting death for real is hard. Washington Compassion and Choices plans to wage another … Continue reading Social Reverse Triage in Washington State
Given the national publicity surrounding the death of Ruben Navarro, I thought the time could be ripe for a renewed discussion of the ethics surrounding the increasing implementation of the “non heart-beating donor” protocol. According to Maurice Bernstein, on his bioethics discussion blog, there’s a bunch of ethicists discussing whether or not the public is … Continue reading NY Times Story on NHBD – Selling instead of Reporting
(Note – I’ve made slight edits from yesterday’s original version of this entry to eliminate some ambiguity in places. Hopefully, these minor edits fix that ambiguity.) During the last week of July, the news broke that a grand jury refused to indict Dr. Anna Pou on charges related to the deaths of four patients in … Continue reading Did Katrina Prosecutor Mean to Lose All Along?
Right now, activists on both sides of the euthanasia debate are awaiting the fate of George Exoo. He currently resides in a jail cell in West Virginia while Judge R. Clarke VanDervort weighs his decision in regard to Ireland’s request to extradite Exoo. Irish authorities want to try Exoo on charges related to his role … Continue reading George Exoo – Suicide Tourist
Ruben Navarro’s death is “old news” by internet standards. He was a man with adrenal leukodystrophy whose path to death included an alleged attempt to kill him by a transplant surgeon. Five medical professionals stood by while transplant physician Hootan Roozrokh ordered massive doses of ativan and morphine for Navarro. One of those physicians was … Continue reading Ruben Navarro and Our Need to Speak Out
