Less than two months ago, I was introduced to a new policy arena about which I still have much to learn: the organ procurement and organ sharing system. In the U.S., the federal Department of Health and Human Services contracts with the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN)/United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) to manage […]
Once again, an item featured on Thaddeus Pope‘s Medical Futility Blog turned out to be something that I wanted to explore in greater detail than the brief blurb given on his blog, in his September 10th post, Hospitals Vary in How Quickly LST Is Stopped: In “Mortality associated with withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy for patients […]
It seems that a fair number of people are surprised – even stunned – that me or any disabled person has anything at all bad to say about Kevorkian. The fact is, as a spoof.com writer put it, most supporters of Jack Kevorkian are “f–king uninformed idiot(s)”. I think that’s a fair label for people […]
From Michael Cook at Mercatornet, comes this newest development from Belgium. Apparently, some doctors in that country are so excited about this that they put together a powerpoint presentation about the practice at a national conference: A group of Belgian doctors are harvesting “high quality” organs from patients who have been euthanased. This is not […]
From USA Today – “When is someone brain dead? Experts revise guidelines“: Determining brain death is a complex process that requires dozens of tests to make sure doctors come to the correct conclusion. With that goal in mind, the American Academy of Neurology has issued new guidelines — an update of guidelines first written 15 […]
From the Peoria Journal Star: Public can weigh in on organ donation bill Excerpt: PEORIA —A public hearing is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday in Springfield to receive comment on state Sen. Dale Risinger’s bill to establish a presumed consent policy for organ donation in Illinois. Sometimes called the opt-out policy, presumed consent has been […]
I’ve been intending to write something about the complicated relationship between statutes governing brain death and the actual protocols used to determine when someone is brain dead. That will have to wait for another time. Right now, it looks like the state of Virginia is poised to streamline the requirements for declaring a patient “brain […]
When checking the blog stats this morning, I noticed a huge jump in hits yesterday. It took me a bit to figure out why, since it’s been a few days since I’ve posted anything. It turns out that NBC Dateline broadcast a story on the death of Ruben Navarro and the trial of Dr. Hootan […]
I am a fan of Dick Sobsey‘s work and check his blog regularly for his latest news & analysis regarding the abuse of people with disabilities. His latest blog entry, on What Sorts of People, is concerned with an examination of the logic behind the Donation after Cardiac Death (DCD) protocol. That’s the same protocol, […]
My apologies for the unexpected short hiatus. I had a few too many offline issues to deal with last week to get to the blog. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the next couple of weeks should be better. First, an update on Kaylee Wallace. Thanks to the public expressions of concern over her fate and whether or […]
