Category Archives: palliative care

NDY Challenges NYS Medicaid Proposal to Save Money By Steering People to Choose Death Over Living With Disability

advance directives, better dead than disabled, center for disability rights, Conversation Project, life-ending decisions, life-sustaining treatment, Our News & Commentary Blog, palliative care, public comment

Not Dead Yet, the Center for Disability Rights, and 11 other NY based disability organizations, submitted public comments on the New York State Medicaid Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Program (DSRIP) on May 28, 2014, alleging that one of the proposed projects would fund Medicaid providers to save money by steering people to choose death over … Continue reading NDY Challenges NYS Medicaid Proposal to Save Money By Steering People to Choose Death Over Living With Disability →

Pallimed Blogger Doc Not Happy with Organ Procurement Proposals

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Christian Sinclair, a palliative care and hospice physician who writes on the Pallimed blog, caught the NPR story on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing (OPTN/UNOS) meeting earlier this week to issue new sweeping rules on “Donation after Cardiac Death.” Good news, for now, BTW.  We have been informed that the … Continue reading Pallimed Blogger Doc Not Happy with Organ Procurement Proposals →

Vermont: Testimony of Ira Byock, MD to Vermont Senate Committee on Health and Welfare Hearing on End of Life Choices

"end of life", end-of-life care, ira byock, legislation, Our News & Commentary Blog, palliative care, vermont

Anyone who has read this blog regularly knows that we hold Ira Byock in high regard.  That’s why we nominated him to the IOM’s Committee on Transforming End-of-Life-care. Earlier today, Ira Byock gave testimony to the Vermont Senate Committee on Health and Welfare’s Hearing on End of Life Choices (that means it’s a hearing on … Continue reading Vermont: Testimony of Ira Byock, MD to Vermont Senate Committee on Health and Welfare Hearing on End of Life Choices →

A “Must-Read” From Ezekiel Emanuel on Better “End of Life” Care

"end of life", bioethics, hospice, media, Our News & Commentary Blog, palliative care

Right-Wing politics often leave me at a loss for words.  The attacks aimed at Ezekiel Emanuel before and after the passage of what is commonly called “Obamacare” is one of the most bizarre examples.  At the time, Emanuel was Special Advisor for Health Policy to Peter Orszag, acting director of OMB. Emanuel struck me as … Continue reading A “Must-Read” From Ezekiel Emanuel on Better “End of Life” Care →

The Atlantic: “Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Not Progressive” by Ira Byock

assisted suicide, hospice, ira byock, Our News & Commentary Blog, palliative care

Ira Byock is a friend and someone whose work is widely respected.  Unlike many people writing on assisted suicide, Ira has spent decades working intimately with patients and their families, giving aid, comfort and treatment to all affected during the final chapter in that patient’s life. Bio blurb from The Nation:  Ira Byock is director of … Continue reading The Atlantic: “Physician-Assisted Suicide Is Not Progressive” by Ira Byock →