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
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
As of today, Bill Peace’s essay “Comfort Care as Denial of Personhood” is online – and accompanied by three commentaries available at the Hasting Center Bioethics Blog. Here’s what we wrote before about the experience at the center of Bill’s essay: Back in 2010, our friend, colleague and ally Bill Peace, experienced a long, expensive … Continue reading Bill Peace’s Hastings Center Article (on a disturbing hospital experience) and Three Commentaries Are All Online
On January 7, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published an op-ed by Wendell Stephenson, current president of the Final Exit Network (FEN). “Ensuring death with dignity” is no longer freely available at the AJC site, but the same essay was published in December last year in the Metrowest Daily News and can still be read here. It’s … Continue reading Georgia: Response Letters to op-ed by Final Exit Network (FEN) president Wendell Stephenson
Today, the New York Times published a long story on hospice and palliative care, and how doctors struggle with balancing the transition from active treatment to palliative care in the final stages of terminal illnesses. Some of it is worked within the context of the current “debate” around advance directives in the health care reform … Continue reading NY Times Quotes Diane Coleman – but without context
