…s. This all got unexpectedly personal. Some of Criste Reimer’s messages to online groups have been posted elsewhere, all from 1998.One of the things I knew about Reimer from the news articles is that she had hydrocephalus. Until a few years ago, I had a website on hydrocephalus and got quite a bit of mail through it. (Her parents had rejected doctors’ advice to take her out of school due to the severe cognitive disabilities they believed she would…
…tching “mental age” to body size, and a host of ethicists supporting the so-called “Ashley Treatment.” Art Caplan stood out as the one ethicist with real time allotted in the media who criticized the procedures and the ethics committee. Tarzian got one thing right. There wasn’t anything resembling an informed or nuanced debate in public about the so-called “Ashley treatment.” But disability rights advocates were barely present in the public discus…
…om the article: AS NURSES, WE FACE TOUGH ethical dilemmas as we provide end-of-life care, especially when our patients are candidates for organ donation. In this article, I’ll explore two basic issues: how death is defined and who makes decisions for potential organ donors who haven’t made their wishes known. First, let’s look at some basic ethical principles. Examining your values Nurses must consider respect for life and bodily integrity in ligh…
…5 year prison sentence in 2007 for his role in the assisted suicide of a 52-year-old man with Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Kevorkian’s attorneys told Michigan’s Parole Board that their client was in poor health and months away from death. Fast-forward to today, and a resurrected Kevorkian says if elected he’ll crusade for individual rights. “Without rights, life isn’t worth living,” Kevorkian told FOX News Tuesday in a rare sit-down interview. “I want to…
…ggests that’s a very poor practice. Field’s findings resonate with the comments of other professionals who have studied this phenomenon. You’ll find them quoted in this 2003 article from USA Today I linked in an earlier entry. I’m happy to say that Field’s thesis is available online. A full abstact and links to pdf files of his thesis are available at the University of Adelaide Research and Scholarship Digital Library. I’ll find this handy the nex…
