New Research on Nurses Who Kill Repeatedly: They’re Serial Killers, Not Agents of Mercy

…I’d say, “No, I mean people who are murdering their patients, that are actually doing it with malice and forethought, that are intentionally killing them for no good reason and sometimes when they’re healthy.” And they’d be astonished. They couldn’t believe that a nurse would do such a thing. And I think that’s part of the problem is that it’s so hard to contemplate that that would be the case, it’s such a foreign concept that it would be almost i…

Actor/Activist Martin Sheen Voices Opposition to Assisted Suicide in Washington State

…ng them to use assisted suicide. This is exactly the wrong direction for real health care in America. We have a long way to go to fix our health care system and guarantee coverage for everyone; and we’ve fought hard for the protections and care we do have. But Initiative 1000 is not an answer. It’s opposed by nurses, disability groups and the 9000 doctors in the Washington State Medical Association. People who are ill need real medical care and co…

Real life keeps getting in the way of good intentions

If it’s still available online, I really do hope to get to transcribing the Radio Netherlands interview. I’m a slow typist whose working memory is limited when I’m doing something like typing, so transcription is a long and slow process of listening, remembering and typing five words, rewinding, hit “play” and repeat the process ad infinitum. As anyone reading the description above might gather, it doesn’t take much to distract me from doing tran…

Mike Ervin: Ruben Navarro and Rethinking Donation of My Organs

…s. And because the site that published this essay is operated by the National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA), I thought I might have a shot at getting permission to publish the piece in its entirety. In this, I was right. The permission was granted almost immediately, by NSCIA executive director K. Erik Larson. This isn’t surprising. NSCIA is an organization that has long combined “traditional” advocacy with support for- and allying with –…

New Mobility: NDY quoted in story on U.K. Airing of Ewert Suicide

…press such feelings,” says Stephen Drake of Not Dead Yet. “If suicide is really about autonomy, then maybe we shouldn’t interfere with anyone who is serious about killing themselves. Coverage such as this establishes a double standard – in which the lives of old, ill and disabled people are held to be of less value than the lives of younger, healthier, nondisabled individuals. That’s not autonomy, but something somewhat uglier.” My thanks to Roxan…