Best Laid Plans Going Astray Again… Slight Delay on an Item or Two

Our News & Commentary Blog

No one’s ever accused me of being being organized even under ideal circumstances.

Having recently completed a move of home and work, circumstances (organization-wise) are far from ideal right now.

As I sat down to try to compose a promised comparison of UK and US coverage of consciousness research, I realized that some of the material I need isn’t available on the web any more.

It probably is available on my flash drive at home, though. Needless to say, I’m not home or I wouldn’t be writing this.

If all goes well, tomorrow I’ll be able to bring the drive with my files, have the IT people here check it for viruses and then copy everything I need to the computer in my office. If everything goes well, I’ll be able to write that promised piece tomorrow. If there are a few glitches, look for it on Monday.

Fortunately (or not) there are a couple of things I can write about today that don’t require access to my old files. They’re up next. –Stephen Drake

U.K. Article on Consciousness Research Contains Bombshell “Accusation”

bioethics, blog recommendations, futile care, life-ending decisions, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, research, vegetative state

Last week, my email and blog alerts let me know about a “new” article on research into consciousness. Wesley Smith posted his entry on an article describing the activity of researchers in the UK seeking to reduce the 40% error rate in diagnosis of persistent vegetative state. Alex Schandenberg also featured the article and commented on it.

Turns out the article isn’t new, but was published in December of last year. I’m not sure how it got Wesley’s attention now instead of then. But I am grateful. I wasn’t near a computer much in December last year and would probably have missed this even if he or others had written about it.

“The Undead,” published in The Times, is simply the best discussion of the complexities of researching human consciousness that I’ve seen in the media. As anyone who follows these issues knows, there has been periodic attention given to research involving the differences between people in persistent vegetative state and those in a “minimally conscious” state the U.S. media as well as the UK. This article really stands out.

Rather than excerpting a lot of it – both Wesley and Alex have done an excellent job of pulling some intriguing pieces out of the story and commented on them – I want to highlight something that hasn’t gotten the attention of others – so far.

Toward the end of the article, European researcher Steven Laureys makes some assertions that would sound radical and alarmist coming from someone like me:

According to Steven Laureys, professor of neurology at Liège University, there is constant pressure in many parts of the developed world to withdraw sustenance from vegetative patients in order to allow them to die so that their body parts can be harvested. In a recent study, Laureys reports, “slightly less than half of surveyed US neurologists and nursing-home directors believed that patients in a vegetative state could be declared dead”. His remarks should be set against the background of widespread shortages of organs and body parts for transplantation. (Emphasis added.)

I am not familiar with the study that Laureys mentions, but would appreciate it if anyone could direct me to it.

The comments by Laureys may seem shocking, but they’re only shocking in the way that anyone who points out the “elephant in the living room” is shocking (e.g. the big thing that everyone knows but nobody talks about, like an actively alcoholic family member).

The pressure surrounding organ harvesting was a factor in the gruesome death of Ruben Navarro. Organ donation has also been an element of more than one “rush to judgment” case – or, as doctors prefer to call them “miracle recoveries” – more on this topic here and here.

Whether or not the sentiments expressed by Laureys are true – and I suspect that there are large numbers of ethicists and physicians who would deny that it’s the case – the important thing is to actually discuss these things. Is the push to withhold or withdraw treatment from people with cognitive impairments really all about what their wishes were or about medical standards of futility?

We’re not having that discussion here in the U.S., because we’re not discussing the implications consciousness research might – or should – have on life-ending decisions.

More on that tomorrow. –Stephen Drake

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

advocacy, assisted suicide, Kevorkian, Our News & Commentary Blog, Washington state

The Coalition Against Assisted Suicide has started an advertising campaign featuring actor/activist Martin Sheen. Sheen alerts voters to the problems with Initiative 1000 (I-1000) in a powerful radio spot.

Known for his support and involvement in progressive causes off-camera, Sheen explained his desire to make this statement in a press release from the Coalition:

“I try to work when I’m not on the screen to help improve conditions for the most vulnerable people in our country — low wage workers, immigrants, the disabled and the poor,” Sheen said. “We have a health care system where the more money you have, the better medical care you receive. Initiative 1000 is a dangerous idea — because so many people do not have the money necessary to get the care they need. When I heard about Initiative 1000, I wanted to help stop it before it harms people who are at risk.”

There’s a button to play the ad on the same page linked above. But for those unable to hear the ad or to access the player for whatever reason, here is a transcript of Sheen’s radio ad:

Hello, this is Martin Sheen with an urgent message about Initiative 1000. It’s a dangerous idea that could hurt thousands of low-income people who need medical care. It’s a step backwards and I urge you to vote “no.”

Initiative 1000 would open up a loophole that health care insurers could exploit to cut payments for the disabled and the working poor, encouraging 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 compassion, not lethal drugs.

Again, I’m Martin Sheen urging you to vote “no” on Initiative 1000 and thank you.

This isn’t the first time that Sheen has lent his voice – or his signature – in opposing the promotion of assisted suicide and/or euthanasia. In 2000, he was one of many prominent human rights activists to sign onto a response to the “Citizen Activist” award given to Jack Kevorkian by the Gleitsman Foundation in 2000. The response, titled “PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES ARE ENTITLED TO DIGNITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: A STATEMENT IN OPPOSITION TO HONORING DR. JACK KEVORKIAN” is still viewable online.

Update on Woodstock Nursing Home Deaths – IL DPH Issues Report

blog recommendations, crime and punishment, homicide, media coverage, nursing homes, Our News & Commentary Blog, serial killers

Back in April, this blog featured two posts analyzing the disturbing and distorted coverage of an investigation of suspicious deaths at a nursing home in Woodstock, IL. The analysis can be accessed here (part 1) and here (part 2).

The story in brief: After a long investigation into suspicious deaths at a nursing home in Woodstock, IL, two women were charged with multiple crimes. Marty Himebaugh was charged with multiple counts of criminal neglect and single counts of obtaining morphine by fraud and unlawful distribution of a controlled substance. Penny Whitlock, Himebaugh’s supervisor, was charged with multiple count of neglect and two counts of obstruction justice. No homicide charges of any kind were laid against either woman.

Now that we’re in NY, we’re a little out of the loop when it comes to Illinois news. Thanks to Dick Sobsey at the ICAD blog, we now have more information – from a report issued by the IL Department of Public Health.

Here is one item lifted from the Chicago Tribune article on the report that is used as the basis for Dick Sobsey’s comments on the case:

The Department of Public Health report also refers to a 56-year-old man with Down syndrome who died in April 2006 and quotes a nurse telling a co-worker: “Those people aren’t meant to live that long. They are meant to die in their teens and I’m going to help him along.” (editor’s note – until reading this, we had no idea that one of the alleged victims was someone with Down syndrome.)

This comment, along with others in the report, leads Sobsey to assert – if the statements can be verified – that charges of murder or attempted murder should have been laid against Himebaugh.

Read his comments in their entirety at the ICAD blog.

In April, the posts here focussed on the language used in coverage – specifically the use of the term “mercy killings” used in press coverage to describe the alleged murders (which aren’t actually alleged at all in the criminal charges).

The Chicago Tribune was the only member of the media to abstain from use of the term. The Sun-Times was a repeat offender, but has dropped the term now that this report is out.

Charles Keeshan, of the Chicago Daily Herald, OTOH, seems reluctant to give up on the term, as indicated the lead sentence of his story published on September 24th:

A series of suspicious deaths at a McHenry County nursing home in 2006 may not have been mercy killings, but instead the work of a nurse overdosing patients she found troublesome or believed had lived long enough, according to state investigatory report. (Emphasis added.)

May not have been “mercy killings”????!!!!!

In fact, there was never any evidence that these were “mercy killings” at all – just a term that reporters seem to jump to when the suspected victims of murder are old, ill or disabled. And the report gives powerful evidence that this had nothing at all to do with mercy.

Here’s a flash – as reported earlier in this blog, researchers have studied the psyches and motives of nurses and other professionals who engage in multiple killings in medical settings – and it’s never about “compassion” or “mercy.”

Try reading, for example, “Angels of mercy: The dark side” in USA Today.

Or check out the recent research conducted by John Field – which I wrote about in an earlier entry here.

What those two sources will tell you is that serial killers in a medical settings are like serial killers elsewhere – cold, selfish people who aren’t thinking of anyone but themselves and their own twisted needs when they commit these crimes. –Stephen Drake

Followup on Caplan, Warnock and ABC

Art Caplan, bioethics, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, unethical ethicists

Turns out the story ABC was doing on Warnock did run – and included part of Art Caplan’s remarks:

When Dr. Jonathan Groner, a surgeon and ethicist at Ohio State University, heard of a suggestion by a well-known British philosopher that those with dementia have a “duty to die” in order to minimize the burden they place on society and their families, he was troubled.

A few paragraphs later, they share the reactions of other players:

Groner is not alone in his opinion. Ethicists and Alzheimer’s advocacy groups alike are expressing outrage over Warnock’s comments last week, which echoed the opinion she put forth in an article she authored for a Norwegian periodical, titled “A Duty to Die?”

The article leaves the impression that the condemnation of Warnock’s statements are nearly universal in the bioethics community. Obviously, they didn’t talk to AJOB blog editor Summer Johnson.

It might be better, IMO, if the public was aware that there are ethicists in this country ready to defend this public policy proposal by Warnock. –Stephen Drake