you live longer …
… only when you stop trying to live longer … Gawande on hospice care … an interview on npr.
Bioethics
embracing the leper …
… a profile of Daniel Sulmasy… a Franciscan brother who is also a … physician, philosopher & member of the Obama administration’s bioethics council. “There is no heroic physician who inspires my medicine. It is more about St. Francis embracing the leper. That is the sort of way in which I’m inspired to be a
embracing the leper … Read More »
a biologist’s reflections on pain, dying, and hope …
… Robert Pollack shares his thoughts on our modern day rituals of death … “The current hospital response of science to the dying … goes something like this: “You have had the misfortune to be born too soon to benefit from science’s ever deeper comprehension of nature. That is too bad, but since we can
a biologist’s reflections on pain, dying, and hope … Read More »
conscience freedoms …
… Helen Alvare’s summary of the status of conscience freedoms in the health care reform act.
conscience freedoms … Read More »
assisted suicide … in Europe …
… a good summary of recent developments in Europe (UK, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands) re assisted suicide, euthanasia and non-voluntary euthanasia. “As the debate over euthanasia has continued in past months in Britain it became clear that opposition to loosening the law comes from many quarters. Brendan O’Neill, the editor of the online commentary site
assisted suicide … in Europe … Read More »
fear & control & the roots of our discomfort …
… about the mystery of life … “I think fear is a very big element in what we do–our living in a global reality probably elicits a lot of free-floating anxiety. We’re the first humans to have to do that. You try to find something to fix that anxiety on, and take control over whatever
fear & control & the roots of our discomfort … Read More »
what broke my father’s heart …
… a wide-ranging memoir of the author’s father’s encounter with the modern medical system. “The pacemaker bought my parents two years of limbo, two of purgatory and two of hell…”
what broke my father’s heart … Read More »
more observation … less discussion
… encounter with reality … In the soothing softness of the modern world, the mass of traditional rules which gave consistency to life broke up as the frozen surface of a stream breaks up in spring … Thanks to the progress of technology, the greater part of the restraints imposed on us by the cosmos
more observation … less discussion Read More »
bad case makes bad law …
… George J. Annas interviewed on his new book Worst Case Bioethics. His discussion in the next to the last question parallels C.S. Lewis’ in The Abolition of Man.
bad case makes bad law … Read More »
Tolstoy, a good death and the Irish Times …
… an article in the Irish Times includes a practical discussion of sedation in the seriously ill and dying. The article refers to these draft guidelines.
Tolstoy, a good death and the Irish Times … Read More »