LifeEthics
end of life
Frankenbunnies, non-brain dead organ donation, cloning, and PVS guinea pigs
Isn’t it amazing how many of the most controversial news and public policy issues revolve around bioethics and medicine? I’ve noted before that all of the controversies (like those mentioned above, from the days surrounding the weekend of October 8-9, 2006) are actually only one: which humans will receive society’s protection of the inalienable right … Continue reading
>Short course (long post) on medical ethics.
> Are doctors killing patients or taking life when they withdraw or withhold care? Do families who don’t insist that “everything be done” kill their loved one? Do patients who refuse ventilators, dialysis, etc., commit suicide? For that matter, does a ventilator equal dialysis equal a feeding tube? Can the patient who refuses all attempts … Continue reading
Not a Texas “Futile Care” Case?
I think our heart strings are being pulled for the wrong reasons in the case of a Dallas woman. I don’t believe that the case is covered by the Texas Advanced Care Act. I wonder whether the doc was forced to admit that Mrs. Webster is a “long term care patient” that has a chronic … Continue reading
Bioethics lessons in life (and they hurt)
I mentioned last week that my Mama was ill. My family and I were dealing with very real, very painful real-life bioethics questions. Mama passed away Monday night, while in or on the way back from Magnetic Resonance Arteriography. I was with her, and I’m not sure whether she stopped breathing in the MRA and … Continue reading
More on the Texas Advance Directive Act (NOT “Futile”)
Jerri Lynn Ward and I have been discussing the Act, here. I found out that Dr. Findley has done some good deeds, too. Here’s a story about a patient he helped. Middleton said she wasn’t thinking of an aneurysm when she scheduled her September physical. She just wanted to get checked out before switching jobs … Continue reading
Texas Advance Directive Act Hearing
I had to work yesterday and couldn’t attend the hearing before the Human Services Committee of the Texas State House of Representatives, in Austin. I wasn’t even able to watch on the internet until about 5:30 PM. But, I still saw some of the most interesting testimony, and am very impressed that the meeting continued … Continue reading
There’s still no “Texas Futile Care Act”
While Wesley Smith and I agree on 99.9999% of ethics issues, we disagree on the Texas Advance Directive law. One portion of that law, 166.046 covers cases where the doctor refuses to carry out the end of life decisions of a patient and/or his or her surrogate. Mr. Smith is predicting the “repeal” of what … Continue reading
Life, death, lawyers and ethics
LifeSite and Wesley Smith’s “SecondHand Smoke” are covering the very public grief of a family facing the death of their father due to asbestos-related lung cancer. There are accusations of euthanasia and “precipitating” death. In fact, the story does not support any of these. From the Wall Street Journal Opinion by Pamela Winnick: A medical … Continue reading
The Physician’s Role in Crisis
Reading the stories in the New York Times (for example, these forwarded by Nancy Valko, here and here) about the arrests of two nurses and one doctor in New Orleans on charges of homicide during the aftermath of Katrina has me concerned that I have never read about a formal medical review of the case. … Continue reading
Texas Advance Directive Act – in its own words
§ 166.046. PROCEDURE IF NOT EFFECTUATING A DIRECTIVE OR TREATMENT DECISION. My comments are interspersed and at the bottom. Emphases are mine. (a) If an attending physician refuses to honor a patient’s advance directive or a health care or treatment decision made by or on behalf of a patient, the physician’s refusal shall be reviewed … Continue reading
Visit WingRight
- “American Fiction,” the movie – and life
- Maternal Morbidity with Premature Rupture of Membranes
- Counterintuitive abortion report
- Paris at Café de la Paix
- Political, purposeful lies (Francis Collins & Anthony Fauci)
- Comprehensive review of Texas’ Heartbeat Act
- Biden to Ask OSHA to Mandate Vaccines at Businesses With 100 or More Workers
- Long Post Reviewing COVID19 Myths
- Afghanistan: Read this
- Conversation with January 6 protester
LifeEthics 