Time of Death - New Documentary Series

Today, SHOWTIME announced at the Television Critics Association that it will launch a new documentary series, this fall, called TIME OF DEATH.  The show will take an unflinching, in-depth look at some remarkable individuals facing their own imminent mortality Cameras will follow brave, terminally ill individuals as they live out their final days, supported by family, friends, healthcare teams and hospice workers, who gently help guide...

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Petition for "Mandatory Euthanasia" for Senior Citizens

EPC rightly observes that it is troubling that people were ready to sign such a petition not knowing that it was  for a Mark Dice vid...

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Expiration Date - August Performances in Minneapolis

If you are Minneapolis over the next few weeks, plan to see EXPIRATION DATE.  This is a a one woman play created and performed by Candy Simmons and directed by Tyler Olsen.  Meet Lucille.  She's young.  She's smart.  She's funny.  And she's just been given a rapidly approaching deadline.  What happens when the unthinkable becomes your harsh new reality?  EXPIRATION DATE offers an unsentimental and comedic peek...

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Sustainability & Health - Call for Papers

The AALS Section on Law, Medicine & Health Care will host a section panel, "Sustainability and Health," at the 2014 Annual Meeting on Saturday, January 4, 2014, from 2:00 to 3:45 p.m.This panel will explore the effects of the environment on health in western nations and the role that sustainability initiatives play with regard to wellness. The panel will be interdisciplinary, broadly spanning topics in health, environmental, and animal law and...

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Stephen Hawking - Life Support Decision

Professor Stephen Hawking has revealed how he became so ill while writing A Brief History Of Time that doctors offered to turn off his life support machine.  (London Times)  In a new film, the renowned physicist tells of how in 1985 he thought contracting pneumonia would stop him from completing the book which went on to sell 10 million copies.  But his first wife, Jane Hawking, refused to end her husband's life and demanded doctors...

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Not Dead Yet Comments on Futility to NCD

This week, Diane Coleman, President/CEO of Not Dead Yet, provided publiccomments on "futile care" laws and policies at the July 25, 2013meeting of the National Council on Disability.Coleman quotes my AJOB post "Defending Disability Discrimination."  She even concedes that "Pope is right" that the courts reject ADA cases concerning denial of life-sustaining treatment.  Of course, Coleman obviously is not happy about this status quo.  She cites me to illustrate the current risks and dangers to the disabled, to better make the...

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The Sandbox Wars: End of Life Decisions, The Most Important Gift to Your Family

It is definitely a good sign to see so many new self-help books on planning for death.  It heightens social awareness of these important, yet too-often-neglected issues. Most recently, I took a look at The Sandbox Wars: End of Life Decisions, The Most Important Gift to Your Family.  The book and accompanying DVD help readers prevent their families from dictating how they die.  The book takes an approach of telling true life stories...

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How The Law Applies To Conscience-Based Objections In The ICU

I just posted an MP3 file of mypresentation, "HowThe Law Applies To Conscience-Based Objections In The ICU."  My 93 slides are here.  This was from a symposium session at the May 2013 American Thoracic Society International Conference.  The participants in this session are all members of a broader committee that has prepared a still-in-process policy statement on conscience-based refusa...

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Match the Right Patient to DNR Order

Last summer, I proposed that POLST forms include a picture of the patient.  Library cards have included patron pictures for over a decade.  Driver's licenses much longer.  Why did I make such a proposal?  Because there had been reports of healthcare workers linking the wrong POLST to the wrong patient.  It continues to happen.  For example, there is an ongoing inquest in the east midland city of Leicester.  Paediatric...

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2014 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards

Please nominate a physician for one of the 2014 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards.  These awards provide financial prizes to those physicians, young and old, who have shown their care of patients to be exemplary, a model of good medicine for other physicians, and a great benefit in advancing the centrality of end-of-life care as a basic part of the doctor-patient relationship.Care for patients at the end of life has long troubled...

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Medical Futility: A Cross-National Study

Two months ago, I blogged about a new book Medical Futility: A Cross-National Study.  I posted an early version of the book cover.  Here is the new and current one.  The publisher is offering a pre-release discount of 3...

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Physician Disciplined for Poor End-of-Life Communication

Earlier this month, the Ontario Health Professions Appeal and Review Board affirmed a decision of the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, counsel a physician to ensure that he has thorough discussions with patients and their families regarding care plans and end of life planning, and to document the same.Here is the background.  On October 20, 2010, Dr. D.G.C. noted “DNR” (do not...

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Red Roof Inn - New Suicide Suites

This short video is a caricature of the growing expansion of individual rights to hasten death.  Too bad it does not distinguish between suicides driven by depression and mental illness, on the one hand, and aid-in-dying driven by advanced serious illness, on the other hand.Red Roof Inn Announces New Suicidal Su...

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POLST - Need for Statutory Immunity

Many question the need for statutory immunity for following the orders in a POLST.  They argue that, through clinical consensus, clinicians can get the same thing by establishing POLST as the standard of care.  But as debates in Washington state, this year, illustrated, this is often not perceived as sufficient.  A particularly eloquent explanation appears in a concurring opinion in the ECHR case of Ternovszky v. Hungary  The...

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Dangerous Catholic Attack on POLST

My latest post over at bioethics.net, the AJOB blog, is "Dangerous Catholic Attack on POLS...

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Hospital Inspection Reports Show DNR Orders without Consent

Both the United States and Englandpost hospital inspection reports for public examination.  U.S. reports areposted to Hospital Inspections.org,a site hosted by the Association of Healthcare Journalists.  In England,inspection reports are posted by the CareQuality Commission. Both the U.S. and English databases include recentreports citing hospitals for entering DNR orders without documented patient orsurrogate consent.  For...

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Nevada - Duty to Honor Advance Directives

The rules of the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners provide that "a person who is licensed as a physician or physician assistant shall not:"(j) Fail to honor the advance directive of a patient without informing the patient or the surrogate or guardian of the patient, and without documenting in the patient’s records the reasons for failing to honor the advance directive of the patient contained therein; orOddly, this seems to imply the not...

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10th International Conference for Clinical Ethics Consultation

The 10th International Conference for Clinical Ethics Consultation will be April 24 to 26, 2014 in Paris.  Proposals are due September 20, 2013.  The theme is "The Patient's Voice"The patients' rights movement has shaken medical practice since the '70s. Patients express themselves more often today and intend their voice to be heard. As a result, momentous changes emerged in the organization of care and the doctor/patient relationship.However,...

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Dispute Resolution and Health Care: The Next Steps

I am delighted to be a part of this conference at Marquette, especially the panel on medical futility.8:45 a.m. − 9:15 a.m.  KICKOFF - “What Will Change Bring?”Peggy Troy, R.N., M.S.N. -- CEO, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin9:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.  PATIENT NAVIGATORSMODERATOR -- Chris tine Harris Taylor, J.D., LL.M., Associate Director, Marquette University Graduate Program in Dispute Resolution and Center for Dispute...

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Decompressive Craniectomy - Tough Trade-offs with Skull Removal

When a patient's brain is swelling, with nowhere to go but through the small opening at the base of her skull, herniation can crush the brainstem and can be rapidly fatal.  In such cases, neurosurgeons sometimes remove a portion of the skull, so the brain can bulge through the opening.  The operation, called decompressive craniectomy, was performed on, among others, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk.  (NY...

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Aging Behind Bars

Source: Criminal Justice Degree ...

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A New Life for Wrongful Living

In a forthcoming Symposium issue of the New York Law School Law Review, Nadia Sawicki is publishing "A New Life for Wrongful Living."  Like me, Sawicki is "ultimately optimistic" about claims for the wrongful prolongation of life.  It was a pleasure to be a part of this Symposium, last November, with Professor Sawicki.  Here is the abstract:A patient has an indisputable right under federal and state laws to set forth...

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ASBH Law Affinity Group Meeting

The ASBH Law Affinity Group will gather at the ASBH Annual Meeting from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on Friday, October 25, 2013.  Based on the results of a survey distributed to the membership, the agenda for this gathering consists of the following two items.  (1)  We will use the first 45 minutes to facilitate networking.  It has proven valuable at past meetings for participants to meet (in at least a “speed dating” format) forty...

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AARP Video on How to Manage End-of-Life Wishes

Inside E Street is a nonpartisan program by AARP that is focused specifically on policies and issues affecting those 50-plus.  This week's show is on "The Conversation."  The guests areCharles Ornstein, senior health care reporter and president of the Association of Health Care JournalistsEllen Goodman, the cofounder of "The Conversation Proj...

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New Hampshire Vetoes Bill to Establish End-of-Life Decisions Study Committee

Yesterday, Maggie Hassan, the Governor of New Hampshire, vetoed H.B. 403.  This bill would have established a committee to study end-of-life decisions.The Governor explained that she saw "no need for the study committee."  Legislation concerning end-of-life decisions, she noted, is already approached "seriously and thoughtfully, always seeking to include the input of those who understand these issues best: doctors, patients, advocates...

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Hospice Ethics Symposium

Hospice care is one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. healthcare system, a trend that is expected to accelerate as the median age of the population continues to rise over the next three decades.  On September 10, 2013, NYU Langone Medical Center and the Visiting Nurse Service of NY will host a symposium, offering clinicians, administrators, and others an opportunity to learn about, reflect upon, and develop capacities to address some...

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Cuthbertson v. Rasouli - Supreme Court Media Lock-up

This week, the Supreme Court of Canada accepted a request for a media lock-up.  This seems like a great idea for newsworthy opinions of general public interest like Rasouli.Basically, for a period of time before the decision is publicly released, reporters are locked in a room in the courthouse and given advance copies of the opinion.  The reporters agree not to transmit their stories until the doors are reopened.The benefit of a lock-up...

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National Aging & Law Institute - Scholarships

The AARP Foundation is awarding 10 scholarships to attend the 2013 National Aging and Law Institute, November 8-10, 2013, in Washington, D.C.  Scholarships are $1,000 to pay for registration and the cost of travel expenses.  Scholarship applications are due by August 2, 20...

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Marie Curie Cancer Care Seeks Public Affairs Manager

The Policy & Public Affairs team at Marie Curie Cancer Care is looking for a new Policy and Public Affairs Manager.The team is responsible for developing and influencing palliative and end of life care policy across the UK.  They are now seeking to increase their policy and public affairs capacity in each country to enable them to meet the demands of the complex environment within which Marie Curie works.  If you are ready...

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Healthcare Providers Fined $4 Million for Medically Unnecessary Interventions

Julie Kovach, M.D.Julie Kovach, a Michigan cardiologist, has just won a $4 million False Claims Act lawsuit against Jackson Cardiology Associates, its owner, cardiologist Jashu Patel, and against Allegiance Health Hospital, all located in Jackson, Michigan.  (USDOJ Press Release)Dr. Kovach alleged that Dr. Patel and Jackson Cardiology cardiologists performed medically inappropriate cardiac procedures, including invasive catheterizations...

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My Gift of Grace - Card Game to Facilitate Advance Care Planning

In 1860, Milton Bradley started producing the Game of Life.  Now, 153 years later, Philadelphia design company Action Mill is coming out with "My Gift of Grace."  My Gift of Grace is a game that helps families and friends have important conversations about death, dying, and what they want at the end of their lives. It helps people get unstuck.  Players pull cards that are broken into three categories -- actions, statements, and questions.  "Do you want to live as long as possible, or be as comfortable as possible?" says one...

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Robbie Robinson v. Thai Hospital

Robbie Robinson (32) is fighting for his life in a Bangkok hospital today after falling from a high-rise building on June 22.  (Irish Independent)  Doctors have told Robbie’s grief-stricken family  that there is no hope, and have urged them to turn off his life-support.  But despite hospital staff telling them their son would not survive his catastrophic head injuries, Robbie's mother said there was hope, and they were praying...

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This Is How You Die

What if a machine could tell you cryptically but with 100% accuracy how you are going to die?THIS IS HOW YOU DIE is a new short fiction anthology, filled with stories and comics about a world in which a machine can predict how you die.  It just takes a drop of blood from a finger. Then it spits out a sliver of paper upon which are printed, in careful block letters, the words “DROWNED” or “CANCER” or “OLD AGE” or “CHOKED ON A HANDFUL OF POPCORN.”  Nothing else. No dates, no details. And it’s always — always — correct.This is How You Die...

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ABA Top 100 Blawgs

I would be delighted if one or more satisfied readers of this blawg (law blog) nominated it to be listed among the ABA Top 100 Blawgs.  Use this simple form.  Nominations due by Aug. 9, 20...

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N.Y. Hospital Nearly Took Organs from Living Woman

Doctors at St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, New York were about to remove organs for transplant from Colleen S. Burns, 41, whom they thought was dead.  Then she opened her eyes. She was alive. Burns had been in a deep coma from taking an overdose of drugs. Hospital personnel failed both to wait long enough and to conduct enough tests to determine death.  (CMS Report; Modern Healthcare; Syracuse ...

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Minnesota Advance Care Planning Conference

On Thursday, July 18, 2013, the Twin Cities Medical Society and Honoring Choices Minnesota will host an all-day conference on advance care planning at the Ramada Plaza Minneapolis.  Here is the agenda:8:30am Check-in/Registration9:00 WelcomeSue Schettle, Twin Cities Medical Society9:05 Keynote: "Re-framing Advance Care Planning: the Allina Story"Penny Wheeler, MD, Allina Health9:50 Panel Discussion: Advance Care Planning Program CoordinatorsPatty...

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Six Year Anniversary for Medical Futility Blog

Today marks six years of blogging on the Medical Futility Blog.  I am delighted to have received a half million direct visits, plus hundreds of thousands more through syndicated re-posts on Westlaw, Bioethics.net, and Wellsphere.The topics covered on this blog remain some of the most pressing, yet unsettled, in our society.  Consequently, I expect to continue this blog as a supplement to my book chapters, law reviews, medical journal,...

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Death Hastened Despite No Terminal Illness

In a recent European Court of Human Rights case, Alda Gross claimed a right to aid-in-dying.  While Ms. Gross has no known pathological condition or clinical illness, she contended that she has the right to assisted suicide because she’s a frail elderly woman and has no desire to continue life. The Gross case highlights an pervasive legal limitation that now seems disjointed with medical reality.  Most jurisdictions...

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Elder Abuse Damages Capped at $500

In California, a violation of the Patient's Bill of Rights carries a penalty of just $500.  Seem low?  Well, that's not all.A new appellate opinion, Nevarrez v. San Marino Skilled Nursing, confirms that "$500 is the maximum that can be recovered in a civil action under this provision, regardless of how many rights are violated or whether such rights are violated repeatedly."  Yes, a resident can still sue for tort damages.  But...

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POLST Vocabulary - A Summary

Last year, I published a reasonably comprehensive review of how POLST is being adopted across the country.  I observed that "while the POLST paradigm is established or developing in almost every U.S. state, it goes by at least 14 different names."  That number is now at least 15.  Like variation in form color (pink, green, yellow), this variation in terminology is not material.  But it is important to remember that even with different...

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