Shooting in the ICU after Hospital Refused to Follow Advance Directive

Katherine Lavoie was battling depression, and apparently tried to commit suicide on Sunday night.  Her husband, Mark, called 911.  Katherine Lavoie ended up on life support at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in New Hampshire.  (NECN)But Mark soon regretted calling for help:  "now because of my selfishness in dialing 911, she is experiencing the only thing she feared more than her illness, life-support on a respirator."Around 6:03...

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Unilateral DNAR Policies & Practices

The latest issue of Medical Ethics Advisor discusses unilateral DNAR policies and practices.  Andrew Courtwright discusses a study that shows there is no concern that a Mass General policy empowering physicians not to offer CPR is disproportionately applied to vulnerable populations.Alana Sagin cautions that when thinking about the topic of unilateral DNR orders, we really need to look at how we present CPR to people in general.I discuss the...

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WWII Fighter Pilot Tries to Hasten Death to Avoid Bad Death

Quentin Aanenson was a World War II fighter pilot.  He made his recollections and feelings public as one of the principal participants in Ken Burns' powerful TV documentary "The War." Aanenson recounted one incident which roughly illustrates why someone with a terminal illness might want aid in dying.  On August 3, 1944, on a mission over Vire, France, Aanenson's plane was hit by flak and caught on fire. He tried to bail out but...

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Irish Court: Hospital Can Stop Physiological Support for Dead Woman

A woman in her mid 20s was declared dead in a Dublin hospital on December 3, when she was 15 weeks pregnant.  But despite pleas from her husband and father, clinicians refused to stop physiological support. Clinicians said they needed legal clarification on what they were allowed to do because of the 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution ("The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life...

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Ashutosh Maharaj - Is He Dead or Samadhi?

Indian spiritual leader Ashutosh Maharaj was declared dead on January 29, 2014.  But his followers as well as the ashram leadership swear that he is alive, having attained “samadhi,” a high state of consciousness reserved for the holiest of men, beings so evolved they can control their heartbeat, a state indistinguishable to the unenlightened from death.  (NY Times)  This state of transcendent bliss is a central tenet of traditional...

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When Faith Conflicts With Medical Advice

Christopher Meyers is a Professor of Philosophy and Executive Director of the Kegley Institute of Ethics at California State University, Bakersfield. He provides ethics commentary on California's Valley Public Radio.  His latest podcast concerns the intersection of religion and medicine."Among the hardest cases in clinical ethics consulting are those in which patients’ or families’ religious beliefs motivate medical choices contrary to...

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Medical Futility: A Parable and New Policy for a New Approach

Last week, the University of Massachusetts Medical School held grand rounds  on its new medical futility policy, policy no. 2522.The panelists include legal counsel, ethics, patient care, and the CMO.  The video and slides for "The Medical Futility: A Parable and New Policy for a New Approach" are archived he...

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Rasouli and Patient Treatment in the 21st Century (videos)

Earlier this year, the B’nai Brith Canada Trust and Estates Group held its annual continuing legal education seminar featuring the Rasouli case. I just noticed that good quality videos have been posted.  The three panels included the lawyers who argued the case, as well as many of the leading experts in this area discuss the issu...

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Massachusetts Latest State to Require End-of-Life Disclosures

Following California, Michigan, New York, Vermont, and other states, Massachusetts has begun mandating certain end-of-life disclosur...

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Health Law Events at January 2015 AALS Annual Meeting

   Health Law Events atthe January 2015 AALS Annual Meeting Friday, JAN. 26:30 pm - 8:30 pmLebanese Taverna2641 Connecticut NW Health Law Professors Reception Drinks & heavy hors d'oeuvres Hosted by Hamline University Health Law Institute Saturday, JAN. 310:30 am - 12:15 pmMarriott Park WardmanMaryland Suite A Lobby Level Competition Policy in Health CareSection on Antitrust & Economic RegulationCo-sponsored by Section on Law, Medicine & Health CareCompetition in health care is a fundamental issue...

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Clinicians CRIMINALLY Charged for Not Resuscitating Patient

The UK Crown Prosecution Service has made the extremely unusual step to criminally charge three clinicians for accidentally failing to resuscitate six-year-old Jack Adcock.The clinicians mixed up Jack with another child who was subject to a DNR order at Leicester Royal Infirmary Hospital.  Jack died February 18, 2011.Fiona Morrison, Specialist Prosecutor with the CPS Special Crime Division, said:  "We have carefully considered the evidence...

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Minnesota Assisted Suicide Trial for Final Exit Network

The Minnesota trial of Final Exit Network and two of its Exit Guides has been scheduled for May 4, 2015.On December 8, Dakota County District Judge Christian Wilton set aside February 26-27 for hearings on all pretrial motions. One of the major issues will be how to instruct the jury on the meaning of "assisting" in a "suicide."  FEN and four of its volunteers were indicted in May 2012 on charges stemming from the 2007 death of Doreen Dunn, 57, in Apple Valley. One of the defendants has died, and all charges have been dismissed...

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