If you find this blog of value, please consider nominating it for the American Bar Association's 100 best legal blogs.Nominations are due here by August 16, 20...
Thứ Sáu, 31 tháng 7, 2015
Texas Advance Directives Act - Symposium
The August issue of the American Journal of Bioethics [15(8)] includes a target article and peer commentaries on the Texas Advance Directives Act. Here is an extract from the table of contents. I am pleased to be included among these.The Texas Advanced Directive Law: Unfinished BusinessMichael Kapottos & Stuart Youngnerpages 34-38Pining for Courts to Resolve Intractable Disputes Between Families and Physicians Is a Pipe DreamJohn...
Funeral Home Staff at the Hospice [EOL in Art 81]
Yesterday, I blogged about Ed Kashi's Aging in America: The Years Ahead. Here is another photograph from that collection. Virginia Magrath watches as her husband's body is taken away by funeral home staff after his passing in the On Lok hospice.&nb...
Thứ Năm, 30 tháng 7, 2015
Jahi McMath - Hearing on Demurrer
I will cross link to those reporting on what transpired at today's hearing on the demurrer. But the Jahi McMath family must have made some good arguments. The judge did not automatically stick to the tentative. He took the matter under submissi...
Jahi McMath - Court's Tentative Ruling
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Freedman issued the following tentative ruling on on the demurrer to the Jahi McMath medical malpractice action on which there will be a hearing this afternoon. This is a direct copy and paste from the court's website, except that I made the text blue and added some paragraph breaks.This Tentative Ruling is made by Judge Robert B. Freedman On the Demurrer to Complaint by Defendant Frederick S. Rosen, M.D. ("Dr. Rosen"), filed on June 16, 2015, COUNSEL ARE TO APPEAR, in person or by CourtCall, at the hearing...
Aging in America: The Years Ahead [EOL in Art 80]
In Aging in America: The Years Ahead photographer Ed Kashi chronicles what it means to have a “good old age” by collecting scores of personal histories that, when viewed together, challenge the culture of aging in America.In this photograph, Maxine Peters finally passes away at home, surrounded by her family, friends and hospice aides. In rural West Virginia, people still live -and die - the old fashioned way. The Hospice Care Corporation sends...
Thứ Tư, 29 tháng 7, 2015
Voyage of Life [EOL in Art 79]
Thomas Cole painted "The Voyage of Life" in 1842. The four paintings represent the stages of human life: childhood, youth, manhood, and old age. The paintings follow a voyager who travels in a boat on a river, the river of life. The landscape, corresponding to the seasons of the year, plays a major role in telling the story. In childhood, the infant glides from a dark cave into a rich, green landscape. As a youth, the boy takes...
International Symposium on Brain Death & Disorders of Consciousness
The Seventh International Symposium on Brain Death and Disorders of Consciousness will be held this December in Havana, Cuba.SUBMIT AN ABSTRACTYou can participate in the Symposium as a delegate, although the conference organizers encourage you to submit an abstract. Deadline for submission of abstracts: September 15, 2015. Notification of Accepted Abstracts: October 15, 2015.MAIN TOPICS: BRAIN DEATHConceptual approach to human death.BD...
Thứ Ba, 28 tháng 7, 2015
Jahi McMath - Court May Allow Family to Prove She is Now Alive
This Thursday at 2:00, in Department 20 of the Alameda County Superior Court, Judge Freedman will hold a hearing on the medical defendants' demurrer to the medical malpractice complaint by the family of Jahi McMath. The focus of the hearing will apparently be on whether the the family will be permitted the opportunity to prove that Jahi is alive.In a reply brief in support of his demurrer to the McMath family complaint, Dr. Rosen rightly notes...
A Friendly Reminder [EOL in Art 78]
I was delighted to see Bert Rodrguez's 2005 "A Friendly Reminder" at the Boca Raton Museum of Art this we...
Thứ Hai, 27 tháng 7, 2015
Illness & Healing: Images of Cancer [EOL in Art 77]
Robert Pope (no relation) published this 140-page volume in 1995. The 92 illustrations evoke the dependence, fear, loneliness, pain, and even the mutilation surrounding cancer illness and therapy.These disturbing, unhappy images are difficult for medical people who are imbued with traditional optimism. We do not like to think that our patients feel so lonely and afraid, especially those who are doing well or who have supposedly curable ailments,...
More California Brain Death Disputes
In addition to the Jahi Mcath case, I was recently blogged about a few other brain death disputes in California. Johah PanduroLisa AvilaI discussed a few other CA cases in this talk in Los AngelesLast week, there was yet another court case. Ashish Tyagi apparently drowned in his swimming pool. He was declared dead at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Santa Clara. But the family filed a petition to keep Tyagi on a ventilator...
Chủ Nhật, 26 tháng 7, 2015
Health Law at SEALS Annual Conference
I am at the Waldorf Astoria Boca Raton for the SEALS Annual conference. There are five long sessions focused on health law on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.The Health Care System of TomorrowThe future of the health care system depends on effective policy implementation tailored to the evolving landscape of regulatory constraints, delivery models, emerging technologies, and changing population needs. This panel will identify...
The Nursing Home - for Superheroes [EOL in Art 76]
When American superheroes get too shabby, they are sent to Gilles Barbier's "Nursing Home." The work refers quite straightforwardly to our societies' obsession with eternal youth. Should medical research be geared towards the fight against the loss of youthfulness? Or isn't medicine's most noble mission to provide us with better lives? Will our society ever revert to respecting old age? (HT: WMM...
Jahi McMath - Opposition to Demurrer
Here is some more commentary and analysis, from Friday, July 24, of the latest filings in the Jahi McMath medical malpractice case. Much of this is focused on the underlying negligence / malpractice and not on the Jahi's status as alive or dead. But some addresses that questi...
Thứ Bảy, 25 tháng 7, 2015
He Can No Longer at the Age of 98 [EOL in Art 75]
Beneath Goya's illustration reads the title: “He Can No Longer at the Age of 98.” An old man stands alone, accompanied only by his shadow. His bent body caves under some unknown force, and the man tries his best to remain upright by relying on two canes, one held in each hand. Facing to the front left of the paper, the old man appears to be on his way to some destination; his feet are not drawn with any suggestion of movement, however, and so...
Thứ Sáu, 24 tháng 7, 2015
Hospice Concurrent with Curative Treatment - Medicare Care Choices Model
More than five years after enactment of the ACA, CMS is finally now exploring payment for hospice concurrent with payment for curative treatment.Under current payment rules, Medicare and dual eligible beneficiaries are required to forgo curative care in order to receive services under the Medicare or Medicaid Hospice Benefit.Through the Medicare Care Choices Model, CMS will provide a new option for Medicare beneficiaries to receive palliative care services from certain hospice providers while concurrently receiving services provided by their curative...
Dead Mother [EOL in Art 74]
Reminiscent of "The Scream," here is Munch's "Dead Mother." With her back turned to her mother who lies in bed, dead, a young girl, eyes wide in disbelief, holds her hands to her ears as if to block out the reality and the stillness. An aura of suspension, incomprehensibility, or unearthly silence begs the question: is she truly calm, or screaming on the insi...
Thứ Năm, 23 tháng 7, 2015
Nevada Brain Death Dispute - Aden Hailu UPDATE
Two weeks ago, I blogged about a Nevada brain death dispute in Washoe County Court, Nevada. It looks like the court has just denied the TRO motion of the patient's guardian. &nb...
City Hospital [EOL in Art 73]
In 1953 Alice Neel created a series of ink and gouache drawings depicting the last weeks of her mother's life, which were spent in a New York city hospital. In this drawing, a black nurse comforts a prone elderly lady. The pale hues of the painting--blue, black, white--evoke a somber mood and imply sickness. This sense of despair is augmented by a harsh cityscape background beyond a dark river, which the viewer sees through a window.Compassion...
Thứ Tư, 22 tháng 7, 2015
Island of Death [EOL in Art 72]
Bocklin's Island of the Dead invites contemplation on the mystery of what lies beyond death.The stones and trees make for an interesting comparison – both are symbols of the natural world, the former dead and cold, the latter alive yet silent. The apparent lack of human life on the island is made poignant by the knowledge that once upon a time, the stone ruins must have housed living men. Now, however, like death, the island is an isolated, isolating,...
Thứ Ba, 21 tháng 7, 2015
Jahi McMath - Now Alive and on Medicaid
On Friday, the family of Jahi McMath filed its opposition to the demurrers of the medical provider defendants. In its brief, the family states two remarkable things: 1. "Plaintiffs allege, and will present proof of changes and developments which show that Jahi's condition is one in which Jahi has brain function and is indeed a living person."2. "To this date, Jahi continues to receive 24/7 nursing care in New Jersey, pursuant...
Intensive Care Room [EOL in Art 71]
Elizabeth Layton - Intensive Care Room "This is the room where my son died. They had all these tubes...you know, terrible. There was always blood coming down. I couldn't draw the face, so I put the pillow there. They gave him four gallons of blood. I had always given blood and I couldn't wait till I could go again and give for somebody else. They wouldn't take me because I was taking medicine for high blood pressure. I felt so helples...
Thứ Hai, 20 tháng 7, 2015
EMTs Misinterpret POLST Forms
A new study in ED Management, finds that emergency providers lack consensus on what action to take when they have Physicians Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms. In a continuing line of research by Ferdinando Mirarchi (medical director of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hamot in Erie, PA). In a survey of emergency physicians and pre-hospital providers, responders were given scenarios in which the patient had a POLST. The providers were then asked to decide what to...
Tender Loving Care [EOL in Art 70]
Elizabeth Layton - TENDER LOVING CARE“Not everyone is caught up in technology. Legal, financial, ethical puzzles engulf us. We have the answers - the procedures, the tubes, the machines, the know-how. When do we stop to open the envelopes and address the questions? What can we handle? How much technology can we live with? Is another Challenger exploding in our faces? Can we change so drastically in these few decades? For ages, man has struggled to...
Chủ Nhật, 19 tháng 7, 2015
Margot Bentley, Advance VSED, and Ulysses Contracts
My new article on the Margot Bentley case is now online first in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry.I summarize the case and assess the legality of advance VSED through Ulysses contrac...
Pulling the Plug [EOL in Art 69]
Elizabeth Layton - PULLING THE PLUG - 1987“Symbolic of the many means of keeping a body functioning. Restraint is a necessity. She has wasted minutes, hours, months. Would she want to add all that wasted time to this very en...
Thứ Bảy, 18 tháng 7, 2015
The Courtroom [EOL in Art 68]
Elizabeth Layton - THE COURTROOM - 1990“The sign on the door to the courtroom says, KEEP OUT. The doctors, nurses, and family are not allowed in. The comatose patient on the consultation table has a funnel leading directly into her stomach. Black-robed Justices pour in nutritious foods - artificial grapes, fish, oats, peanut butter, pure H2O, 7-Up. The 25-watt light bulb symbolizes the dim illumination perfect strangers might have on the cas...
Jahi McMath Family Still Denies She Is Dead
In ongoing medical malpractice litigation over the treatment of Jahi McMath, the healthcare defendants have inferred (from the complaint) that the McMath family contends she is still alive. In their Case Management Statement filed a few days ago, the family confirmed that they are making this contention. In providing a statement of the case, they write:"Jahi finally coded and her heart stopped. Defendants contend she was pronounced clinically brain dead. Plaintiffs contend Jahi suffered severe brain damage but does not...
Thứ Sáu, 17 tháng 7, 2015
Revolutionary Change for Life's Final Choices Would Reduce Unwanted Care
This new article in Modern Healthcare provides a nice overview of major advance care planning developments: Bud Hammes program at Gunderson LutheranPat Bomba's program at Excellus Blue CrossNew Medicare coverage ru...
Who Was All Becomes Nobody [EOL in Art 67]
My series of "end-of-life in art" has depicted death from many past centuries. Here is a more modern depiction from Pasha 183's street a...
Thứ Năm, 16 tháng 7, 2015
Art about Death Makes People Think [EOL in Art 66]
In the "Seventh Seal" Ingmar Bergman references memento mori through the church painter who seems preoccupied with painting "reminders of death." When asked about his fixation on painting morbid subject matter, the church painter explains that he makes art about death "to make people think" and claims, "A skull is more interesting than a naked woma...
Ned Cassem and the MGH Optimum Care Committee
Ned Cassem died earlier this month. Back in 1973, he set up the Massachusetts General Hospital Optimum Care Committee, one of the first ethics consultation committees in North America. He led the committee for 34 years. Today the committee invites consults on cases such as:"A patient is approaching end of life, and the family does not seem to understand this. Usual measures of trying to assist the family have failed." "A...
Thứ Tư, 15 tháng 7, 2015
Awareness & Preparedness for Death [EOL in Art 65]
Ingmar Bergman's the "Seventh Seal" depicts a knight returning from the crusades during the plague. At this time (1300-1400s), everyone is VERY aware of death. With 1/3 of the population killed, Europe feels powerless. Sort of the opposite of 21st century Ameri...
Way More Patients Now Getting "All Care Possible"
Amol NarangThe proportion of patients getting "all care possible" during end of life rose more than 7-fold over the period from 2000 through 2012. "Trends in Advance Care Planning in Patients With Cancer: Results From a National Longitudinal Survey," new in JAMA Oncology, along with an audio intervi...
Thứ Ba, 14 tháng 7, 2015
New York State Surrogate Decision Making Committee - Protecting Unrepresented Patients
Only a few states have developed mechanisms to authorize medical decisions on behalf of incapacitated unrepresented patients. California's was recently struck down as unconstitutional. In contrast, one of New York's mechanisms is expanding, The Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs administers the Surrogate Decision-Making Committee (SDMC) program for New York State. The SDMC program obtains...
Dr. Byrne Examining Jahi Mcmath [EOL in Art 64]
While legally settled, the conceptual and biological soundness of the neurological determination of death is increasingly the subject of a serious debate among informed scholars and clinicians. Still, when Dr. Paul Byrne says that Jahi Mcmath is not dead, many think that this cartoon might be apt. (Please see the great collection of other clever cartoons at Off the Mar...
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