March 8, 2024
Disability Ethics
March 4, 2024
‘It’s Certainly Over’: Aid-in-Dying Bill Falters in Md. Senate for This Year
(Maryland The Daily Record) – Lawmakers have tabled a fiercely debated bill that would have granted terminally ill Maryland residents the right to end their lives, a setback to supporters who hoped it would finally pass this year. Senate President … Read More
March 4, 2024
Paid Family Caregivers in Indiana Face Steep Cutbacks
(New York Times) – Indiana’s social services agency has announced plans to end the caregiver program, citing a nearly $1 billion shortfall in the state Medicaid budget. By July 1, parents and guardians caring for children and spouses caring for … Read More
February 26, 2024
Illinois Should Not Legalize ‘Physician-Assisted Suicide.’ There’s Too Much Potential for Abuse.
(Chicago Sun Times) – Right now, those of us with disabilities are facing a significant battle: the defeat of a growing movement that wants to make physician-assisted suicide legal in Illinois. This fight is one with the goal to, literally, … Read More
February 14, 2024
More Patients Rely on Early Prenatal Testing as States Toughen Abortion Laws
(PBS) – Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, many health care providers say an increasing number of patients are deciding the fate of their pregnancies on whatever information they can gather before state abortion bans kick in. But early ultrasounds … Read More
February 13, 2024
Brooke Ellison, Prominent Disability Rights Advocate, Is Dead at 45
(New York Times) – Brooke Ellison, who after being paralyzed from the neck down by a childhood car accident went on to graduate from Harvard and became a professor and a devoted disability rights advocate, died on Sunday in Stony … Read More
February 9, 2024
Ecuador’s High Court Decriminalizes Euthanasia, Following a Lawsuit by a Terminally Ill Patient
(ABC News) – Ecuador’s high court on Wednesday decriminalized euthanasia and ordered lawmakers and health officials to draft rules and regulations for the procedure. The decision of Ecuador’s Constitutional Court came in response to a lawsuit from a terminally ill … Read More
February 6, 2024
The Census Bureau Is Dropping a Controversial Proposal to Change Disability Statistics
(NPR) – The U.S. Census Bureau is no longer moving forward with a controversial proposal that could have shrunk a key estimated rate of disability in the United States by about 40%, the bureau’s director said Tuesday in a blog … Read More
February 2, 2024
28-Year-Old Lauren Hoeve Died By Euthanasia–To a Degree, I Understand Her Pain
(The Telegraph via MSN) – Last Saturday, an autistic Dutch woman died at home by assisted suicide, with her parents and best friend by her side. Her passing is significant to those far beyond her circle or who followed her … Read More
February 1, 2024
How Implanted Brain Chips Like Neuralink Could Change Our Lives
(TIME) – Receiving an implant comes with risks. Some are typical surgical risks—such as excessive bleeding or infection. Others are unique. For example, the brain simulation that BCIs entail can triggerepileptiform activity, a precursor for epilepsy, or epileptic attacks. (Neuralink … Read More
January 29, 2024
Mental Health and Addiction Care Falls Short Because It’s Not Profitable
(Axios) – Some of America’s most challenging behavioral health care problems include a key disadvantage: They’re not very profitable to treat. Why it matters: Serious mental illness and addiction have a profound effect on families and communities, but their complexity … Read More
January 29, 2024
The Man in Room 117
(New York Times) – Andrey Shevelyov would rather live on the street than take antipsychotic medication. Should it be his decision to make? As affordable apartments all but vanished in American cities, a whole tier of people with disabling mental … Read More
January 23, 2024
Gene Therapy Allows an 11-Year-Old Boy to Hear for the First Time
(New York Times) – Aissam Dam, an 11-year-old boy, grew up in a world of profound silence. He was born deaf and had never heard anything. While living in a poor community in Morocco, he expressed himself with a sign … Read More
January 22, 2024
The Complicated Lives and Deaths of TikTok’s Illness Influencers
(Vox) – When I started getting videos from seriously ill creators on my TikTok For You page, I let myself briefly think that I’d found something Sontag was looking for. If anything can be content, then maybe turning illness into … Read More
January 16, 2024
An Emotional Christina Applegate Receives a Standing Ovation at the Emmys
(NPR) – Actor Christina Applegate has stayed mostly out of the public eye since she announced she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021. But she came out at Monday night’s Emmys to present the first award, and was greeted … Read More
January 12, 2024
Assistive Technology Is AI’s Next Billion-Person Market
(Axios) – AI is fueling a new generation of technologies to help people who live with disabilities. Why it matters: The right technologies can be life-changing for people living with a disability and will be essential in supporting our aging … Read More
January 12, 2024
Insurance Doesn’t Always Cover Hearing Aids for Kids
(CBS News) – California and 17 other states don’t require private insurance plans to cover hearing aids for kids, so many don’t. But about two or three of every 1,000 babies in the U.S. are born with detectable hearing loss … Read More
January 11, 2024
How to Ensure the NIH’s Decision to Recognize People with Disabilities as a Health Disparity Population Makes a Difference
(STAT News) – The abrupt transition from school-age support to limited adult services is aptly termed “the cliff.” I often wonder: What will happen to my daughter when I am too old to advocate for her? The good news for … Read More
January 8, 2024
Harvard’s Robotic Exoskeleton Can Improve Walking, Decrease Falls in People with Parkinson’s
(TechCrunch) – In the case of people with Parkinson’s disease, “freezing” is a frequent issue that impacts the ability to walk, while increasing the likelihood of falls. The symptom causes people to lose their footing while walking, shortening steps before … Read More
January 3, 2024
Tom Scocca: Unraveling My Medical Mystery
(New York Magazine) – It was my bad luck, the attending doctor said at my bedside, to be an interesting case. Our meetings had a tone of rueful amusement. Yes, I was in pain and reeking from infrequent showering, but … Read More
December 22, 2023
The War Took Away Their Limbs. Now Bionic Prostheses Empower Wounded Ukrainian Soldiers
(Associated Press) – Russia’s war on Ukraine has created a massive need for prosthetic limbs. An estimated 20,000 Ukrainians have had amputations since the war started in February 2022, many of them soldiers who lost arms or legs due to … Read More
December 18, 2023
A New Edition of Hastings Center Report Is Now Available
December 13, 2023
Doctors Call Out Ableism in Cancer Care: ‘The Biggest Accommodation Is Attitude’
(STAT News) – Once cancer is diagnosed, perhaps at a later stage if routine screening is delayed or overlooked, a patient who uses a wheelchair may confront another barrier: Outdated decision trees designed for treatment regimens that depend on a … Read More
December 12, 2023
People with Disabilities Hope Autonomous Vehicles Deliver Independence
(KFF Health News) – Myrna Peterson predicts self-driving vehicles will be a ticket out of isolation and loneliness for people like her, who live outside big cities and have disabilities that prevent them from driving. Peterson, who has quadriplegia, is … Read More
December 12, 2023
This 28-Year-Old from Nepal Is Telling COP28: Don’t Forget People with Disabilities
(NPR) – Draped in a kachhad, a traditional Nepalese cotton garment wrapped around the waist, 28-year-old Umesh Balal walked into his meetings at the COP28 conference in Dubai with a sense of determination. He is there to advocate for inclusion … Read More
