September 17, 2024
(NBC News) – The University of North Texas Health Science Center built a flourishing business using hundreds of unclaimed corpses. It suspended the program after NBC News exposed failures to treat the dead and their families with respect. A Swedish … Read More
September 11, 2024
(STAT News) – A single question doesn’t give context, ask what’s most important to you to guide this decision, or share why we may recommend do-not-resuscitate (DNR) when CPR likely won’t work and cause further suffering. Popular shows like “Grey’s … Read More
September 11, 2024
Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics (vol. 45, no. 5, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
September 9, 2024
(Public Discourse) – Dying is part of life, but most people dread their final days. The end of life, which often takes the form of protracted terminal illness, can involve significant pain and suffering as well as functional limits in … Read More
September 6, 2024
Neuroethics (vol. 17, no. 3, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
September 2, 2024
(New York Times) – In one recent study, the challenging regimen added 77 days of life after three years. Often, kidney disease can be managed in other ways. Ms. Outlaw was mistaken on one point — dialysis can prolong the … Read More
August 28, 2024
(New York Times) – When her “do not resuscitate” order was ignored, Marie Cooper found herself in a painful situation she had hoped to avoid. On its face, a D.N.R. order is a straightforward medical document, which states that if … Read More
August 21, 2024
(New York Times) – Modern, even hip, mortuaries around the world are hoping to answer one question: How do we commemorate death in 2024? Exit Here is among a small group of funeral homes around the world — like Sparrow … Read More
August 20, 2024
(CBS News) – At least 26 people have traveled to Vermont to die, representing nearly 25% of the reported assisted deaths in the state from May 2023 through this June, according to the Vermont Department of Health. In Oregon, 23 … Read More
August 9, 2024
(Undark) – Many of life’s biggest questions can’t be answered by an algorithm. We must learn to embrace uncertainty instead. I’ve seen the tendency to ask AI life-and-death questions first-hand. After hearing I was a computer scientist, a professor at … Read More
August 5, 2024
(New York Times) – Adult children are less likely to assist an aging stepparent, studies show. A growing “step gap” in senior care worries experts. Calculating the growth in stepfamilies isn’t simple, but a demographic analysis published last year estimated … Read More
August 5, 2024
(MIT Technology Review) – Ethicists say a “digital psychological twin” could help doctors and family members make decisions for people who can’t speak themselves. End-of-life decisions can be extremely upsetting for surrogates, the people who have to make those calls … Read More
July 25, 2024
(MedPage Today) – Critically injured trauma patients without insurance had a higher risk of being taken off life-saving care sooner than their insured counterparts, according to findings from a retrospective cohort study of more than 300,000 U.S. adults. After adjustment … Read More
July 8, 2024
(NPR) – About half of the nation’s 56 organ procurement organizations have already started using NRP and more are planning to start soon, according to the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations. But NRP has sparked an intense ethical debate. The … Read More
July 5, 2024
(The Atlantic) – Younger adults are being diagnosed with cancers at more advanced stages, and may suffer from more aggressive tumors than older adults. In my work caring for these patients, I have seen the ways their age influences how … Read More
July 4, 2024
(ProPublica) – Fetal death records are often missing cause of death, race and other crucial information. ProPublica found that the problem is only getting worse. From a public health perspective, fetal death certificates provide essential data that helps shed light … Read More
June 12, 2024
BMC Medical Ethics has new articles available online. Articles include: “Determining Capacity of People with Dementia to Take Part in Research: An electronic Survey Study of Researcher Confidence, Competence and Training needs” by Sarah Griffiths, Victoria Shepherd and Anna Volkmer … Read More
June 11, 2024
(The Baffler) – The stigma is not hard to understand: magazine features, books, and movies for two decades now have chronicled America’s drug problems, including the rapacious role of drug manufacturers like Purdue Pharma, which made OxyContin a household name … Read More
May 30, 2024
May 15, 2024
(UPI) – Some patients with traumatic brain injuries who died after life support was withdrawn may have recovered if given more time, a new study indicates. The findings of the study, conducted at Mass General Brigham in Boston, were published … Read More
May 15, 2024
May 6, 2024
(Axios) – As Medicare Advantage grows bigger and bigger, there’s one area the industry and regulators haven’t figured out how to make work yet: hospice. Why it matters: The end-of-life care option is the only Medicare service that can’t be … Read More
April 30, 2024
(The New Yorker) – A medical technology can keep people alive when they otherwise would have died. Where will it lead? Although ECMO technology is more than half a century old, it was in some ways still considered an experimental … Read More
April 29, 2024
(Acton Institute) – Finding better answers means asking better questions. Nowhere is this truer and more consequential than with questions surrounding matters of life and death. By asking better questions about care for the terminally ill, Dame Cicely Saunders (1918–2005)—a … Read More
April 16, 2024
(Associated Press) – A couple who owned a Colorado funeral home where authorities last year discovered 190 decaying bodies were indicted on federal charges that they misspent nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds on vacations, cosmetic surgery, jewelry and other … Read More
