February 3, 2025
(Vox) – The people turning to generative AI for their most sensitive messages. Users found AI helpful when writing emails and recommendation letters, and even to spruce up responses on dating apps, as the number of chatbots available for experimentation … Read More
January 17, 2025
(The Hedgehog Review) – The way we observe a death is expressive of our sense of a life’s meaning, of its shape and the terms of its success or failure. The “last ride” for a biker; the gun salute for … Read More
January 9, 2025
(New York Times) – He was a neuropsychiatrist who was studying consciousness when a patient explained what had happened to him, and he realized the phenomenon was real. In early 1988, the British neuropsychiatrist Peter Fenwick found himself drowning in … Read More
December 23, 2024
(U.S. News & World Report) – Nearly 3.1 million U.S. residents died in 2023, according to final data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – roughly 189,000 fewer than in 2022. The age-adjusted rate of mortality in 2023 … Read More
December 17, 2024
(DNYUZ) – In the months since, the angst and depression triggered by his cancer diagnosis no longer hound him, Mr. Blechman said, and he has gained profound insights into aspects of his personality he believes negatively affected his relationships. “Psilocybin … Read More
December 4, 2024
(New York Times) – In the time since she left us, I have thought often of Orli’s question. All that spring, Orli asked, pointedly, why did we think a cure was still possible, that cancer would not continue to return? … Read More
December 4, 2024
Christian Bioethics (vol. 30, no. 3, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
November 26, 2024
(New Scientist) – Reperfusion technologies that can reanimate human brains are raising the possibility that death could be a reversible condition, even hours after a cardiac arrest That was when something incredible happened. The cortex turned from grey to pink. … Read More
November 22, 2024
(Plough) – A husband caring for a loved one with dementia finds dark valleys, but also limitless spiritual resources. Sherwin B. Nuland, MD, in How We Die, describes the experience of dementia caregivers as “spiritually exhausting.” At times, that was my … Read More
November 12, 2024
(ProPublica) – “If you don’t look, you’re not going to find,” said Lauri McGivern, medicolegal death investigator coordinator in Vermont’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, chair of the National Association of Medical Examiners’ medicolegal death investigation committee and past … Read More
November 8, 2024
(CNN) – Callahan isn’t afraid of digging into the deep stuff. In fact, he runs toward it. Sometimes, though, he’ll encounter patients who brush him off when they learn he’s a chaplain — they aren’t believers, they tell him, and … Read More
November 1, 2024
(Christianity Today) – November 1 marks All Saints’ Day on the church calendar, when many denominations remember the communion of all believers of all time, including the faithfully departed. That the church instituted this holy day should come as no … Read More
October 28, 2024
(The Atlantic) – Oliver Burkeman has become an unlikely self-help guru by reminding everyone of their mortality. But Burkeman’s enterprise—to free people from traditional, silver-bullet self-help while selling them his own carefully packaged counsel—is a tricky one. Burkeman himself doesn’t … Read More
October 16, 2024
(The Conversation) – In 2014, the World Health Organisation highlighted the need to include palliative care in health policies and to improve access to essential medicines such as morphine. It also stressed the importance of training health professionals in palliative … Read More
October 10, 2024
(BBC) – Proposals to give terminally ill people in England and Wales the right to choose to end their life are to be introduced in Parliament this month. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater is putting forward the bill and said “now … Read More
October 7, 2024
(The Atlantic) – As a palliative-care physician, I have encountered the phenomenon of people dying only after specific circumstances materialize. There was the gentleman whose family held vigil in the intensive-care unit while he continued on, improbably, even without the … Read More
September 30, 2024
(Rest of World) – Tomb sweeping is a Chinese tradition where people clean ancestors’ graves, present flowers and food, and burn paper money for the deceased to use in the afterlife. But as millions of Chinese have moved away from … Read More
September 24, 2024
(BBC) – A four-year-old boy who was expected to die shortly after his life support was removed has “confounded” medical expectations, a UK judge has said in a ruling. Months before, the High Court ruled that life-sustaining ventilation was not … Read More
September 20, 2024
(Delaware Online) – Silverio died on Jan. 7, 2018. Block died two months later, on March 3, 2018. Knothe died this week, on Sept. 16, 2024. None of them lived long enough to have those options in Delaware. And Gov. … Read More
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
