November 27, 2023
(STAT News) – Today, our nation faces a meteoric rise in metabolic disease that is showing up in end-of-life care in a devastating way. The increasing prevalence of metabolic disease combined with an aging population and a critical shortage of … Read More
November 27, 2023
(Washington Post) – The death of former first lady Rosalynn Carter on Sunday, and the survival of her husband, former president Jimmy Carter, have exposed one of the most achingly difficult questions faced by people with life-threatening illness: when to … Read More
November 21, 2023
(Vox) – While mimicking conversational style is just one of the many uses of the popular generative chatbot ChatGPT, there’s a niche yet growing slate of platforms that use deep learning and large language models to re-create the essence of … Read More
November 17, 2023
(MIT Technology Review) – Just as birth certificates note the time we enter the world, death certificates mark the moment we exit it. This practice reflects traditional notions about life and death as binaries. We are here until, suddenly, like … Read More
November 8, 2023
(Associated Press) – A judge at Britain’s High Court ruled Wednesday that life support for a terminally ill 8-month-old baby should be withdrawn in a hospice or hospital, despite efforts by the infant’s parents and the Italian government to transport … Read More
November 6, 2023
(Gizmodo) – Fantasies of immortality and extended life preservation are likely as old as humanity itself, but new advances in robotics and advanced artificial intelligence models are inching those transhumanist tales closer to reality at a rapid pace. AI researchers … Read More
November 2, 2023
(The Washington Post) – Terminal anorexia isn’t an official diagnosis in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual-5, the psychiatric bible. And the eating disorders community hasn’t reached a consensus on the definition of severe and enduring anorexia. Nor, for that matter, are … Read More
October 27, 2023
BMC Medical Ethics has new articles available online. Articles include: “Ethical Challenges around Thirst in End-of-Life Care – Experiences of Palliative Care Physicians” by Maria Friedrichsen, et al. “Continuous Quality Improvement: Reducing Informed Consent Form Signing Errors” by Tsui-Wen Hsu, … Read More
October 25, 2023
(New York Times) – A decade ago, Hadley Vlahos was lost. She was a young single mother, searching for meaning and struggling to make ends meet while she navigated nursing school. After earning her degree, working in immediate care, she … Read More
October 19, 2023
(NPR) – At least 189 dead and decaying bodies were recovered from the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado this week — that’s roughly 75 more decedents than police originally believed to be onsite when they began investigating the … Read More
October 6, 2023
European Journal of Human Genetics (vol. 31, no. 8, 2023) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Approaching Discussions about Genetics with Palliative Patients and their Families: A Qualitative Exploration with Genetic Health Professionals” by Stephanie White, et al. … Read More
October 5, 2023
(New York Times) – Children are generally medically healthy, which is why accidental injuries pose the greatest threat to their lives. Car accidents have long accounted for the bulk of injury-related fatalities among children. But according to an analysis published … Read More
September 14, 2023
(Futurism) – Former NBA player Brandon Hunter passed away unexpectedly at the young age of 42 this week, a tragedy that rattled fans of his 2000s career with the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic. But in an unhinged twist on … Read More
September 7, 2023
(Undark) – When Kevin E. Taylor became a pastor 22 years ago, he never expected how often he’d have to help families make gut-wrenching decisions for a loved one who was very ill or about to die. The families in … Read More
September 5, 2023
(Med Page Today) – A single word clarification is the only revision the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) needs, the American College of Physicians (ACP) stated. In a new position paper, the ACP joined the ongoing debate that could … Read More
August 31, 2023
(Texas Tribune) – Starting Friday, House Bill 3162 will increase how much notice hospitals have to give patients’ families from 10 days to 25 days. That new threshold will now begin when medical professionals tell relatives of their intent to … Read More
August 24, 2023
(Axios) – After a year of scrutinizing fraud in the hospice industry, Medicare dropped the hammer this week: The agency warned nearly 400 hospices are at risk of being bounced from the program if they can’t prove they’re a legitimate … Read More
August 23, 2023
Ethics, Medicine, and Public Health (vol. 28, 2023) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions in the State of Georgia: Economic Implications” by R.C. White, R. Luo and R. Rothenberg “Designing Medical Law in a Multicultural Society: … Read More
August 22, 2023
(STAT News) – Whether you are a storeowner or regular customer, a boss or an employee, a physician or a patient, if you admit a mistake and express regret, despite the cost to your pride, trust in you is sure … Read More
August 21, 2023
The American Journal of Bioethics (vol. 23, no. 6, 2023) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “From Bridge to Destination? Ethical Considerations Related to Withdrawal of ECMO Support over the Objections of Capacitated Patients” by Andrew Childress, et … Read More
August 18, 2023
(KFF Health News) – North Carolina hospitals — led by the state’s largest public medical system — have sued thousands of their patients since 2017, according to a new analysis that sheds additional light on the aggressive tactics U.S. hospitals … Read More
August 7, 2023
(The New Yorker) – For decades, physicians have debated whether CPR should be offered to people who suffer from the final blows of incurable illness, be it heart failure, advanced cancer, or dementia. Although CPR has become synonymous with medical … Read More
July 21, 2023
(ProPublica) – Last week, regulators rolled out enhanced oversight for new hospices in Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which pays for most of American hospice care, announced that this change was spurred by … Read More
July 17, 2023
(Nature) – Dead in California but alive in New Jersey: that was the status of 13-year-old Jahi McMath after physicians in Oakland, California, declared her brain dead in 2013, after complications from a tonsillectomy. Unhappy with the care that their … Read More
June 29, 2023
(MedPage Today) – Use of systemic anticancer therapy at the end of life (EOL) varied significantly by factors unrelated to clinical characteristics, a review of more than 50,000 patients showed. Patients who received systemic treatment 30 and 14 days before … Read More
