In July, the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the world’s leading oncology association, announced the development of a new mobile app for cancer patients. This app is not intended to ease people through the treatment process, but to create a standardized...
Note: This is the last article in a series of four Wanted Dead or Alive articles on the issue of Organ Donation. Part 1 - An Overview; Part 2 - Essential Medical Terminology, Part 3 - Dead Enough to Donate. It's heart wrenching enough dealing with a loved one nearing...
Every 10 minutes, a person’s name is added to the organ transplant waiting list. Every day, approximately 80 people receive a new organ. Every day, almost 20 individuals die because they did not receive one. At the writing of this article, there were more than 120,000...
Dealing with end of life situations and the issue of organ donation are emotionally and spiritually challenging. How are these cases to be evaluated? What’s best for the individual? Should there ever be a time to consider harvesting a person’s organs? Imagine sitting by a loved one’s bedside, faced with the tremendous weight and responsibility of trying to answer those questions!
For centuries there was little debate about when a person had actually passed away. Not so today. Advances in modern medicine are truly marvelous—saving the lives of people who would have faced certain death just a few decades ago. At the same time, however, those...
Most people think advance health care directives and living wills are understandable, ironclad and followed to the letter. Many believe the purpose is simply to help health care providers carry out a patient’s wishes of how they want to be treated if they become...
Ethics Committees and Futile Care Futile Care Theory: Bioethicists Should Stop Pretending They Are Doing Patients a Favor Sunday, May 30, 2010, 5:49 PM Wesley J. Smith Allowing people to make their own informed decisions regarding the extent of end-of-life medical...
The New York Times begins to soften us for health care rationing. "Eventually, we may well have to decide against paying for expensive treatments with only modest benefits. But given how difficult that would be for this country, it makes sense to start with the easier...