Two brain-death cases
There have been two medical cases recently which involved the diagnosed brain-death of a patient. The first case is that of Jahi McMath, the 13-year old California girl who was declared brain dead by the doctors and then was handed over to her family for care. As this article in the National Catholic Register details, […]
Physicians’ Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatments
For those interested in end-of-life issues and euthanasia, Christian Brugger has an important new post on the Culture of Life blog regarding Physicians’ Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatments. His post is entitled “Legalizing Euthanasia by Omission – And Making It a Doctor’s Order .” Dr. Brugger identifies the primary issue surrounding such documents as: “POLST-type legislation […]
Italy Moves Toward Euthanasia Ban
Michael Cook at Bioedge reports on Italian efforts to ban assisted suicide and euthanasia here. The legislation would also require provision of artificially administered food and hydration when needed.
DNR’s, dementia, and assisted suicide
The Chicago Tribune has an opinion piece today entitled Do not resusictate . . . do not feel remorse. The author describes her mother’s last year of life, struggling with old age and dementia. The mother ultimately dies at home after the family refused to allow a feeding tube. The author also briefly considers how […]