The high price of pain - The Boston Globe

The high price of pain - The Boston Globe

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NYTimes: Social Networks & the Chronically Ill

The NYTimes is discussing one of our hot topics! 

"Social Networks a Lifeline for the Chronically Ill"


By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

Online social networks have become valuable sources of information and camaraderie for people with chronic diseases or disabilities.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/technology/25disable.html?emc=eta1

Controversial new organ donation program in ERs

A new federally funded program to promote increased rates of organ donation is under scrutiny.  Advocates say it's a promising new avenue to increasing the number of organs available.  Critics are highly concerned that it crosses too many ethical boundaries.  One bioethicist called the program "ghoulish." Some worry that ER doctors' priorities may become muddled:  given the need to remove organs quickly (after death) to increase donation viability, will a patient's dying process be hastened? Will a patient's family wonder if their loved one's death was not the utmost priority?  Will doctors and care teams feel that their priorities are split between a caring death of one patient and a speedy organ retrieval to help save someone else's life?  

What do you think?  Read about the issue here:

  http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/03/21/in_the_emergency_room_a_new_ethics_dilemma/

Aging

Hi, guys -

Here are two stories that Lori passed along (she's skiing, so I'm posting!) . . .

Thursday's (March 4) "On Point" broadcast addressed a new book that's just coming out - a daughter's story of her elderly mother who decided to die after it was clear that she would deteriorate in a way that was not how she wanted to die. Among other illnesses, she had Parkinsons. In the end, after looking at different options & consulting the Hemlock Society, she decided to stop eating.

http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/03/a-mothers-life-and-death

The other story is also about aging, but it's HAPPY!

In the NYTimes "Often we imagine that life ends at the nursing home door, a myopic view that hurts the aging as well as ourselves."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/health/02case.html

Enjoy . . . you know what they say - growing old is hard but it beats the alternative by a mile!!

Enjoy your Friday,

Carol