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

Eight Health-Care Lobbyists for each Congressman?

Hi, guys -

Just thought you might want to know . . . last year there were eight healthcare lobbyists for every Congressman/woman. And, no, it wasn't insurance companies that were the most heavily represented. It was trade, advocacy and professional organizations!! Wonder what that's all about?? How about Dunkin' Donuts lobbying against a tax on soda which would have helped fund health care reform? How about the fact that more hospitals funded lobbyists than insurance companies? How about the fact that the number of health care lobbyists in 2009 more than doubled - starting in the first quarter at 1,400 and ending the final quarter with almost 3,700! Gee whiz . . . no wonder it's a mess . . . instead of a representational government, we have a lobby-irrational government . . . in the lobby, for the lobby, by the lobby . . .

http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/1953/

Just thought you might be interested.

Carol

Massachusetts Considering End-of-Life Legislation

Hi, guys -

It has been of interest to me that the topics we have tackled as members of Harvard's Community Ethics Committee have tracked pretty consistently with what is going on "out in the world" as reflected by the press. When we reviewed organ donation on cardiac death, there were NYTimes articles on that very topic. When we talked about CPR and whether it is an advisable treatment option in every situation of cardiac arrest, lo and behold, articles appeared in the press discussing that very topic!! And now, simultaneously with our wrestling with the topic of Palliative Sedation, the Massachusetts legislature is taking up end-of-life decision-making!! I thought you might want to know!! Here's an NECN piece on it that aired Monday -

http://www.necn.com/02/22/10/Right-to-die-battle-on-Beacon-Hill/landing_newengland.html?blockID=184909&feedID=4215

What do you think??

Best -

Carol

Euthanasia in the NYTimes: BBC Host Admits Killing Ailing Partner

What do you think about this article?

BBC Host Admits Killing Ailing Partner
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/world/europe/18britain.html?scp=1&sq=Ray%20Gosling&st=cse
 
By SARAH LYALL

"The confession has put Ray Gosling, who has made hundreds of documentaries for radio and television, in the center of a furious long-running debate about euthanasia in Britain. ... Ray Gosling was arrested after he said on television that he had smothered his partner, who was ill with AIDS, long ago."

Can We Talk?

Put sixteen very different, broadly representative members of the greater Boston community together in a room and start them discussing the most emotive, profound questions you can think of. Is freedom more important than dignity? What is death? What counts as a violation of privacy? Shut the door and start the clock. How long until security needs to be called in?

In fact, my experience at the Community Ethics Committee has boosted my confidence in the possibility of genuine, constructive communication across religious, racial, age, and class spectrums about some of the pressing moral issues of our time. Naturally, sometimes we find we need to backtrack and redefine our terms – “Wait. How are we using the word ‘consent’ here?” Some questions are so thorny that we might need to go back to our communities, sleep on them (the questions, not the communities), and meet again to have another go. Often we need further input from health care providers and patients at the sharp end of all this deliberation. Of course total consensus is a rare bird, but the CEC manifests a respectful, tolerant, and frank exploration of fundamental differences that should make any believer in democracy blush with pleasure.

As one with a professional commitment to fostering effective communication, and as one jaded by the quality of much contemporary political debate, I welcome the CEC. Heck, as a human being with hope in our capacity to reason, I welcome it. Thank you, Community Ethics Committee.

Julian Willard, CEC member, 1/2/10

End of Life Care

The New York Times published an article today about palliative sedation, the medical topic we are currently evaluating.

    "Months to Live: Hard Choice for a Comfortable Death: Sedation"


    By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/health/27sedation.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
    "Inducing sleep with drugs near the end of life is a widely used treatment even as it vexes families and doctors."

Friend your doc on Facebook?

Do online friends help you cope with your illness?  Do you see value in "friending" your nurse, doctor, or care provider on Facebook or sites like Caring Bridge & Carepages? Does it concern you if your health care provider googled you?

Please let us know - we are evaulating weblog policies for the Harvard teaching hospitals & want your views represented.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=XKLs9mz5TFzoYwKU0_2fjldQ_3d_3d


Thank you for helping us!
- The Community Ethics Committee of Boston