Most had cancer and expressed concerns over loss of autonomy and dignity at the end of life.
NYTs on end-of-life care and the career of UW researcher Dr. Walter Stamm
“We’re finding more and more expensive ways to keep people alive. So we have to find ways to set some limits,” ethicist says.
Patients would be scored on such factors as need for ventilation, likelihood of survival, years of expected life
By Kate Steadman
August 14, 2009
The furious controversy over Medicare payments for end-of-life care counseling stems from Section 1233 in the health bill passed by three House committees.
Related article:
Doctors Providing End of Life Counseling See Benefit in Current Controversy
That language would amend the Social Security Act, which also governs Medicare, the federal program for the [...]
By Jessica Marcy
August 14, 2009
Photo Credit: Kaiser Health News
The paragraphs, buried deep in the 1,000-page House health reform bill, appear innocuous, but they have ignited a firestorm among critics predicting government-sponsored euthanasia.
The controversy, over proposed Medicare funding of end-of-life counseling, has come to epitomize some of people’s deepest fears about the government’s role in health [...]
The White House has launched a “Reality Check” Website to counter what the administration considers to be lies and distortions being spread about health-care reform plans now being considered by Congress by opponents of the measures.
The site features videos of experts addressing concerns that have been raised about rationing, euthanasia, and the effects reform might [...]
A growing number of employers give discounts to workers who take steps to improve their health, such as losing weight or lowering their cholesterol.
Proponents says such programs cut the cost of healthcare and health insurance.
But critics argue the programs are unfair to workers who might not be able to meet the targets set [...]
By Julie Rovner, NPR News
July 14, 2009
This story comes from our partner NPR
More than nearly any other issue, abortion has the potential to throw a wrench into the already fragile gears of the major health care overhaul now starting to churn on Capitol Hill.
“I take a view that there’s almost anything [that can be compromised] [...]
Seattle Children’s Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics has posted a webcast of its forum on the ethics of growth attenuation in children with profound disabilities that was held last Friday, Jan. 23rd.
This issue came to the public’s attention in 2006, when doctors from Seattle Children’s reported in the journal Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine the case of [...]
The “Ashley” case will be discussed in an open forum sponsored by Seattle Children’s Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics on Friday, Jan. 23.
In 2006, doctors from Seattle Children’s reported in the journal Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine the case of a six-year old girl with profound disabilities whose parents asked doctors to prescribe [...]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) does a poor job tracking the financial conflicts of interests researchers who test drugs and medical devices on human subjects, according to an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS).
Most drugs and medical devices used to treat patients [...]
A conference held this July in Seattle on the ethics of genetic testing of newborns and children is now available online at UWTV’s website.
The 2008 Pediatric Bioethics Conference brought together some of the nation’s top ethicists to talk about the controversies involved in testing newborns and children for genetic conditions even when there might be [...]
Today’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer features two op-ed piece taking opposing sides on Initiative 1000.
If passed, the measure, which is on this Nov. 4 ballot, would allow physicians to write prescriptions for a lethal dose of medication for terminally ill adults who wish to take their own lives.
Aida Kouyoumjian and Dr John H. Lindberg collaborated in a [...]
This November Washingtonian state voters will vote on whether to allow terminally ill adults to obtain a prescription for a lethal dose of medications to end their lives.
Supporters of the ”Death with Dignity” initiative, designated I-1000, say the measure will give the terminally ill some control over how they die.
But opponents say passage of initiative will lead [...]
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Health News from the Seattle Times