Free Republic

Texas has a medical futility–what I call Futile Care Theory–law permitting doctors to remove wanted life-support that works from a patient based on their views about quality of life. Before that is done, patients/families are supposed to receive due process–such as it is–e.g., a hearing before a bioethics Star Chamber committee. Then, if the committee decides the treatment should end, the patient has 10 days to find a new hospital. terrymaceBut here’s the thing: I believe that once a society determines that doctors can refuse wanted efficacious life-sustaining service–that becomes the meme–and eventually the due process part goes away. That...

Americans are living longer, healthier lives—79.8 years on average—ranking 35th in the world in terms of life expectancy from birth. But where you live in the United States has a drastic impact on how far over or under the average your personal timeline will be. This illuminating map by the non-profit Measure of America shows how long you've likely got, and what country it's most similar to. Hawaiians top the longevity list with an average age of 81.3 years—equal to Barbados but still lagging far behind Japan's average of 84 years—while Mississippi is dead last with a paltry average age...

Before it had a chance to recover from a devastating earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people in 2010, Haiti was hit by a drought this past spring, followed by a tropical storm, two months of heavy rains, and eventually, Superstorm Sandy. No wonder the disaster-torn country is considered one of the worst places to live, according to a new global study of infrastructure and quality of life by New York City-based consulting firm Mercer. According to Mercer, Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s quake-ravaged capital, has the world’s worst infrastructure when judged by metrics including the availability of electricity, fresh water and public...

The book by Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche, Die Freigabe der Venrichtung lebensunwerten Lebens (allowing the destruction of life unworthy of living) which came out in Germany in 1920 has at last been translated into Italian (in English it is: Permitting the Destruction of Unworthy Life: Its Extent and Form, translated by W.E. Wright, in Issues in Law and Medicine 1992, 8:231-265). I say “at last”, because this is a text that marks a watershed. It has inspired many important reflections that are only partially explained in the introduction on 19th-century history – very concentrated at the legal level –...

THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG THE BLOG TUESDAY, AUGUST 4TH, 2009 AT 6:55 AM Facts Are Stubborn Things Posted by Macon Phillips Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, "facts are stubborn things." Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to "uncover" the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions. In this video, Linda Douglass, the communications director for the White House’s Health Reform Office, addresses one example that makes it look like the President intends to...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-national-broadband-plan Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release March 16, 2010 Statement from the President on the National Broadband Plan America today is on the verge of a broadband-driven Internet era that will unleash innovation, create new jobs and industries, provide consumers with new powerful sources of information, enhance American safety and security, and connect communities in ways that strengthen our democracy. Just as past generations of Americans met the great infrastructure challenges of the day, such as building the Transcontinental...

Los Angeles, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Gary Coleman's ex-wife said in a new interview that she pulled the plug on the actor last week because she didn't want him ending up like Terri Schiavo. The comments have sparked an outcry from pro-life advocates, who are also upset by continued mainstream media misreporting on Terri. Shannon Price told TMZ in a video interview the day after Coleman's death, "[The doctors] said even if they did take a chunk out of his brain, he would not be the same. He would be basically like Muhammed Ali.""Be in my situation. I mean, look what...

A great grandmother died just two weeks after banging her head because doctors failed to spot her broken neck. Maud Cole, 86, was admitted to hospital after a fall but medics discharged her on the same day, claiming an X-ray was unnecessary. An inquest ruled that the pensioner, who was recovering from a stroke, died of a broken neck and her family are now considering legal action against Doncaster Royal Infirmary. Retired caretaker Mrs Cole, who lived in a care home at Askern, Doncaster, was described as mobile and independent by staff. After being discharged she was readmitted to the...

In the end the young father could fight no longer. For more than a year he had made daily visits to the hospital bedside of his chronically-disabled son. For six emotional days in the High Court he had battled against the hospital - and the baby's mother - who were reluctantly seeking the right to withdraw life support. Finally, faced with overwhelming evidence, he made the 'agonising' decision to let his beloved son go. Both parents wept as the court was told he no longer opposed the hospital's application. They said later they wanted to spend 'what little time remains...

"You Don't Know Jack" is the perfect title for the upcoming HBO biopic starring Al Pacino as Death Doc Jack Kevorkian - because it is clear that many of Kevorkian's fawning interviewers don't know much about Jack. Fox News' Neil Cavuto, for example, last week introduced Kevorkian as a "Michigan physician who claims to have assisted in the suicides of at least 130 terminally ill people from 1990 to 1998." Physician? Not the kind who treats patients. Kevorkian was a pathologist until his medical license was yanked in 1991. In 1999, a Michigan jury convicted him of second-degree murder after...

"Countries are ranked across 30 distinct categories providing a rich perspective on strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. The rankings speak to qualities that compel consideration and assets that shape country reputations, perceptions and experiences. New categories to this year's rankings include best country brand for "Standard of Living," "Political Freedom" and "Advanced Technology." World's strongest brands: 1. AUS 2. CAN 3. USA 4. ITA 5. SWI/CHE 6. FRA 7. NZL 8. GBR 9. JPN 10. SWE

In a move that could lead to significant changes in medical care for older men, a national task force on Monday recommended that doctors stop screening men ages 75 and older for prostate cancer because the search for the disease in this group was causing more harm than good. The guidelines, issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, represent an abrupt policy change by an influential panel that had withheld any advice regarding screening for prostate cancer, citing a lack of reliable evidence. Though the task force still has not taken a stand on the value of screening in...

- In Sweden that is. All the same, if various experts are right, the Nordic countries are not only the richest part of the world, but also global leaders in the domain of QUALITY of life. Therefore, living in this part of Stockholm is probably as good as life gets, or? The article: "The Stockholm suburb of Danderyd is the best municipality in which to live, according to a new ranking by the magazine Fokus. Lund and nearby Lomma in southern Sweden follow closely behind. Ljusnarsberg municipality in the Bergslagen region of central Sweden ended up in last place. The...

Teenagers should be given the right to medically assisted suicide and the parents of terminally ill younger children should be able to choose euthanasia under proposals from members of Belgium's coalition government. The plans to extend rules allowing doctors to perform euthanasia on terminally ill people suffering "constant and unbearable physical or psychological pain" comes amid heated Belgian debate on the issue. Under existing Belgian laws, in place since 2002, patients, other than newborn babies, must be over 18 to qualify for assisted suicide, a situation that Bart Tommelein, leader of Belgium Liberals, wants changed. Mr Tommelein, whose party is...

The United Kingdom has been ranked as one of the most stable and prosperous countries in the world, beating the United States, France and even Switzerland in a global assessment of every nation’s achievements and standards. A one-year investigation and analysis of 235 countries and dependent territories has put the UK joint seventh in the premier league of nations. The top ten comprise also the Vatican, Sweden, Luxembourg, Monaco, Gibraltar, San Marino, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands and the Irish Republic. The US lies 22nd and Switzerland, normally associated with wealth and untouchable stability, is rated 17th, losing points in the assessment...

Initiatives to encourage people to live healthier, longer lives are just creating a different set of problems. A medical friend once told me that if everybody in the UK were to stop smoking, the NHS would collapse. I thought she was offering that old chestnut about smokers and drinkers handing over billions to the state in tax, but it was more subtle argument than that. Her point was that it's much cheaper to treat a 50-year-old who's taking 18 months to die of lung cancer than it is to treat a 90-year-old who's spent the last 20 years slowly fading...

BORREGO SPRINGS ---- Aiming to place a so-called quality-of-life sales tax on the county ballot in 2010, regional politicians gathered Thursday to discuss whether the measure should target ocean pollution, beach sand replenishment, open space or public transit ---- or all of the above. After a full day of airing ideas on the topic at the San Diego Association of Governments' annual retreat in the eastern San Diego County desert town of Borrego Springs, no clear consensus emerged. Many elected officials attending the three-day workshop, which concludes today, agreed that a new sales tax ranging from a quarter cent to...

For some people, ending a pregnancy is the only way to keep on living Yael Mishali Published: 12.26.07, 00:39 / Israel Opinion Abortion is a type of murder; I have no doubt about that. In this context we can debate over questions such as the duration of a pregnancy and when exactly do several cells turn into a person with a soul, but I have no interest in doing that. I accept the universal assumption that as of a certain moment, we are talking about a real person, and “aborting it” is a type of murder. And still, as a...

Being broke need not mean social death in Sweden - as long as you are well-educated. But for Americans and Russians having a good all-round education is no substitute for having cash, according to a new survey on status symbols in the three countries. The international survey by analysts United Minds asked 1,000 people in each country what values confer status. 'Bling' items such as expensive jewellery and designer clothes come well down the list for Swedes, while featuring more highly for Americans and, particularly, Russians. "Sweden is the only country where you can be penniless but well-read and still...

In bars, restaurants and homes across Sweden champagne is flowing in abundance as Swedes enjoy a seemingly endless thirst for the bubbly beverage, spurred by a gastronomic "revolution" and a rosy economy. Champagne sales at stores run by the alcohol distribution monopoly Systembolaget are expected to hit an all-time high of one million bottles this year, excluding sales in bars and restaurants. That figure can be compared to 738,000 bottles sold last year and 287,000 a decade ago. "Drinking champagne is usual now and it's common not only at the weekend or to celebrate a special event, it's an everyday...