Get to Know: IlluminAge Communication Partners

IlluminAge Communication Partners - Seattle, Washington. The smart choice for outsourcing your web, print and multimedia projects.: IlluminAge Communications Partners – connecting you to older adults, caregivers and professionals in healthcare and aging. Better communications, both online and off, begin with a true understanding of your audience and the content they need. We have both, and can help you send your message through your website, print or online newsletter, video, or informative booklet or brochure.

Experts raise concerns over new unborn baby test

Experts raise concerns over new unborn baby test | News | The Christian Institute: A blood test that could allow genetic abnormalities to be detected early on in pregnancy has been met with caution over concerns it could lead to more abortions. The technique allows an unborn child’s entire genetic code to be “mapped” by examining the mother’s blood.

Peter Saunders, Chief Executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, warned that the new technique could eventually be used to abort “individual babies with special needs.”

New palliative care funding system needed

New palliative care funding system needed : The Lancet: With aging populations and their associated chronic diseases, the demands for end-of-life care have risen sharply. However, palliative care is often poorly coordinated, even in the UK, which ranks top among 40 countries in a recent report. Palliative care should be the responsibility of every health professional, whereas for most health professionals there is limited training in end-of-life care. Moreover,of 500 000 deaths each year, only 18% of people die at home, yet 66% of those surveyed would like to do so.

Genetic tests could prevent those like me being born at all

Genetic tests could prevent those like me being born at all - Telegraph: "I have multiple sclerosis, which, though it has a genetic component, is not a single-gene disease and so cannot be detected in DNA. But just suppose that it could be. It is easy to understand how, under a policy that allowed abortion for any genetic defect, someone like me would have been aborted. And yet, I certainly think I have had, and still have, a life worth living, and I can’t accept that a diagnosis that a foetus would develop MS could be grounds for terminating it."

Narcotic Painkillers May Pose Danger to Elderly Patients

Narcotic Painkillers May Pose Danger to Elderly Patients, Study Says - NYTimes.com: Older patients with arthritis who take narcotic-based drugs to relieve pain face a higher risk of bone fracture, heart attack and death when compared to those taking non-narcotic drugs, according to a government-financed study published Monday.

Jewish Groups Revive Rituals of Caring for Dead

Jewish Groups Revive Rituals of Caring for Dead - NYTimes.com: The Jewish protocol for tending to the dead governs almost every interaction between the living and the deceased from the moment of death until burial. The ritual, which has been part of religious law for two millenniums, mandates the protection of the physical and spiritual remains.

Disabled child had a "right" to be aborted

Press review from 29th of November to 03rd of December 2010: The Brussels Court of Appeal ruled that a child, represented by his parents, could claim damages from physicians for the injury of being born disabled. 'Certainly, the misdiagnosis did not cause the child's disability, which existed before the error and which could not be remedied,' the Court considered. 'However, the injury which must be compensated is not the disability itself, but the fact of being born with such disabilities.'

For the Court, the child would have had 'right' to an abortion if the disability had been correctly diagnosed. Indeed, by making 'therapeutic abortion' part of Belgian law, 'the legislator must have intended to allow women to avoid giving birth to children with serious abnormalities, having regard not only to the interests of the mother, but also to those of the unborn child itself.' A similar judgment had been rendered on 21st April 2004 by the Brussels lower court for a Down’s Syndrome child.

Advice for Veterans: Disability Claims and Appeals

Jeremy M. Johnson, Client Relations Director with Plachta, Murphy & Associates, P.C., writes: Many veterans with service-related disabilities often have claims either denied or assigned a lower percentage rating than the facts of the case warrant. There is help: Our Attorneys and Government Benefits Specialists will coordinate with a veteran's medical team and navigate the bureaucracy of the VA on your behalf. Our team members will use their experience with the bureaucracy of the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as their industry contacts, to navigate the rules and regulations to more effectively advocate on behalf of veterans. We help veterans avoid delays and mistakes, and work to ensure the best appeal possible.

Service Connected Injury
VA regulations require the Department to provide benefits to those who have been injured while in military service. Service Connection is the common term for these benefits. The injury or illness does not have to be caused by combat. To count as a Service Connection-eligible injury, it only needs to be incurred while on active service or under military orders.

Disability Compensation
Compensation benefits are paid monthly. The benefit depends on the level of severity of the disability. The VA assigns the severity a "percentage disabled" number called the disability rating. Amounts paid can range from $123 to $2,673 per month -- or more if very severe conditions exist. This is not an income-based benefit. We encourage any veteran who believes he or she has an injury from their service to apply for disability compensation, especially since there is typically no statute of limitations for these claims.

Vietnam Era
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs has recently established a service connection for Vietnam Veterans with three specific illnesses based on the latest evidence of an association with the herbicides referred to as "Agent Orange." The illnesses are B cell leukemia’s (such as hair cell leukemia), Parkinson's disease, and ischemic heart disease. Veterans who served in Vietnam during the war and who have a "presumed" illness don't have to prove an association between their illnesses and their military service: this simplifies and speeds up the application process for benefits.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Sometimes disabilities are visible to all. But there are also times where pain is hidden deep inside. The stress of combat can linger for years before any problems are apparent. One of the most common diagnoses of combat veterans is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Compensation can be paid for PTSD, but the veteran must take the initiative by filing a claim for benefits.

For more information and eligibility requirements please visit http://pmalawpc.com/va.html or contact Government Benefits Specialist Rick Cross at (616) 458-3994.

Swiss Court Effectively Legalizes Active Euthanasia

Swiss Court Effectively Legalizes Active Euthanasia » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: Wesley Smith: "I have warned and warned that legalizing assisted suicide leads directly to permitting active euthanasia, as I once put it, like the left leg follows the right, while walking. And now, in Switzerland, a court has taken the poisonous leap."

MT Supreme Court legalizes assisted suicide

Montana became the third state where physician assisted suicide is “legal.” However, it is the first state where this change occurred as a result of a court decision, as opposed to legislative action. Federalist Society

Cutting human beings

Articles & Commentary: Arizona attempted to save money by curtailing expensive procedures that were believed to be relatively ineffective. From the standpoint of hard choices and cold calculation, this principle is defensible. But there is little reason to believe that Arizona undertook the time-consuming and painstaking data collection and cost-benefit analyses that should inform such policy change. Instead, it clumsily targeted a discrete group of people with names and faces who will die without a standard procedure that is proven to be successful in so many cases.

Watch Out! New Problems Coming Your Way

Watch Out! New Problems Coming Your Way: One way or another, either by panels that set standards or fiscal incentives, the next 5 years are going to hold rationing and allocation of resources as a key ethical challenge for physicians, both general practitioners and for specialists.

Nazi war crimes provide lessons in medical ethics

amednews: Nazi war crimes provide lessons in medical ethics :: Dec. 6, 2010 ... American Medical News: German physicians and scientists helped carry out the regime's policies. What can today's doctors learn from this tragic history?

In the 1930s and 1940s, hundreds of German medical professionals took part in a euthanasia program that targeted children younger than 3 years old with severe birth defects. Doctors and midwives were required to report such cases, and parents were told that advanced care could be given to children at 30 special pediatric wards around Germany. Instead, the children were murdered, usually with sedatives. Physicians drew up falsified death certificates, and parents were told their children died of natural causes such as pneumonia. An estimated 5,000 children fell victim to physicians and other medical professionals who went from healers to killers.

These actions were far from the exception in Nazi Germany. As evil as these actions appear in retrospect, they arose out of a highly sophisticated German medical culture. More than half of the Nobel Prizes that were awarded in science through the 1930s went to Germans. Where German medicine then went wrong is that physicians began to view improving the health of the "body politic" as a whole as their principal aim.

Danish Cytogenetic Registry shows all time low number of Downs Syndrome births

26 out of 160 born in 2009. You don't need to read Danish to know this is a horrible statistic. Ja till Livet

Belgium study finds that nearly half of all euthanasia deaths unreported.

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition: Belgium euthanasia: Study finds that nearly half of all euthanasia deaths unreported. Recently, retired Belgian euthanasia activist Jan bernheim toured Quebec telling audiences that the Belgium euthanasia law is operating without any problems or abuses. Yet, a study recently published in the British Medical Journal found that nearly half of all euthanasia deaths in the Flanders region of Belgium were not reported. Another study published in the CMAJ in May 2010 that indicated that 32% of all euthanasia deaths in the Flanders region of Belgium were without request or consent suggests that the Belgium euthanasia model is out-of-control.

Paralyzed accident victim fights for right to die

Paralyzed accident victim fights for right to die - JSOnline: For the last year and a half, Dan Crews has battled Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa, IL, to remove his ventilator. Hospital psychiatrists and mental health professionals say he is depressed and must be treated for it before they will consider such an irrevocable step, according to his medical records. Crews said his desire to die stems not from his depression, but from his poor quality of life and the low odds that it will ever improve.

Crews' desire to die is not uncommon for people with spinal cord injuries, who often struggle to gain control over their own lives. Their suicide rate is two to six times that of the general population, depending on their specific situation. Their inability to end their lives themselves often compounds their sense of helplessness.

Yet stories like Crews' are troubling to disability rights activists. They argue his quality of life doesn't have to be inherently bad; rather, they say, society doesn't provide the resources for Crews and others to live a satisfying life.

'A robot is like a friend' in Japan

BBC News - 'A robot is like a friend' in Japan: Japan is pioneering robot technology to help make everyday life easier for people with disabilities. Pioneering inventions include a robot guide for the blind, and robotic legs which can help disabled people stand up and walk.

The Ethicist - Kidney Punch

The Ethicist - Kidney Punch - NYTimes.com: "My father-in-law suffers from chronic kidney disease and expects to need a transplant in the not-too-distant future. He does not wish either of his adult children or me to donate a kidney, on the grounds that even in our late 30s, we are too young and might need our other kidney at some point down the road. Instead, he plans to add his name to the recipient list and wait his turn. May we ignore his wishes and anonymously donate a kidney when the time comes?"

Margo MacDonald's End of Life Assistance Bill rejected

BBC News - Margo MacDonald's End of Life Assistance Bill rejected: The Scottish Parliament has rejected plans to give terminally ill people the right to choose when to die, despite claims they were widely backed. Independent MSP Margo MacDonald's End of Life Assistance Bill aimed to make it legal for someone to seek help to end his or her life. Ms MacDonald, who has Parkinson's disease, claimed there was wide public support for the legislation.

Euthanasia: a nurse admits killing

Euthanasia: a nurse admits killing live - AOL News The audience of a talk-back radio show on France Inter had frissons d'horreur recently when a caller named Cécile, a 70-year-old retired nurse admitted that she had euthanased several people. "I gave several people who were suffering euthanasia," she told the show's host, "and I made the decision all by myself."

Whether or not Cecile's confession was true, it sparked a debate on the show. The secular humanist philosopher Luc Ferry was outraged. "This is a scandal," he said. "I prefer for this to be a team decision and for the children or the partners of the person who is going to die be involved.... Someone's life cannot belong to a third person." The program's callers, however, were broadly supportive of euthanasia.

Spanish nursing home orderly admits 11 killings

BBC News - Spanish nursing home orderly admits 11 killings: Joan Vila, 45, said he poisoned them with bleach, an overdose of insulin or drugs at the home in the north-eastern town of Olot. He had confessed to killing three residents 'to end their suffering' when he was arrested in October. He then told a judge on Tuesday that he had killed another eight.

Concern over assisted suicide commission

Concern over assisted suicide commission | News | The Christian Institute: A commission, which will tomorrow begin investigating the law on assisted suicide, is not ‘independent’, critics have said. The Commission on Assisted Dying is backed by a pro-euthanasia group and will be chaired by a Peer who has previously tried to weaken the law on assisted suicide.

The beauty of 'nice'

Andrea Simantov: The beauty of 'nice': I recently co-planned a two-day charity event for my organization, and I'll admit on these pages (only to you) that I'm still not my perky self after many months of preparation. Literally day and night my cohort and I attempted to work out every detail and foresee potential 'glitches' before they occurred. There was an inordinate amount of list-making and record keeping in addition to hundreds of back-and-forth correspondences. But our end-goal was clear and, despite the stress, the joy in what we do and for whom we do it seemed downright corny. Several times a day the two of us would race throughout the building in order to 'high-five,' hug and wave to the special-needs children we promote in an effort to keep both the mission and goal of this particular project fresh in our minds.

Latimer granted full parole after murdering disabled daughter

Latimer granted full parole after murdering disabled daughter | LifeSiteNews.com: Robert Latimer, the infamous Canadian euthanasiast who murdered his disabled twelve-year-old daughter in 1993, has been granted full parole. Meanwhile, Swedish parents jailed for spanking; children seized.

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Student News Team Launches "Brave Old World"

Student News Team Launches "Brave Old World": Ten student reporters from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism produced a series of in-depth multimedia investigative reports on the elderly, depicting the complex dimensions of aging. The project involved comprehensive research to address a subject of growing importance to Americans: to show how communities may adapt to meet the needs of a growing elderly population. These informative segments include:

• “How We Live Now,” a series of six video portraits showing the places and circumstances in which seniors are carrying out their days.
• “Growing Old in Three Minutes,” short videos drawing from the latest science, which demonstrate the impact of aging on the body’s senses.
• “What We Know About Dementia,” a report on the impending crisis, including interviews with Alzheimer’s patients themselves.
• “Welcome to Elderland,” an animated illustration of how communities can adapt to an aging population."

Society Ignores Terri Schiavo But Health Care Rationing Not Going Away

Society Ignores Terri Schiavo But Health Care Rationing Not Going Away | LifeNews.com: Last week, former U.S. President, George W. Bush released a memoir called “Decision Points.” He revisits a number of official and personal events, as well as choices that shaped both his presidency and his attitudes in private life.

Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo, "was disappointed to learn that Bush’s actions in March of 2005—that led to the passage of Terri’s Law—were not a part of this account. . . . President Bush left his home in Texas—in the middle of the night—to return to Washington, DC, in order to sign this bill into law."

Some would praise him as a pro-life hero and a friend to the disabled. Others sharply criticized him for involving himself in a state circuit case. Yet nearly all would remark that his actions were extraordinary and historic. Why, then, has Bush not recounted that experience in his memoir?

Bad Dog. Good Life.

Bad Dog. Good Life. - What Helps. What Hurts. What Heals. - CarePages: Last night, David and I were not exactly at each other’s throats, but things were, let’s say, tense. Bean, our terrier mix “Beanometer” (a great guage of emotion), reacted by cowering behind my legs, as he always does when David or I feel angry or anxious. Poor little guy. And poor Penny Too, our recently adopted 8 year-old Chihuahua mix. Something was off. . . . Then I realized what was really happening. The next morning, David was to get his first stress test since his heart attack last year.

Endless Doctors

Endless Doctors - Emotional Health – CarePages Discussion Forums: "I am 14 years old. I have numerous medical issues. Which doctors believe have a single cause. But none of them know what. I have seen an uncountable amount of different doctors. I know exactly how it feels to have doctors that don’t try hard enough. If one of my doctors can’t figure something out they pass it on to another doctor. I have my good days and my bad days. But, I’ve learned that if I trust god and have faith it’s a whole lot easier to deal with. I am here to let others in my situation know that hope is the most important thing."

Letters of Love

Letters of Love - Parenting – CarePages Discussion Forums: Rebbecca was struggling with cancer. I was inspired and very much wanted to help the family. So I informed my Teen Leadership class of her story. We all were involved and made cards and letters for me to send to the family. Not only did we send letters to Rebbecca, but also her little brother and sister. The kids were thrilled by this! Rebbecca’s mom would send me letters explaining the excitement of the children and how they would wait each day for the mail to arrive. We supplied something for the kids to smile about.

Helping Kids Handle Cancer

Helping Kids Handle Cancer | Taking Care | CarePages.com: Twice each week Christine Grimaldi takes ten of her "kids" out to dinner. To each other, the members of this dinner club are friends, allies and fellow warriors who’ve battled a common enemy: cancer. Some are in treatment, others finished only a few months ago, still others are in remission, inching their way to that five-year survival mark. The table talk at these gatherings centers on life during and after cancer.

Perfect Gifts for Hospital Visits

Perfect Gifts for Hospital Visits - CarePages.com: These ideas will help you choose gifts for a friend or family member who's in the hospital or recovering that will brighten their spirits and help ease their recovery.

Scots end-of-life Bill is ‘dangerous’

Scots end-of-life Bill is ‘dangerous’, say GPs | News | The Christian Institute: Writing to The Scotsman, 47 doctors cautioned that, if the bill was passed, people may consider assisted suicide or euthanasia if they felt they were a “burden” on their families. The GPs said they could not support any provisions which may encourage patients to believe “that they have lost their inherent dignity or which may imply, however subtly, that society might be better off without them.”

A chronically ill bioethicist tackles euthanasia

For Melbourne bioethicist Nicholas Tonti-Filippini euthanasia is more than academic. He is in chronic pain with a terminal illness. Earlier this week he published an open letter to the Premier of South Australia, Mike Rann, urging him not to support Voluntary Euthanasia Bill 2010. (It was defeated yesterday.) Dr Tonti-Filippini's professional credentials are impressive. He was Australia's first hospital bioethicist and is a member of the Australian Health Ethics Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council and chair of the sub-committees on the Unresponsive State and Comercialization of Human Tissue. Read it in full here. 

Is it "mercy killing" or abuse?

Roy Charles Laird, 88, was arrested this week after allegedly shooting his 86-year-old wife, Clara Laird, in her nursing home. The couple's daughter described the act as a "mercy killing". Laird staunchly persisted in feeding and bathing his wife, Clara, 86, as dementia and crippling illness took away her ability to walk, sit up, feed herself or recognise visitors, according to the daughter. LA Times

Alex Schadenberg, a regular blogger on euthanasia, takes an interesting perspective. He quotes a recent study entitled "Domestic Homicide and Homicide-Suicide: The Older Offender", published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. The study states that "lethal violence is often a result of long-term abusive behavior by a man against his female partner" and that "spousal violence often continues into old age". The report continues, "it is important to note that the perpetrators of previous domestic violence cannot be established from available police reports. It should also be noted that, for various reasons, the prevalence of domestic violence is likely to be higher than reports indicate and that the apparent association with spousal homicide would therefore also be underreported."

Screening efforts have genocidal aims

Garth George : Screening efforts have genocidal aims - Opinion - NZ Herald News: A group of New Zealand parents and pro-lifers believe that antenatal screening for Down syndrome violates Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, because it imposes measures intended to prevent births within a specific human group. They say it discriminates against people with Down syndrome and that it is in violation of the Crimes Act 1961.

Experts on aging ponder best way to reduce disabilities

Experts on aging ponder best way to reduce disabilities - USATODAY.com: "No canes or walkers for me, thank you."
How to make that wish a reality for aging Baby Boomers will be one of dozens of health issues that aging experts will address at the 65th annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America beginning Friday in New Orleans.

Disabilities — expected to reach record numbers as the nation's 77 million baby boomers begin to grow old — could cut into their quality of life and put a huge burden on caregivers. The size of the older population is expected to swell to 90 million by 2050, nearly triple the current number.

Surrogate decision-makers' dilemma on end-of-life care requires more input from doctors

amednews: Surrogate decision-makers' dilemma on end-of-life care requires more input from doctors :: Nov. 15, 2010 ... American Medical News: Physicians and hospitals have failed surrogate decision-makers by hewing too closely to a protocol that delegates these life-and-death choices entirely to family members. The hands-off approach to surrogate decision-making 'leaves them hanging in the wind, saying, 'It's your decision,' said Dr. Sulmasy, associate director of the University of Chicago's MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. 'This is not like a menu in a restaurant. They need and ought to have some guidance in these decisions.'

Leaving choices in the laps of surrogates is especially problematic because they often do not have an advance directive to help them decide. Exploring patients' values can help physicians make appropriate clinical recommendations.

Editor: This is why BFL developed the Protective Medical Decisions Declaration, available at http://www.bfl.org/Services-Resources/LIFT/Protective-Medical-Decisions-Declaration-(PMDD).aspx.

The Inglis appeal judgment is a fascinating revelation into how euthanasia works

John Smeaton, SPUC director: The Inglis appeal judgment is a fascinating revelation into how euthanasia works: The statement by the presiding judge is significant:

'We must also emphasise that the law does not recognise the concept implicit in the defence statement that Thomas Inglis was 'already dead in all but a small physical degree'. The fact is that he was alive, a person in being. However brief the time left for him, that life could not lawfully be extinguished. Similarly, however disabled Thomas might have been, a disabled life, even a life lived at the extremes of disability, is not one jot less precious than the life of an able-bodied person. Thomas's condition made him especially vulnerable, and for that among other reasons, whether or not he might have died within a few months anyway, his life was protected by the law, and no one, not even his mother, could lawfully step in and bring it to a premature conclusion.'

Repackaging death as life: The "Third Path" to imposed death

LifeTree: A major transformation of traditional medical ethics is taking place. What was once unthinkable has become acceptable, and no one really knows why. In the last half of the 20th century a multi-million dollar social engineering and marketing project financed by foundations and directed by bioethics think tanks has normalized the withdrawal of ordinary care.

Editor: A must-read on the history of the euthanasia movement.

Two-Thirds of Britons Support Legal Euthanasia

Two-Thirds of Britons Support Legal Euthanasia: Angus Reid Poll: An Angus Reid poll found that 67 percent of 2,015 adult respondents support legalizing outright euthanasia in the UK. Fifty-five percent said they believe parents who “assist a terminally ill son or daughter to die should not be punished,” and 58 percent think “people who help a person to commit suicide should not be prosecuted.” Eighty-three percent said that euthanasia would give suffering people “an opportunity to ease their pain” and 77 percent believed it would “establish clearer guidelines” for doctors to deal with end-of-life decisions. Only 30 percent said that legalizing euthanasia would “send the message that the lives of the sick or disabled are less valuable.”

Krugman: Death Panels Will Fix Debt Crisis

Krugman: Death Panels, VAT Will Fix Debt Crisis: Paul Krugman, NY Times columnist, apparently thinks death panels could be one way the federal government will be able to keep soaring medical costs under control as baby boomers enter retirement. Video

Editor: I thought there was no such thing as death panels in Obamacare.

Is activists' favourite suicide drug "torturous"?

It is unlikely to derail activists, but the drug of choice for assisted suicide activists is being described as "untested, [and] potentially dangerous, and could well result in a torturous execution" of an Oklahoma man on death row. The state has run out of thiopental sodium, which is used for lethal injections in the US. Hence it want to use pentobarbital - also known as Nembutal - which is used for putting down animals. But John David Duty's lawyers claim that this could constitute cruel and unusual punishment. It may not thoroughly anaesthetise prisoners and may cause them severe pain.

This puts an interesting twist on euthanasia rhetoric. "I wouldn't let a dog suffer like that" is a familiar argument for assisted suicide activists like Philip Nitschke, of Exit International, or Ludwig Minelli, of Dignitas. So they offer their clients Nembutal. Now, however, it turns out, Nembutal might make you suffer like the proverbial dog. Wall Street Journal, Nov 9, BioEdge.org

Euthanasia: The musical

It had to happen: a musical about euthanasia. Of course, nearly every film coming out of Bollywood is a musical, but director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has tried to make Guzaarish (The Request) a lush melodrama with Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai in the lead roles.

The plot, as in most musicals is not the most important element. An impossibly handsome Goan magician - the world's greatest - becomes a quadriplegic attended by an impossibly beautiful and devoted nurse. After 14 years in a wheelchair, he wants to die. His mother, an apprentice magician, and an old flame enter the plot as well. It culminates in a courtroom drama. With dancing. And songs. BioEdge.org

Dr Death: body parts for sale on internet

Dr Death: body parts for sale on internet by controversial anatomist Gunther von Hagens - Telegraph: The German entrepreneur whose Body Worlds exhibitions showed human cadavers in lifelike poses has told clients they will be able to buy the fleshless corpses which he injects with plastic resin over the internet.

Steep rise in official Dutch euthanasia

The 2009 annual report of the five regional euthanasia review committees notes that the number of euthanasia cases has been increasing steadily, by about 10% a year, since 2006. The chairman of the committees finds this puzzling. "It is not possible to pinpoint exact causes," he says. The government has commissioned a study into the matter.

This year's report has to be interpreted carefully. Although the committees only found nine cases (out of the 2,636) in which the physician had not heeded the rules for administering euthanasia, it also mentions that one possible reason for the rise in cases is "a growing willingness to notify". In other words (as other studies have shown), an unknown number of Dutch doctors euthanase patients and do not report it.

Another worrying feature of the highly bureaucratised procedure is that the committees cannot cope with the paperwork. "The secretaries are overburdened and, despite working at maximum efficiency, are now forced to focus on their core task - supporting the committees in reviewing notified cases of termination of life - with the result that other tasks are not performed," says the report. BioEdge.org

What Doctors Think About Assisted Suicide

What Doctors Think About Assisted Suicide, Romance With Patients and Organ-Selling - Health Blog - WSJ: A plurality of respondents — 46% — were in favor of physician-assisted suicide in some cases. But 41% were opposed (the rest said “it depends”) and responses ranged from “I’d want it for me when the need arises” to “Assisted suicide is murder.” A majority of respondents (55%) said they wouldn’t halt life-sustaining therapy if they thought it was premature, even if the family demanded it.

Katie Beckett: Patient Turned Home-Care Advocate

After more than two years living in St. Luke's Methodist Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Katie Beckett's family reached the limit of what its private insurance would pay for Katie's care. Medicaid, the state and federal health insurance for the needy, started picking up the cost of that expensive breathing machine and other care. But Medicaid would pay only as long as the little girl lived in the pediatric intensive care unit at the hospital.

Beckett's parents, Julie and Mark, said they wanted their daughter at home. The girl's doctors agreed, saying she needed to grow up in a more normal environment than a hospital room. At first, federal officials refused to make an exception. But then Reagan was told about the family. A few days later at a press conference on Nov. 10, 1981, Reagan expressed his anger at what he called an example of a cold bureaucracy.

It cost six times as much for the girl to live in the hospital, the president said, and "this spending most of her life there and away from the home atmosphere is detrimental to her. Now, by what sense do we have a regulation in government that says we'll pay $6,000 a month to keep someone in a hospital that we believe would be better off at home, but the family cannot afford one-sixth that amount to keep them at home?"

President Reagan changed the Medicaid rules and Katie Beckett left that Iowa hospital and went home in time for Christmas. Shortly after, the government allowed exceptions in other states so that parents like the Becketts, who made too much money to qualify for Medicaid, could be covered for their children with extreme medical costs.

Families Fight To Care For Disabled Kids At Home

NPR News Investigation: Families Fight To Care For Disabled Kids At Home : NPR: 'I've had doctors, a couple of doctors, who have questioned a decision about doing something for Olivia, kind of on the basis of: Is she worth it? I've looked them in the eye and said, 'Don't you dare say that to me. Do you have children? What would you do for your child?' I think society can look at a person like Olivia and say, 'What can she contribute?'' Tamara Welter blinks back tears and then talks about how her daughter responds when her parents or nurses walk into a room — by glancing at them with her eyes and flailing her arms.

For anyone who suffers 'put downs'

A Life Beyond Reason

A Life Beyond Reason - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education: I agree with Rabbi Harold Kushner when he writes and talks about bad things happening to good people: August's disability does not form a part of 'God's plan' and does not serve as a tool for God to teach me or anyone else wisdom. What kind of a God would it be, anyway, to deprive my boy of speech and movement just to instruct me? A cruel and arbitrary God. August's disabilities are not a blessing; but neither are they a divine curse. To traffic in a cosmic economy of blessings and curses is to revert to an ancient prejudice. Indeed, even though August's disabilities offer ample opportunity for public interpretation, they do not mean anything at all in and of themselves—they have no intrinsic significance. They simply are what they are.

That is not to deny that August, along with my daughter and my wife, is the most amazing and wonderful thing that has ever happened to me, for he has allowed me an additional opportunity to profoundly love another human being.

Home Or Nursing Home: America's Empty Promise To Give Elderly, Disabled A Choice

There's been a quiet revolution in the way the elderly and young people with disabilities get long-term health care. A new legal right has emerged for people in the Medicaid program to get that care at home, not in a nursing home. States, slowly, have started spending more on this "home and community based care." But there are barriers to change: Federal policies are contradictory and states face record budget deficits. As a result, for many in nursing homes — or trying to avoid entering one — this means the promise to live at home remains an empty promise. National Public Radio

Why Not College for the Disabled?

Why Not College for the Disabled? | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction: Russ Kinkade holds up a pen. If it were broken, he says, he would toss it. 'So if you objectify people and see they are broken, then it makes logical sense that you would discard them,' concludes Kinkade, executive vice president of Shepherds Ministries.

Located south of Milwaukee, the nonprofit Christian organization has 53 years of experience in overcoming the perception that people with disabilities have little to contribute to society and thus can be discarded.

In 2008, the ministry launched Shepherds College, the nation's first faith-based residential college exclusively for students with intellectual disabilities. At the end of the current academic year, Shepherds, a three-year program, will graduate its first class.

Canadians Worry about Vulnerable People if Euthanasia is Legalized

Canadians Worry about Vulnerable People if Euthanasia is Legalized: Poll: A year of public debate about legal euthanasia has left Canadians with concerns about how vulnerable people - those who are elderly, depressed, disabled or chronically ill - will fare if the law changes. A new pollhas found that although 59% said they support legal euthanasia, the number who “strongly support” it has declined by 3 points since last year. Almost two-thirds, 63%, are worried that elderly Canadians would feel pressure to accept euthanasia to reduce health care costs, up from 57% in 2009. Canadians are also worried about people being euthanized without their consent.

End-of-Life Care for Patients With Advanced Dementia

End-of-Life Care for Patients With Advanced Dementia - NYTimes.com: “People with dementia get sicker inch by inch,” said Lin Simon, director of quality at Gilchrist Hospice in Baltimore, the largest hospice organization in Maryland. “Trying to say, ‘Now, she’s ready for hospice’ is much harder.”

Study Casts Doubt on Hospice Admission Criteria for Patients With Dementia

Study Casts Doubt on Hospice Admission Criteria for Patients With Dementia - healthfinder.gov: Many people with advanced dementia aren't getting much-needed hospice care because the admission criteria is flawed. Dementia is a leading cause of death in the U.S., and hospice care can benefit patients with dementia. The main hindrance to getting palliative [comfort] care is guidelines that try to guide practitioners to wait until an estimated life expectancy of six months. Such end-of-life predictions are difficult to make with certainty in dementia cases. Instead of using life expectancy as the requirement for admission, hospice care for dementia patients should be offered based on the patient's and family's desire for comfort care.

Hope is More Powerful Than Death

Assisted Suicide Advocates Forget Hope a More Powerful Force Than Death | LifeNews.com: The choice to end one’s life is not an exercise of freedom; it is ultimately a manifestation of loss and despair. The desire to end a painful health condition is one reason for a suicidal tendency, but there are ways to eliminate pain without killing the patient.

Dying patient heard his unborn grandson's heartbeat

Dying patient heard his unborn grandson's heartbeat after a nurse arranged for his daughter to have a scan at his bedside - mirror.co.uk: Vicci Smith Scott, 40, was seven months' pregnant when doctors warned her that dad Roy Smith, 83, had just hours to live. Intensive care sister Sandra Wood arranged a scan so Roy could hear the unborn baby boy. A Doppler machine, which detects a child's heartbeat, was brought to his room and Vicci sat beside her dad as her child's heartbeat was monitored. Roy died just two hours later.

Vermont Gov. Candidate Vows to Legalize Assisted Suicide if Elected

Vermont Gov. Candidate Vows to Legalize Assisted Suicide if Elected: The Democratic candidate for governor of Vermont has told a pro-euthanasia lobby group that he would push to decriminalize the actions of those who help others kill themselves. 'I support end of life choices,' said gubernatorial candidate Peter Shumlin in a September interview.

Shumlin sympathetically described an encounter he had with a cancer-stricken woman who expressed a wish to be able to kill herself legally. 'I can't imagine in my wildest dreams why government would get in between that woman ... and her doctor,' he said. Shumlin highlighted that his Republican opponent, Brian Dubie, opposes assisted suicide as well as abortion, which the Democrat vowed he would 'defend until my dying day.'

Editor: Oh, the irony of that last statement.

The real meaning of rationing

Rationing already takes place in many ways in health care. Managed care is exactly a form of rationing in which a private insurer determines whether patients should or should not receive services. In addition, private sector rationing injects profit motives into the calculations. The recent debate over health care has centered around who should do the rationing: private enterprises, often driven by profit or other private objectives, or government officials who are easily characterized as motivated by the immediate political returns of lower taxes or hiding the true shortcomings of services they administer. JAMA

Nurse caught on CCTV turning off paralysed patient's life support machine

Nurse caught on CCTV turning off paralysed patient's life support machine - Telegraph: Violeta Aylward, an agency nurse working for the NHS, was caught on camera turning off the ventilator keeping quadriplegic Jamie Merrett alive. The 37-year-old, left paralysed from the neck down following a car accident in 2002, had a bedside camera set up at his home after becoming concerned about the standard of care he was receiving.

Footage recorded only a few days after it was installed shows Miss Aylward fiddling with the ventilator before a high-pitched warning tone sounds, indicating it is switched off. Mr Merrett is then left fighting for life as the nurse panics about what to do next, unable to restart the ventilator or properly operate resuscitation equipment. It was not until 21 minutes later that paramedics who rushed to the scene managed to turn the life support machine back on. But by that time, Mr Merrett had suffered serious brain damage.

A message of hope

St. Nazaire.maville.com A message of hope

France has just awarded the Légion d'honneur to a woman who has been a locked-in quadriplegic for 30 years. Maryannick Pavageau received the distinction for her battle against euthanasia.

Mme Pavageau is a member of the Association of Locked-in Syndrome (ALIS) and contributed to the 2008 Leonetti commission report about euthanasia in France. "All life is worth living," she told the newspaper. It can be beautiful, regardless of the state we are in. And change is always possible. That is the message of hope that I wish to convey. I am firmly against euthanasia because it is not physical suffering that guides the desire to die but a moment of discouragement, feeling like a burden... All those who ask to die are mostly looking for love." Despite her paralysis and her need for round-the-clock care, she was inspired by her love for her family to fight for life.

Family, doctors battle over ‘do not resuscitate’ order

Family, doctors battle over ‘do not resuscitate’ order - thestar.com: As Mann Kee Li lies in hospital fighting dire prospects, his family is engaged in a life-or-death struggle, not with the cancer spreading through his body, but with the doctors treating it. Li, a 46-year-old Toronto accountant and father of two young boys, wants doctors to use all medical measures possible to save him in the event of a life-threatening emergency. He made those intentions clear to his doctors when he entered the hospital in August. He wrote it in a power of attorney document and confirmed it in a videotape statement, his lawyers say.

While his doctor initially agreed to respect those wishes, physicians unilaterally reversed the decision a week ago without consultation and imposed a “do not resuscitate” order, his family alleges. “There’s something seriously wrong with the system,” says David Li, Mann Kee’s younger brother who travelled to Toronto from his home in Singapore this week to join the family’s 24-hour watch at the hospital.

Family suicides may be the next step for Dignitas

Family suicides may be the next step for Dignitas - Telegraph: Ludwig Minelli, a former journalist who runs the Zurich clinic, told a Swiss newspaper that a recent attempted suicide by a dementia sufferer and his partner illustrated the need for a change in the law. “Legislation is needed to give dementia sufferers and their families more options.”

“Relatives should also be allowed to have a prescription for suicide drugs even when they are not terminally ill.” A family suicide package is illegal under Swiss law where assisted euthanasia is only permitted where a person has an incurable condition or terminal illness.

Healthy Meals When Stress Strikes

Healthy Meals When Stress Strikes – CarePages.com: When stress seems to have taken over your life, healthy meals and snacks are better for body and mind than that sugary brownie. Find out how good food can help you cope.

Caregiving and Medical Emergencies

Caregiving and Medical Emergencies - CarePages.com: Caregiving for someone who is seriously or chronically ill is a daunting task, and an emergency can be frightening. Taking steps in advance will help you handle a crisis, should one occur.

Relieving stress: Nice ways to say NO

Nice ways to say NO: Saying yes when you really want to say no doesn’t do anyone a service. You can’t please everyone, so instead of reluctantly giving in, try forming two magic letters that can free you from potential resentment and burnout. Here’s how to say the right thing in common situations, as well as general guidelines to follow.

Discussing Faith When Your Loved One Is Ill

Discussing Faith When Your Loved One Is Ill - CarePages.com: Discussing religion or spirituality with someone who is seriously ill can be tricky. First make sure they're open to the topic.

Discussion forum: Dealing with Mood Swings

Dealing with Mood Swings - Cancer – CarePages Discussion Forums: I’m currently caring for my gal, who has leukemia. One of the toughest issues for me is the continuous mood swings. Going from OK to depressed, by the blink of an eye, is difficult to get used to. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to cope?

Discussion forum: "My mom is dying"

My mom is dying - Emotional Health – CarePages Discussion Forums: I am 21 and my mom is dying. Her condition is only getting worse. I know she will die- most likely within the next year or so. And I just don’t feel ready for it.

My Birthday Wish

My Birthday Wish - What Helps. What Hurts. What Heals. - CarePages: It’s my birthday tomorrow, my first ever without Dad. Knowing how difficult birthdays and anniversaries can be, especially when sorrow surprises and overwhelms like a sneaker wave, I decided to practice what I preach and prepare myself emotionally and practically for the day. As ready as I think I may be, I feel in my gut that I’m not ready at all.

Get to Know: I Am Music for Life

“I Am Music For Life” is a radio program that plays exclusively pro-life music. Peter Jorgensen writes: "It is my mission to have music that is; pro-life, pro-family, pro-adoption and pro-support of single parents as an alternative to abortion, played for as many listeners as possible. I started I Am Music for life in March of 1991, and it’s played on Saturday evenings at 9 through a Christian radio station in Cohoes, NY (WHAZ 97.4 FM). 

"The current airing of the programs costs $100/ month. I’m asking for your support in this endeavor, and as support is received, I will have the program played in more and more areas throughout this wonderful God-fearing country of ours."

November issue of Caring Right at Home

Test Your Brain Health IQ

Caring for Alzheimer's Caregivers

Indoor and Outdoor Falls: Are the Risks the Same?

November is National Hospice Month

Hospice Care for the Unborn/Newborn

Hospice Care for the Unborn/Newborn: Perinatal hospice, a relatively new concept of care, is now being offered as a viable option for parents who choose to carry their baby to term. This care incorporates grief support and education from the time of diagnosis, throughout the pregnancy, and then through the bereavement period. Perinatal hospice involves a team approach of physicians, nurses, social workers, and bereavement counselors — everyone working together helping to ease the emotional suffering while preserving the dignity and integrity of the family as they make meaningful plans to honor the life of their baby.

Assisted Suicide - how the chattering classes have got it wrong

New Report: Assisted Suicide - how the chattering classes have got it wrong: Euthanasia supporters among the chattering classes have nothing to fear from a change in the law: articulate, determined and well-connected, they are unlikely to be bullied into an early death by greedy or uncaring relatives or bureaucrats. But millions of others are less fortunate.

It Takes a Long Time to Starve a Severely Disabled Infant to Death by Withdrawing Medically-Supplied Nutrition

It Takes a Long Time to Starve a Severely Disabled Infant to Death by Withdrawing Medically-Supplied Nutrition � Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: A disturbing study has come out about how long it takes to starve an infant to death. From the study:

Neonatal survival after withdrawal of artificial hydration and nutrition can last up to 26 days. . . . Although physical distress is not apparent in the infants, the psychological distress of parents and clinicians builds with the length of survival. These babies live much, much longer than anybody expects. I think that neonatologists and nurses and palliative care clinicians need to be alerted to this. The time between withdrawal of feeding and end of life is something that is not predictable, and you need to be cautioned very strongly about that if you are going to do this work.

These infants did not die from their underlying conditions. The study further wants infants being dehydrated to become research subjects on the physiological processes of being starved.

Editor: Dr. Mengele would be proud.

What’s the Worst That Could Happen With The New Health Law?

What’s the Worst That Could Happen With The New Health Law? | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is one of the largest and most complicated overhauls ever enacted. Policy experts continue to debate the impact it will have. Among the issues that has raised concerns is its cost.

Canada's socialist public health care at crossroads

Canada's socialist public health care at crossroads: Just as the United States is rethinking the way it handles health care, Canada is re-examining over the next four years how to maintain the system that provides medical treatment for all regardless of income. The country wants to reformulate the network in an effort to cut back on wait times and medical tourism. In 2014, the nation is set to write a new health 'accord,' and further address Canadian health-care shortcomings. Privatization is inching its way into the system.

Report: Weakest at risk if assisted suicide is legalized

Report: Weakest at risk if assisted suicide is legalised | News | The Christian Institute: The Centre for Policy Studies cautioned that such a change could lead some of society’s most defenceless members to feel that they have an obligation to end their lives. The report cautions: "As assisted suicide becomes embedded in our culture, investing resources in caring for these vulnerable groups will be seen as a waste: they’ll be gone."

'Watchman' Saves Hundreds from Suicide with Kindness and a Smile

Cliff 'Watchman' Saves Hundreds from Suicide with Kindness and a Smile: They call Don Ritchie 'the watchman.' Each day he sits in his favorite chair at his cliffside home and scans the precipice, trying to discern the intentions of visitors. Approximately 50 people end their lives there each year, leaping from the brink. When somebody seems to be lingering too long at the cliff, he walks out to talk to him.

'You can't just sit there and watch them,' Ritchie said in a recent interview. 'You gotta try and save them. It's pretty simple.' Now 84 years of age and struggling with cancer, Ritchie doesn't have the energy to grab people and pull them back from the brink of death, as he once did. But he says that he will always be there to talk to those who might be thinking of ending their lives. He and his wife invite them in for tea.

The retired salesman now "sells" life. He doesn't pry or preach, but rather smiles and listens. It's a technique that often works, though not always.

LIFT Caregiver Conference cancelled

Due to low registration numbers we've had to make the tough call and cancel this even to have taken place on Saturday, October 23. We're very sorry to those who were looking forward to it. We know that we had a great day planned, but it was not to be.

The LIFT Care Coordinator Training Seminar for Friday, October 22, is still on. People who were registered for the Saturday conference may attend the Friday training seminar by just transferring their registration (at no extra cost). Give our office a call -- (616) 257-6800, 1-800-968-6086 -- or email Sharlene to put this in motion.

Euthanasia is 'killing,' McGill ethicist tells Quebec hearings

Euthanasia is 'killing,' McGill ethicist tells Quebec hearings: When religious values were more important in Quebec, it was easier to make the case against euthanasia, McGill University ethicist Margaret Somerville said Thursday before provincial hearings in Montreal. 'Thou shalt not kill' was pretty much the end of the debate, Somerville said.

Now in a largely secular society, euthanasia and assisted suicide remain 'morally wrong,' Somerville maintains. She prefers the term 'killing,' as she considers euthanasia and assisted suicide to be euphemisms. 'Even in a secular society, it's morally wrong to kill each other,' she said. '(Morality) is even more important in a secular society because you haven't got religion as that foundation to fall back on.'

Stumbo Family Story: Down Syndrome Awareness

Stumbo Family Story: Down Syndrome Awareness: Going to College: "This is where I try to honestly share about life; about being a wife and being a mom. Sometimes I dream out loud, and reflect on the lessons of life. You will notice that much of our blog is devoted to Down syndrome, Adoption, and Special Needs. Our youngest daughter was diagnosed with Trisomy 21 at birth. I know how hard it is to deal with a new diagnosis; there is fear in the unknown, questioning, and too many tears. There seems to be little hope.

"However, as I have come out of the 'swamp' I have discovered a beautiful road to travel. Having a child with Down syndrome is not what I thought it would be. Her life is so rich, definitely worth celebrating.. Her life has great value and meaning. Her life is beautiful! We have embarked in the most life altering journey of our lives. We would not trade it for anything in the world! She lead us in the path of adoption, and we now have a beautiful daughter with Cerebral Palsy that wants to someday dance!"

Only half of Belgian euthanasia cases reported

Reporting of euthanasia in medical practice in Flanders, Belgium: cross sectional analysis of reported and unreported cases -- Smets et al. 341 -- bmj.com What the authors found is that in 2007 in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, only 52.8% cases of euthanasia were reported to the authorities. Why is the rate so low? It appears that about 77% physicians who did not report cases of euthanasia did not perceive their act as euthanasia, as defined by Belgium's law. But there were other reasons as well. About 18% said that reporting involves too much paperwork; about 12% feared that not all of the legal requirements had been met; 9% thought that euthanasia is a private matter between physician and patient.

The Story of Baptists for Life

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The Story of Baptists for Life

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Euthanasia workshops test legal boundaries

Euthanasia workshops test legal boundaries: An Australian right-to-die doctor will on Wednesday morning advise aging Torontonians on the “best drugs” and techniques to commit suicide so they can craft a reliable and peaceful “exit plan.”

Great moments in socialized medicine

Greek Health System Opts for Amputation as Money-Saver | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment: This Saturday, one of Greece’s most respected newspapers, To Vima, reported that the nation’s largest government health insurance provider would no longer pay for special footwear for diabetes patients. Amputation is cheaper, says the Benefits Division of the state insurance provider.

The Grayest Generation

The Grayest Generation - An FP Photo Essay | Foreign Policy: Forget about a youth boom -- the planet's population is getting older, fast. From the West Bank to Woodstock, a look at a world going gray.

'I secretly helped my dad die,' Michael Caine reveals

'I secretly helped my dad die,' Michael Caine reveals | News.com.au: Veteran British actor Sir Michael Caine has revealed that he asked a doctor to help his gravely ill father die. The doctor gave his father, Maurice Micklewhite, an overdose to end his suffering when he was dying in hospital from liver cancer - a secret the star never revealed to his mother. Caine, who has won two Oscars, has expressed his support for mercy killings. In a UK radio interview, the actor, 77, said he asked a doctor to help end his father's suffering in 1955.

Why Do Black Patients Get Unwanted End-of-Life Care?

Why Do Black Patients Get Unwanted End-of-Life Care? – TIME Healthland: Researchers found that black and white patients tended to have end-of-life discussions with their doctors with equal frequency, yet black patients were less likely than whites to understand that their disease was terminal. Black patients also tended to ask for burdensome life-prolonging care more often than whites, and were less likely to have do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders following discussions with caregivers. What's more, black patients with DNR orders were just as likely as black patients without DNR orders to receive life-prolonging end-of-life care.

Editor: Maybe it's what THEY want, not what YOU want.

Special Needs Students Elected Homecoming King and Queen

Special Needs Students Elected Homecoming King and Queen - ABC News: Across the country, a growing and heartwarming trend is putting crowns on some very special students. Several high schools have awarded their homecoming king and queen titles to special needs students this fall.

UK advice columnist claims it’s OK to smother children

Video: agony aunt claims it’s OK to smother children | News | The Christian Institute: Virginia Ironside horrified viewers by saying that she would be willing to smother a sick child and by describing abortion as a “moral”, “unselfish” act of a loving mother.

Adult Stem Cells: Quietly Treating MS for Years!

Pro-Life News: Adult Stem Cells, Bart Stupak, Pro-Life Day, Abby Johnson, Rome: Adult stem cell success treating patients has been noted as “the best-kept secret in the galaxy” by Dr. Jean Peduzzi Nelson of Wayne State University. In her recent Senate testimony she described the case of Barry Goudy, who had relapsing-remitting MS. Barry had numerous relapses and medication was not helping his condition.

He was treated as part of a study conducted at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and received his own adult stem cells in 2003. His MS symptoms disappeared in 4 months, and he continues to be symptom free today.

No such Thing as “Safe” Euthanasia

Australian PM Right: Belgium Proves No Way to Create a “Safe” Euthanasia System � Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: Julia Gillard has stated that she doesn’t see a way to create a euthanasia legalization system with safeguards that really protect.

Vegetative state patients may soon be able to communicate

Vegetative state patients may soon be able to communicate: Researchers from Cambridge University in the UK have been able to communicate with brain-injured patients in 'locked states' commonly referred to as persistent vegetative states (PVS). They predict such patients will soon be able to communicate and perhaps even move themselves around in motorized wheelchairs.

Editor: Maybe we can stop calling them 'vegetative.' 'Locked' is so much nicer.

Movie Review - 'Robert Jay Lifton - Nazi Doctors'

Movie Review - 'Robert Jay Lifton - Nazi Doctors' - Film Forum Documentary on Holocaust Doctors - NYTimes.com: In 1986 Dr. Lifton wrote a well-regarded book called The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide, which explored the twisted logic by which doctors were able to rationalize their participation in the Holocaust. Dr. Lifton, now in his 80s, can be interesting, as when he talks about the obfuscations he encountered when interviewing some doctors.

“You can’t get the full truth of evil from the perpetrators,” he notes; you can’t even get an accurate sense of the emotional impact the wretched work had on the doctors themselves. He also shares some stunning anecdotes, like the time one physician told him that the act of killing a child with sedatives “didn’t seem so much a killing as a putting to sleep.”

Mentally handicapped Danes lobotomised until 1983

AFP: Mentally handicapped Danes lobotomised until 1983: historian: Many mentally handicapped Danes, including children, were lobotomised between 1947 and 1983, and many died from the operation, a historian behind a soon-to-be-published book on the topic told Danish media Thursday. 'The results of such operations generally were not good, and some 7.6 percent did not survive. What happened with people with mental handicaps is worse than what happened with psychiatric patients,' he said, referring to many operations performed on children as young as six years of age, even though their brains were not yet completely developed.

Related: Bulgarian mistreatment of disabled revealed

Ignore wishes of dead if their organs are needed

One of Britain's leading bioethicists has endorsed compulsory deceased organ donation. Writing in the Journal of Medical Ethics, John Harris, of the University of Manchester, and Antonia Cronin, of Kings College London, argue that today's organ shortage is so severe that it trumps autonomy over the posthumous use of one's body.

Compassion within a yard of hell

ABWE | Association of Baptists for World Evangelism: A man looked up at Kyle and Heather Farran, questioning, “Are you here to bring us the truth?” The hospice nurse leaned in, explaining what he meant. “Patients are seeing through the lies of the witch doctors and the prosperity gospel that promises healing from AIDS,” she told the couple. They’ve seen that, despite many promises, people still die. It was just as the Farrans had thought. The need for the gospel here was urgent.

Dementia is health crisis of the century

BBC News - World News America - Dementia is health crisis of the century: The global cost of dementia will exceed $600 billion in 2009 alone, according to a new report. But it is not just the economic toll which is reason for alarm. In just two decades, the number of people suffering from dementia across the globe could double and experts warn it will be the most significant health crisis of the 21st century.

Medicare Czar Flees 'Rationing' Query

Medicare Czar Flees 'Rationing' Query - HUMAN EVENTS: After Donald Berwick's controversial recess appointment to head the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), his allies claimed that he was preparing a 'point-by-point' rebuttal to his critics. He's publically romanticized Britain's government-run healthcare and is on the record arguing that most cities should ration the “number of centers engaging” in 'cardiac surgery,' 'neonatal intensive care' and 'cancer care.'

It's been three months now since his recess appointment, and still no word from the new CMS director. In fact, Berwick hasn't granted any interviews, refuses to testify before Congress, and doesn't take any questions at public events.

Researchers at SUNY Downstate find drug combination may treat traumatic brain injury

Researchers at SUNY Downstate find drug combination may treat traumatic brain injury: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious public health problem in the United States. Recent data show that approximately 1.7 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury annually. While the majority of TBIs are concussions or other mild forms, traumatic brain injuries contribute to a substantial number of deaths and cases of permanent disability. Currently, there are no drugs available to treat TBI: a variety of single drugs have failed clinical trials, suggesting a possible role for drug combinations.

Related: A Son's Journey Back from Traumatic Brain Injury

Listen up! 5 ways to be a better listener

Listen up!: When someone you care about needs to talk, one of the best ways you can show compassion is to offer a supportive ear. Good listening skills build social support and connect you deeper with the world around you. Try these five tips to sharpen your listening IQ.

Widowed and Alone: Rebuilding Your Social Life

Widowed and Alone: Rebuilding Your Social Life - CarePages.com: After the death of a partner or spouse you've been caring for, you may find that your social life in disarray. But rebuilding a social life can prevent stress and help widows, widowers, and surviving partners get through the grieving process.

UP SYNDROME - famous Netflix documentary Down Syndrome PART 1 OF 2 Down's

Expect. Don't accept.

Xavier University - Remarkable Families Symposium - Paul Daugherty Keynote Address: It's called Down Syndrome because a guy named Down identified it. It's not down at all, not for the kids and the teachers and classmates who choose to embrace them. Certainly not for those of us who are privileged to know them and love them.

Life doesn't let us in on many secrets. One of them is, happiness comes to those who do the best with what they have. The more we struggle in our limited, human way, to make sense of things, the more we see that some things don't come with sense included. The best we can do is the best we can do.

Latest issue of Caring Right at Home

• Is There Hidden Salt in Your Food?
• Home Care Supports Successful Hip Replacement
• Early Detection and Management of Dementia Cuts Healthcare Costs
• Protect Your Back When Raking Those Fall Leaves
• Nutrition's Potential to Save Sight

Strange Deathbedfellows: Oregon hospices accommodate assisted suicide

The Hastings Center - Strange Deathbedfellows: Hospices strive to respect self-determination and to avoid abandoning the patient, but will not participate in directly hastening his or her death. Their policies govern how employees discuss physician-assisted death with clients or facilitate access to information about choices, as well as whether hospice providers may attend the death. Hospices’ moral accommodation of this practice is matched by the patients’ psychological accommodation to hospice itself. Since 1998, I have observed that hospice providers have learned not to overwhelm patients interested in physician-assisted death with care, but instead to work on respectful engagement that underscores patients’ preferences.

When Does Life Belong to the Living?

When Does Life Belong to the Living?: Scientific American: With thousands of people on the waiting lists for organs, doctors are bending the rules about when to declare that a donor is dead. Is it ethical to take one life and give it to another?

Editor: But can we "give life" or is that something that only God does?

Don't miss out on early bird registration

Early bird discounts for the LIFT Caregiver Conference end September 30. Save $5!

Australian euthanasia bill defeated

‘Dangerous’ Australian euthanasia bill defeated | News | The Christian Institute: A euthanasia bill in Western Australia which would have “turned doctors from being healers and carers into killers” has been defeated. It would have allowed Western Australians over the age of 21, with a terminal illness and who were deemed to have a sound mind, to ask a doctor to end their lives.

Congress changes intellectual disability wording

The Associated Press: Congress changes intellectual disability wording: Disabilities advocates are applauding Congress for passing legislation that eliminates the term 'mental retardation' from federal laws. The measure, passed by the House by voice vote Wednesday night, changes the phrase 'mentally retarded' to 'an individual with an intellectual disability' in existing health, education and labor law.

Chronically ill and covered

Overland Park, Kan. - Chronically Ill, and Covered - NYTimes.com: Joe and Mary Thompson had agreed to adopt Emily before her birth in 1999, and it never occurred to them to back out when she was born with spina bifida. But that same year, their residential remodeling business in Overland Park, Kan., went under, prompting job changes that left the family searching for health coverage with a child who was uninsurable. The insurers were willing to cover the Thompsons and their older daughter, but not Emily, who was later discovered to have mild autism as well, or her 13-year-old brother, who had a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder.

Deciding Not to Screen for Down Syndrome

Deciding Not to Screen for Down Syndrome - NYTimes.com: My dread as I walked into the doctor’s office didn’t come from the thought that this new baby might have an extra chromosome. My dread arose from the prospect of talking to a doctor about prenatal testing. Peter and I know the statistics. We know it brings with it more uncertainty as the child grows up. But we also know that a textbook definition of a syndrome can never capture the reality of any particular human life.

Many people within our culture, and particularly those within the medical establishment, think that Down syndrome is a burden. Even pro-life advocates talk about those who “suffer” from Down syndrome. With language of suffering and lists of problems, it is no wonder that women abort when faced with the news that their child has an extra 21st chromosome. And yet this automatic assumption that Down syndrome brings with it only tragedy belies the studies that demonstrate the positive impact children with Down syndrome have within their families, the ever-increasing potential for learning and participation in community life, and the testimonies of adults with Down syndrome that theirs is a life worth living.

Assisted suicide activist plans 'right to die' hospice

Assisted suicide activist plans Gastonia 'right to die' hospice - News14.com: A well-known assisted suicide activist is making plans to open a “right-to-die” hospice in Gastonia. The Rev. George Exoo says he wants to help terminally ill people end their lives in a quick and painless manner but some in the medical community are concerned about his plans.

'I think it's the reason I'm placed on this planet,' Exoo told a film crew in the documentary “Reverend Death.” Over the years, Exoo says he's directly helped more than 100 people end their lives. He's assisted an additional 20 over the phone. It's difficult for him but he says he does it because no one should die alone.

'I have a heart and a passion for those people, and so reaching out to them may be in the spirit of the Good Samaritan. That's why I do this,” he said.

Stop Harvesting Organs after ‘Cardiac Death’

Stop Harvesting Organs after ‘Cardiac Death,’ Say MDs: A group of doctors have called on the medical community to cease harvesting organs from patients whose hearts have stopped pulsating, saying that doctors are misleading families to believe that the patient has died when in fact their loved one is still alive. The story was featured Wednesday on the cover of Canada's National Post.

“A longstanding tenet of ethical organ donation [is] that the nonliving donor must be irreversibly dead at the time of donation,” explain the eight paediatric intensive care specialists, writing in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.

Popular Asian spice can cure Alzheimer's disease

Popular Asian spice can cure Alzheimer's disease: Nature is full of various herbs and spices that protect against disease and even treat and cure it. And according to Chris Kilham, an ethnobotanist and Fox News' 'Medicine Hunter', turmeric root -- also known in its extract form as curcumin -- is one such powerful spice that appears to both prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease and even cure it.

Australia bans pro-euthanasia adverts

Australia bans pro-euthanasia adverts | News | The Christian Institute: A television and billboard advertising campaign for the pro-euthanasia group Exit International, which is headed by Dr Philip Nitschke, has been banned in Australia. Exit’s TV advert shows an ill-looking man explaining he has a terminal illness and declaring: “I’ve made my final choice. I just need the Government to listen.”

Pain experts declare access to pain management a fundamental human right

Pain experts declare access to pain management a fundamental human right: Pain management experts from 84 countries have called for governments worldwide to recognize the rights of people to access reasonable care for acute and chronic pain.

Movie: Make Way for Tomorrow

This sensitively rendered and sentimental movie, shown recently on Turner Classic Movies, explores themes that will resonate with the "sandwich generation."

A devoted couple faces the harsh economic realities of growing older. Four of the five children of septuagenarian couple Barkley and Lucy Cooper gather to learn that their parents have lost their house. Expecting the children will soon find them a permanent home, Barkley and Lucy each go to live with a different child. Lucy unwittingly disrupts the home life of her well-meaning son George and his wife Anita by interfering with Anita's career as a bridge teacher and causing George and Anita's reckless daughter Rhoda to stop bringing her male friends home. When Rhoda's promiscuity leads the family to the brink of scandal, Anita convinces George to investigate the possibility of putting Lucy in a home for the aged, as efforts to unite Barkley and Lucy in the home of daughter Nellie Chase have foundered on the resistance of Nellie's husband. Three hundred miles away, Barkley's presence has so distressed his mean-spirited daughter Cora that she distorts a doctor's report to convince the family that Barkley must live in California with his daughter Addie. Resigning herself to permanent separation from Barkley, Lucy agrees to enter a home for the aged. The couple spends five joyous hours together in the city before the train to California separates husband and wife forever.

Turning the Page Expo at Calvary Church, Sept. 30

Turning the Page Expo will feature 60 organizations focused on:

• Medical, legal and financial advisors
• Representatives from healthcare agencies, Medicare, Medicaid
• Retirement Planning
• Transitional living, In-Home Care, Nursing Homes

Over 30 breakout sessions on topics that will help you move to the next chapter of your life with grace and dignity. Enjoy entertainment and much more.

Admission is FREE - Boxed lunch available for $4

Palliative sedation is not euthanasia

The Canadian Palliative Sedation Therapy Guideline Working Group clarifies terms: "Palliative sedation, more commonly referred to as palliative sedation therapy, is not euthanasia. To euthanize is to intentionally cause death. Palliative sedation therapy, correctly practised, neither aims at death nor shortens life. Palliative sedation therapy is the use of a sedative medication to control severe and untreatable suffering at the end of life when other measures have been exhausted. It does not shorten life. Palliative sedation does not require morphine or other opioids; is not used for every symptom; neither intends nor causes a hastened death. It is a last resort, when all other approaches have failed, to relieve suffering through the use of sedative medications." National Post

Oregon hospices are uneasy dealing with physician-assisted suicide

Oregon hospices are uneasy dealing with physician-assisted suicide - Los Angeles Times: In 1995, Oregon passed a bill legalizing physician-assisted suicide. However, a new study shows a major stakeholder in terminal illness -- hospices -- rarely participate in physician-assisted suicide.

Editor: Which is as it should be.

Oregon Bemoans High Suicide Rate While Promoting Assisted Suicide

Oregon Bemoans High Suicide Rate While State Promotes Assisted Suicide: Oregon officials are upset the state has a high suicide rate, but one bioethicists says the stance is duplicitous because the state promotes the practice of assisted suicide. Oregon’s suicide rate is going through the roof, and the Oregon Health Authority said it is alarmed by that fact.
'Oregon’s suicide rate is 35 percent higher than the national average. The rate is 15.2 suicides per 100,000 people compared to the national rate of 11.3 per 100,000.'

After decreasing in the 1990s, suicide rates have been increasing significantly since 2000, according to the new report OHA released entitled Suicides in Oregon: Trends and Risk Factors.

Derek Humphry's suicide advice

In a recent blog post, staunch assisted-suicide activist Derek Humphry released detailed instructions on how to procure the lethal drug Veterinary Nembutal (pentobarbital) in "the backstreets of poorer neighbourhoods" of Mexico and Peru. Humphry says that one bottle is lethal, but two should be purchased for good measure. He gives prices and instructions on how to kill oneself "with speed and absolute certainty" using Nembutal. He warns against visiting Mexican border towns because of drug gang violence. Peru, however, "has proved successful for shoppers." Humphry also suggests Thailand - but advises to "watch out for the notorious fake drugs there."

Kenya: Provide Treatment for Children in Pain

Kenya: Provide Treatment for Children in Pain | Human Rights Watch: Kenyan children in acute and chronic pain suffer needlessly because of government policies that restrict access to inexpensive pain medicines, a lack of investment in palliative care services, and inadequately trained health workers, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 78-page report, 'Needless Pain: Government Failure to Provide Palliative Care for Children in Kenya,' found that most Kenyan children with diseases such as cancer or HIV/AIDS are unable to get palliative care or pain medicines.

Belgian nurses appear to support euthanasia

Do Belgian paediatric nurses really want to be able to euthanase children with terminal illnesses? A recent article in the American Journal of Critical Care based on a survey of 141 nurses suggests that this is the case.

Euthanasia for children is illegal in Belgium. But euthanasia for adults is not, although only a doctor can carry it out. What the survey found is that "a large majority of those nurses support a change in the law on euthanasia that would make life termination in children possible" and that they should be involved in the decision-making process. Otherwise they would experience "moral distress" at having to carry out someone else's instructions.

However, when the article is examined more carefully, the conclusions may not be warranted. The survey found that 85% of nurses had participated in an "end-of-life" decision within the past two years. But the vast majority of these end-of-life decisions involved non-treatment or alleviation of pain. Only 19% involved "use of life-ending drugs".

Nonetheless, the survey will fuel fears that doctors and nurses are actively euthanasing sick children. According to the survey, "Only 6% of nurses found it always ethically wrong to hasten the death of a child by administering lethal drugs; most nurses (78%) reported they were prepared to cooperate in administering life-ending drugs in some cases." BioEdge