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

Sheriffs want lists of patients using painkillers

Sheriffs want lists of patients using painkillers - Crime/Safety - NewsObserver.com: Sheriffs in North Carolina want access to state computer records identifying anyone with prescriptions for powerful painkillers and other controlled substances. The state sheriff's association pushed the idea, saying the move would help them make drug arrests and curb a growing problem of prescription drug abuse. But patient advocates say opening up people's medicine cabinets to law enforcement would deal a devastating blow to privacy rights.

Quebec euthanasia hearings begin

CBC News - Montreal - Quebec euthanasia hearings begin: Quebec's public hearings into euthanasia began on Tuesday in Montreal, with testimony from several groups holding differing views on the controversial issue. The government committee, Dying with Dignity, will be touring the province to gauge public reaction to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

Palliative Medicine: How German Physicians Act At The End Of Life

Palliative Medicine: How German Physicians Act At The End Of Life: Discussions about end of life practices in Germany have been almost taboo for over half a century, but now intense debate is underway as professional bodies review their guidelines to physicians caring for the dying.

Get to Know: The International Down Syndrome Coalition for Life

The IDSC For Life believes ALL life is precious. Many of us are parents of individuals who happen to have Down syndrome. Most of us learned of the high termination rate of babies in utero, when our children were born. Some of us found out that our children had Down syndrome while we were pregnant, and were pressured to abort the baby. Some of us realized the extent to which the abortion issue is used by those who want to “clean out” the gene pool.

What ever our path, it led us to turn to advocacy groups to ask them what they were doing about the termination rate of children who happen to have Down syndrome. Unfortunately, the National Down Syndrome Society, the National Down Syndrome Congress, and the ARC, who all advocate for individuals who happen to have Down syndrome, informed all of us, that they had a position “to not have a position.”

Kill the Pain, Not the Patient

Kill the Pain, Not the Patient - Margaret Somerville — THE MARK: I'm adamantly against killing the person with the pain, that is, euthanasia, and passionately in favour of killing the pain. So I argued that to implement that latter goal in practice, we should recognize that people in pain have a 'fundamental human right' to have reasonable access to pain management and that unreasonable failure to provide such access was a breach of their human rights. And that is precisely what the Declaration of Montreal would establish.

The declaration will function as an ethics guide in relation to pain management and an educational tool for health-care professionals and trainees. Sometimes it will be used as evidence to justify giving necessary pain relief treatment, when others would prevent that. In particular, it will help to overcome the harmful beliefs of some health-care professionals who withhold pain management because they fear legal liability or that patients will become addicted. It will deliver a strong message that it's wrong not to provide pain management, not wrong to provide it.

Two arrests over assisted suicide of disabled man

Two arrests over assisted suicide of disabled man | News | The Christian Institute: Two people have been arrested in connection with the death of a severely disabled man at the highly controversial Dignitas facility in Switzerland. Douglas Sinclair, who was suffering from a rare debilitating disorder, is believed to have travelled to the suicide facility in Zurich to end his life in July. And now Northumbria Police have confirmed that they have arrested two people in connection with his death.

UK’s NICE Rationers: Plush Office Remodel–YES! Life-Extending Cancer Drug–NO!

UK’s NICE Rationers: Plush Office Remodel–YES!–Pay for Life-Extending Cancer Drug–NO! � Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: With so many powerful Obamacaricrats swooning over NICE, it is worth our time to keep a close eye on on the rationing board’s many harmful actions. NICE has spent 500,000 pounds to remodel its offices, while denying NHS coverage for a bowel cancer drug that extends life about 8 months.

'The Unique Worth of an Individual Human Life'

The New Atlantis � 'The Unique Worth of an Individual Human Life': Human dignity is not exhausted by what makes us irreplaceable actors upon the human stage. It still matters greatly how we act and how well we use our God-given powers in the drama in which we are privileged to play a part. Because there is more to human dignity than our vitality and uniqueness, we must be careful lest single-minded attachment to the bedrock principle of life undermine the edifice that we seek to erect upon it. For if we think that death is an irreducible evil and always an affront to human dignity, we will be hard-pressed to avoid embracing the project for the conquest of aging and mortality and the indefinite prolongation of life. We will be hard-pressed to remember why we should not mortgage the future of our children to purchase better health care for ourselves. And we will be hard-pressed to recognize the dehumanizing possibilities embedded in the project for the mastery of nature for the relief of man’s estate and the biotechnical pursuit of superior performance, ageless bodies, and pharmaceutically happy souls.

Schiavo-type case in Canada

Schiavo-type case in Canada (OneNewsNow.com): Joshua Kulendran Mayandy, a Sri Lankan native and Pentecostal pastor, suffered a heart attack and brain damage May 29. He was in a coma but came out of it and has improved. Mayandy has no family, no written instructions on what to do, and no power-of-attorney agreement that could effect those decisions.

The court then chose someone to make decisions for him, and that person went along with the hospital's wishes to supply no medical treatment, including food and fluids. Members of the pastor's church, however, agreed the decision was contrary to Mayandy's wishes.

The substitute decision-maker agreed to allow a nurse, who is part of the church, to come in every day and feed Pastor Mayandy.The decision to restore food and water also came after the hospital received thousands of calls protesting the removal of food and water. The situation is not over yet because the substitute decision-maker could change course again.
Meanwhile, the pastor is now able to swallow and could go on to live many years.

Drug costs would push millions more into poverty

Drug costs would push mlns more into poverty: study | Reuters: A team at Erasmus University Rotterdam analyzed the number of people who would be pushed below an income level of $1.25 or $2 a day -- poverty indicators used by the World Bank -- by paying for four important, widely used medicines.

Make the V-Word as Unacceptable as the N-Word

We Need to Make the V-Word as Unacceptable as the N-Word � Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: Had Dr. Laura used the V-word to describe profoundly disabled people, it would not have made the news. That dichotomy needs to change. The V-word–properly employed to describe carrots and string beans–dehumanizes, marginalizes, diminishes, and objectifies moral equals when used to characterize human beings. And often, just as with the N-word, it is intended to open the door to oppression and exploitation of those against whom it is wielded.

Get to Know: Developmental Disabilities Ministries Community Network

DDM is a nonprofit, charitable corporation serving persons with developmental disabilities and their families. "This site is designed primarily to provide resources and support to caregivers serving persons with disabilities or others with a passion for the disabled. Although our focus is on developmental or intellectual disabilities, we hope to provide a forum on a wide range of disability issues.

"We hope to provide resources and encouragement to families, churches, and others in their efforts to provide the best possible support and training to those with whom they relate. We also hope this will serve as a forum for others to share their successes, tips, and frustrations.

"Our secondary purpose is to provide information about the services, ministries, needs and volunteer opportunities of Developmental Disabilities Ministries. We sincerely hope this becomes a valuable resource for you."

The proper ends do justify the means

The proper ends do justify the means : The Lancet In disputing the idea that ends do not justify means, Arthur Caplan trots out the canard that Terri Schiavo was dying prior to the denial of nutrition and hydration.

Hospice medical care for dying patients

Hospice medical care for dying patients : The New Yorker: People have concerns besides simply prolonging their lives. Surveys of patients with terminal illness find that their top priorities include, in addition to avoiding suffering, being with family, having the touch of others, being mentally aware, and not becoming a burden to others. Our system of technological medical care has utterly failed to meet these needs, and the cost of this failure is measured in far more than dollars. The hard question we face, then, is not how we can afford this system’s expense. It is how we can build a health-care system that will actually help dying patients achieve what’s most important to them at the end of their lives.