Source: Sacramento for Democracy Climate change Copenhagen climate summit: Five possible scenarios for our future climate (The Guardian) Concise summary of what we can expect for each increase of one degree Celcius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in global temperature. Here are a few of the health implications. 1C: “Most of the world’s corals will die, including… Read more
Tag Archives: death
Daily Dose: Palliative sedation; E. coli in tenderized meat
There’s a long article in Sunday’s New York Times on palliative sedation. I’ve also listed some older stories on the subject and an educational site. Aging, end-of-life, and death Source: The Why Files Hard Choice for a Comfortable Death: Sedation, (The New York Times) “Among those [end-of-life] choices is terminal sedation, a treatment that is… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #18
Source: Wunderground When did we start calling the whole day before Christmas “Christmas Eve?” I thought Christmas Eve was the evening before Christmas. But no. Senators voted on health care reform at 1:00 AM on Thursday December 24th. To me, that’s still Wednesday night, but it was widely reported as happening on Christmas Eve. Perhaps… Read more
Baby RB: Ethical dilemmas of modern medicine
Source: Karen Bown Photography In the days before informed consent – when doctors knew best and it hadn’t occurred to patients that they had rights – newborn babies with life-threatening birth defects were declared “stillborn.” The motives were compassionate: Spare the parents an agonizing choice and a lifetime dedicated to full time care. This medical… Read more
Were "death panels" a teachable moment for palliative care?
Source: Palliative Care Foundation This past summer, thanks in large part to Sarah Palin, we were inundated with sound bites about death panels, pulling the plug on grandma, and saving the government money by dying a little sooner. Palin’s emotionally manipulative Facebook post appeared on August 7. “The America I know and love is not… Read more
The doctor/patient relationship: What have we lost?
I collect stories of how the doctor/patient relationship has changed over the last half century. There’s a new generation of doctors and patients who’ve only known the 12-minute office visit. For them, an extended, personal conversation between a patient and her physician is as antiquated as Marcus Welby, MD. In the 12 to 15 minutes… Read more
Edward Kennedy: Healthcare is a fundamental right, not a privilege
Source: WTRF Some tributes to Senator Edward Kennedy and some honest recollections and assessments. Ezra Klein in The Washington Post: “Year after year, decade after decade, he labored to pass health-care reform. He sought deals with Republican presidents, with Democratic presidents, and even pursued the office himself. He tried to cut out the health-care industry… Read more
A doctor assesses Michael Jackson’s cause of death
Source: Artie Wayne on the Web Since shortly after Michael Jackson’s death, the powerful anesthetic propofol has been suspected as the cause of death. Details of Jackson’s final hours were released today by the Los Angeles coroner’s office. Although the final injection of propofol may have been the immediate cause of death, it’s only one… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #16
Here are some things I’ve come across recently. Categories include: Aging/End of Life/Death, Doctors, Influenza, Genetics, and Health Care Reform. AGING, END OF LIFE, AND DEATH End-of-Life Care: Where Ethics Meet Economics (The New York Times – Uwe Reinhardt) Health spending in the United States has doubled every 10 years during the last four decades.… Read more
Health care: Reminding people of death triggers irrational emotions
Source: The Associated Press Sharon Begley, science writer for Newsweek, has written one of the best articles I’ve seen so far on the acrimony of the current health care debate. It’s not about the politics, which are unpredictable. It’s an analysis of the underlying psychology, which will not easily be changed. I recommend reading the… Read more
The video of Neda Soltan’s death
Even though I’ve been writing about Arash Hejazi (here and here), the doctor seen in the video of Neda Agha-Soltan’s death in Iran, I have to admit I still haven’t seen the video. I realized early on that I didn’t want to watch someone die a tragic and violent death. I didn’t want to see… Read more
The video of Neda Soltan’s death
“I think there can be a pornographic side to it when you are vicariously experiencing another person’s suffering and cruelty,” Davis says. Certainly, there is something prurient in the TV stations airing the video repeatedly, daring us to look away. …
[H]istory is made up of more than decontextualized images. … If we want to make sense of our past, and understand our present, we have to do more than just watch. Read more
The stages of life
Photo by Laurent Champoussin Click photo for larger view. I’m currently watching a series of lectures by Malcolm W. Watson on Theories of Human Development. Watson talks mostly about theories of childhood, such as Freud’s outdated theory of the oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages. The discussion of Eric Erikson, however, follows stages of… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #11
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (Insurance industry practices; Maggie Mahar on insurance; Analysis of the public option’s status) Health news Mid-life migraines update) The Medical profession More on Dr. Arash Hejazi) Foodborne illness Health care reform Ezra Klein has a column in the Washington Post on Wendell Potter’s testimony before Rockefeller’s Commerce Committee (see… Read more
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson. August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009 Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #10
In today’s Dose: The Medical profession (Doctor’s firsthand account of the death of Neda Soltan) Obesity politics (Mediterranean diet, Weight-loss surgery and cancer) The medical profession There is an amazing firsthand account of the shooting and death of Neda Soltan, the young Iranian woman who became a focal point for protesters after the video of… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #7
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (Public health insurance option, Congressional Budget Office, Optimism in the White House, Doctors and reform, Doctors pay) The Medical profession (What doctors earn) Health care reform Paul Krugman, in the New York Times, writes about health care today with his usual intelligence and trenchant prose. His argument: Democrats who… Read more
An upside to the downturn?
Foreclosures. Layoffs. Retirement savings down the tube. One scary or embarrassing financial disaster after another. Such is life in the Great Recession of 2009. What if anything does this mean for our health? It makes intuitive sense that health would suffer. But some research shows we’re actually ‘healthier’ in economic hard times and that death… Read more
The death of a child
One of life’s most tragic events is the death of child. Whether a child falls unexpectedly and hits his head or suffers from a disorder that progresses inevitably towards the premature end of a life – one cannot measure and compare such experiences. We sometimes think of today’s biomedicine as an impersonal, corporate machine that… Read more
Ich Habe Genug on Thanksgiving
It’s Thanksgiving and I’m feeling ‘Ich habe genug’ (I have enough). I’d like to share some poetry, music, and a film while continuing the ‘death’ theme of my last blog post. First the film, Wit, starring Emma Thompson and directed by Mike Nichols. It’s the story of Vivian, a woman with ovarian cancer who spends… Read more
Death be not visible
“Death is the real inspiring genius or muse of philosophy and for this reason Socrates defined philosophy as thanatoi meletos (rehearsal for death). Indeed without death, there would hardly have been any philosophizing.” Arthur Schopenhauer Read more