A Court of Appeals has ruled that terminally ill people have the right to access experimental drug treatments that might save their lives. Ruling that dying patients have a basic “right of self-preservation,” the court held that experimental drugs that have passed the first phase of FDA . . . . Continue Reading »
I have blogged on this before, but Eric Cohen has published a full article debunking the notion that the USA is falling behind in ES stem cell research due to President Bush’s funding restrictions. Cohen notes that “more than 85 percent of all the published embryonic-stem-cell research . . . . Continue Reading »
Dianne Feinstein has endorsed AB 651, which would legalize physician-assisted suicide. Reading her letter is a case study in spin and ignorance—exactly what we see from Senator Feinstein in the cloning issue—as I describe fully in Consumer’s Guide to a Brave New World. And now, she . . . . Continue Reading »
This piece of wisdom was sent to me by Steven Drake, one of the movers and shakers in the disability rights movement. I agree with his point about the Andrea Clark “victory” wholeheartedly:“This [my previous post] is definitely a cause for celebration, but I think that is much too . . . . Continue Reading »
I have just heard from Jerri Ward: St. Luke’s has agreed to continue to provide Andrea Clark life sustaining treatment under the auspices of the new doctor. Here is her letter:“I want to let you know that St. Luke’s is doing the right thing in this case now. The physician team met . . . . Continue Reading »
The Missouri initiative to legalize human cloning (phonily called stem cell research), is being opposed by MO Senator James Talent. He should not only oppose it, but use his megaphone as a senator to educate people as to why it should be opposed. That would also help in his reelection campaign where . . . . Continue Reading »
See the truth of the euthanasia movement: Despite talk of “medical models,” this is the true face of much of the grass roots euthanasia movement. More how to commit suicide classes. Philip Nitschke, who will be a faculty member, supports suicide for troubled teens. And many a dead . . . . Continue Reading »
I have been contacted by Jerri Ward, the attorney for Andrea Clark’s family. She has informed me that a new physician has agreed to treat Clark and that the doctor and the family want her life-sustaining treatment to continue while they look for another hospital to provide care under the . . . . Continue Reading »
Andrea Clark’s sister was assured (she says) by St. Luke’s that Andrea would be maintained through Tuesday. But Jerri Ward, the attorney for the family, just e-mailed me: “I have not been able to get St. Luke’s to agree on the record that care will be continued after the . . . . Continue Reading »
Andrea Clark’s becoming the “unwanted patient” began with Houston hospitals creating a collaborative policy on medical futility back in the 1990s. That led to the Texas law which sought (impotently, in my view) to limit the damage that can be caused by medical futility.Here is a . . . . Continue Reading »