Ira Byock: "How to Die"

I did a radio show on WASU in Wisconsin this morning and we focused primarily on hospice care. The call-in response was strong: People were clearly interested and concerned.Then, when I checked my e-mail, I a link to a video about “how to die,” by my friend, the hospice physician and . . . . Continue Reading »

Contra Anti-Americanism

Fouad Ajami says in the Wall Street Journal that despite our many problems, and more polls showing how many people abroad dislike us, the promise of America still offers more freedom than any other place: “It is one thing to rail against the Pax Americana. But after the pollsters are gone, . . . . Continue Reading »

Thoughts on the "Teenager Pregnancy Pact"

It is tempting to put on my quavering old man voice and say, “In my day, teenagers would never get pregnant on purpose. Heck, in my day teenagers didn’t even have sex.”Laugh if you will, but it was generally true. Most of us necked and petted almost to the point of frenzy, but we . . . . Continue Reading »

"Brain Dead" May Not Really Be Dead

The controversy over whether brain dead is really dead may have just heated up with a peer reviewed article in Spinal Cord ((2008) 46, 396-40. (I don’t have a link.)The author, a Greek physician named KG Karakatsanis, concludes that declaration of death by neurological criteria is not reliable . . . . Continue Reading »