Autonomy, paternalism and understanding
I gave a talk Wednesday as part of an ethics series here at Duke. Here is one take on my presentation. See if you can spot the Far Side reference!
I gave a talk Wednesday as part of an ethics series here at Duke. Here is one take on my presentation. See if you can spot the Far Side reference!
Take a look at a brief summary of a new paper i just published, led by a wonderful medical student at Michigan, Michael Kozminski. It shows that oncologists seem to place far greater value on quantity of life over quality of life.
Interesting to see a Catholic scholar’s take on a recent issue of a pediatric journal which discussed the ethics of caring for seventy disabled newborns. I contributed an essay, and the Catholic blogger somehow concluded that most of the contributors were atheists or agnostics.
Here is the link to the post.
Steve B. wasn’t going to be fooled twice. He’d recently seen an ear, nose, and throat specialist for a “tickle in the throat” that wouldn’t go away. He’d forked over a co-pay at check-in, but then the doctor said he needed “to put a scope down there” and check his throat. He later received a…
According to the New York Times, the Boy Scouts of America on Friday proposed ending its ban on openly gay scouts but continue to bar gay adults from serving as leaders. This policy is wrongheaded, regardless of whether you think homosexuality is right or wrong. By pushing gay men further into the back of the closet,…
No sooner had the Obama administration committed a billion dollars to comparative effectiveness research than the critics began laying out their concerns: such research is a prelude to rationing, they said; it threatens to thwart doctors’ and patients’ abilities to make their own decisions. It will transfer too much power to government bureaucrats and treat…
I expect most of us agree that an incarcerated felon experiencing a heart attack should receive medical treatment, even if that treatment comes at taxpayers’ expense. The same probably goes for more preventive measures—blood pressure pills, cancer screening tests and the like. While serving out the sentence for their crimes, prisoners should not be forced…