Literature Review

New documentary explores how Lower Moreland’s Terri Schiavo’s story captured the nation Delco.Today, by Tracey Romero; 4/3/24 Between Life & Death: Terri Schiavo’s Story, a new documentary about the right-to-die case of Lower Moreland Township native Terri Schiavo is streaming on Peacock, writes Brian Brant for People. Schiavo who lived in Florida with her husband lived in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years after experiencing cardiac arrest. The documentary explores the familial legal battle over whether or not Schiavo’s feeding tube should be removed.

Ethical conflicts: Making care decisions when the right choice isn't clear Medical Economics, by Jeff Bendix; 3/29/24 What should a physician do when their ethical training conflicts with the circumstances or needs of a particular situation or patient? ... Ethical battlegrounds are growing. [Dr. Melissa] Lucarelli’s experience epitomizes, in a small way, a problem with which doctors have grappled for as long as medicine has existed as a profession: what to do when their ethical training conflicts with the circumstances or needs of a particular situation or patient. That question has taken on new urgency in recent years due to several converging trends. 

Expanding the use of continuous sedation until death and physician-assisted suicide  The Journal of Medicine & Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine; by Samuel H Lipuma and Joesph P Demarco; 3/27/24 The controversy over the equivalence of continuous sedation until death (CSD) and physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia (PAS/E) provides an opportunity to focus on a significant extended use of CSD. 

Harvard Thinking: Facing death with dignityThe Harvard Gazette, podcast and transcript; moderated by Samantha Laine Perfas; 3/27/24In podcast episode, a chaplain, a bioethicist, and a doctor talk about end-of-life care.

Police identify 13 deaths at unlicensed Arlington, Mansfield group homes since 2022 Fort Worth Star-Telegram, by James Hartley; 3/14/24 At least 13 people have died since 2022 under the care of a woman who was running five unlicensed group homes in North Texas, police wrote in a warrant to search one of the homes. ... Regla “Su” Becquer, 49, was arrested Monday and charged with one count of abandoning or endangering an individual creating imminent danger of bodily injury. ... Police have said more charges are expected in their ongoing investigation. Search warrants obtained by the Star-Telegram, written by Detectives Krystallyne Robinson and Devon Coffer, show police believe the abuse was extensive.

'World's most ethical companies' list includes health systemsBecker's Hospital Review, by Kelly Gooch; 3/4/24Ethisphere Institute, a for-profit company that defines and measures corporate ethical standards, has released its 2024 list of the "world's most ethical companies," which includes health systems and other healthcare companies. This year's list recognizes 136 organizations "for their unwavering commitment to business integrity." Honorees span 20 countries and 44 industries, and include 15 first-time honorees and six organizations that have been on the list since its inception 18 years ago. [Click on the title's link for the] healthcare companies that made the 2024 list, along with their headquarters. ...

Survey: Nearly half of healthcare workers witness discrimination against patientsMcKnights Long-Term Care News, by Foster Stubbs; 2/20/24Healthcare workers (HCWs) are likely to witness discrimination in their workplaces, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund and the African American Research Collaborative. This can contribute to negative health outcomes for patients as well as emotional distress for both patients and healthcare workers.Editor's Note: What Policies and Procedures do you have in place for your hospice interdisciplinary teams,  volunteers, and non-clinical staff? What diversity education and competencies do you regularly require and update? 

Hastings Center Welcomes 13 New FellowsPress release; 1/25/24The Hastings Center is pleased to announce the election of the 2023 fellows. Hastings Center fellows are a group of more than 200 individuals of outstanding accomplishment whose work has informed scholarship and public understanding of complex ethical issues in health, health care, science, and technology. The latest fellows focus on a broad range of topics with ethical implications, including digital technologies, public health, disparities at the end of life, disability rights, institutional racism, pain and addiction, and climate change.

Should patients be allowed to die from anorexia?DNYUZ; 1/3/24The doctors told Naomi that she could not leave the hospital. She was lying in a narrow bed at Denver Health Medical Center. Someone said something about a judge and a court order. Someone used the phrase “gravely disabled.” Naomi did not think she was gravely disabled. Still, she decided not to fight it. She could deny that she was mentally incompetent — but this would probably just be taken as proof of her mental incompetence. Of her lack of insight. She would, instead, “succumb to it.” [Read more of Naomi's story, followed by this examination of palliative care.]The field of palliative care was developed in the 1960s and ’70s, as a way to minister to dying cancer patients. Palliative care offered “comfort measures,” like symptom management and spiritual guidance, as opposed to curative treatment, for people who were in pain and would never get better. Later, the field expanded beyond oncology and end-of-life care — to reach patients with serious medical illnesses like heart disease, H.I.V. and AIDS, kidney failure, A.L.S. and dementia. Some people who receive palliative care are still fighting their diseases; in these cases, the treatment works to mitigate their suffering. [Read more of this discussion of emerging issue.]