Deadly Spin at KC Public Library

Wednesday, January 11, 2012
6:30pm
Central Library

Wendell Potter, a former VP of CIGNA, argues that health insurers make promises they have no intention of keeping, flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and skew political debate with multibillion-dollar PR campaigns to mislead the press and public.

In Deadly Spin, Potter takes readers behind the scenes to show how a huge chunk of health care spending bankrolls a propaganda campaign focused on protecting one thing: profits.

For more information and to register click here.

Wesley Smith on William Hurlbut

The December 2011 edition of The American Journal of Bioethics features a special “trending” section on personalities and politics in bioethics.

Wesley Smith, Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism and a special consultant for the Center for Bioethics and Culture, chose to write about William Hurlbut in an article entitled “Building a Bridge over Troubled Stem Cell Waters.” Lorell LaBoube visited with Smith about the article in this edition of The Bioethics Channel.

Link to podcast here.

Plain Speaking at the End of Life

Paula Span
New York Times
December 14, 2011

I don’t switch to comfort care. I discontinue any treatments that don’t contribute to comfort. Because if this is the day you’re switching to comfort, what kind of care are you switching from? A patient’s symptoms, like pain or shortness of breath — weren’t those important yesterday?

Link to article here.

A Transition at the Center for Practical Bioethics

Myra Christopher
John Carney

A time for change at the Center for Practical Bioethics, as the founding executive steps into a new role, and a former Center executive returns as the new president and CEO of the Center.

Lorell LaBoube talks about the transition with Myra Christopher, the Kathleen M. Foley Chair for Pain and Palliative Care, and John Carney, president and CEO of the Center for Practical Bioethics.

Link to podcast here.

Lifesaving Treatment or Wasting Resources?

As I read this I asked myself where and how do we find the line between life saving treatment and wasting resources – and how we ethically get there.

Thoughts?

L2

When Care Is Worth It, Even if End Is Death
Peter B. Bach, M.D.
New York Times
December 12, 2011

I am not saying that every health care dollar is well spent. But five carefully done studies have now shown that hospitals that spend more on caring for sick patients have better outcomes than those that spend less.

The more nuanced reality is that some aggressive treatment delivers value and is appropriate, even though some patients who receive such care die; other treatment is too aggressive and should be curtailed no matter what the short-term outcome.

The Ethics of Presumed Consent

“Opt out is not the magic bullet. It will not be the magic answer we have been looking for,” said Dorry L. Segev, an associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the study published online in the journal Transplantation.

“With opt out, the perception becomes, ‘We will take your organs unless you take the time to fill out a form.’ That’s a dangerous perception to have. We only want to use donated organs from people who intended to donate.”

Links:

**Presumed consent no answer to solving organ shortage in U.S., The JHU Gazette, Johns Hopkins Medicine, December 5, 2011

**Podcast: The Ethics of First Person Consent, Terry Rosell, DMin, PhD and Rob Linderer, Midwest Transplant Network

Christopher set for national podcast on relieving pain

National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association Podcast to discuss "Relieving Pain in America"

Friday, December 9, 2011
12 pm ET/11 am CST

Myra Christopher is the Director of the Pain Action Alliance Initiative: A National Strategy (PAAINS) and the holder of the Kathleen Foley Chair on Pain and Palliative Care at the Center for Practical Bioethics.

Christopher will be discussing her role as a member of the Pain Study Committee at the Institutes of Medicine focused on the under-treatment of pain which produced the IOM report, “Relieving Pain In American: A Blueprint for Transformation in Prevention, Care, Education and Research.” The historic report was submitted to Congress this past June.

For more information click here.

An All Too Typical Case Study

A typical case – older gentleman, no advance directive, uninsured, suddenly without consciousness and the family doesn’t know what to do. Conflict between family and doctors and hospital results.

What do you think?

L2

Don't Pull The Plug! A Family's Battle With The Hospital
Carolyn Rosenblatt
Forbes
December 1, 2011

What little brain activity was left in the lower brain would probably diminish soon and the dispute would end. However, they did not deserve to be lied to by hospital personnel in the meantime. This was crisis management, filled with the family’s pain and the hospital’s financial dilemma communicated as pressure to end the problem by forcing the family to let go.

New Development for Seniors

Stephanie Liebergen
NBC Action News KSHB-TV
November 30, 2011

Rockhill Greens will be built on a 13-acre plot of land connected to the Brookside Campus of Research Medical Center.

The two groups are working together to build an environmentally friendly development that promotes a healthy lifestyle.

Links:

New development for seniors coming to Brookside, NBC Action News KSHB-TV
November 30, 2011

Podcast: Developing Independent Senior Living, Kelley Hrabe and Jeremy Whitt, The Bioethics Channel

http://www.kc4aic.org/