Since March 2020, we have been bombarded each day with an overload of statistics. Charts, graphs, scattergrams of cases, positives versus positivity rates, deaths, and whatever else can be produced on a colorful whiteboard have been flashed on screens of…
The Hastings Center is the oldest independent, nonpartisan, interdisciplinary research institute of its kind in the world. The author’s approach regarding our responsibility in a pandemic is frequently referenced as the “fair Innings” argument. Elders have had more “innings” in…
Medical ethics deals with choices made by clinicians and patients and the duties and obligations that follow. Central to medical ethics is informed consent and patient autonomy, i.e., the right to make decisions over one’s own body. As of this…
Have you ever found yourself singing along to all of the lyrics of a song you knew in high school but can’t remember what someone told you last week? Well, there may be a scientific basis for this amazing recall.…
Is physician assisted dying/suicide (PAD/PAS) just the first step onto the slippery slope of normalizing suicide? Should we democratize suicide for all autonomous citizens, stripping away the physician’s involvement and clearing the decks of the ruse of easily manipulated subjective…
Baby boomers want to change the death experience. An overwhelming 80% of Americans want to die at home but the reality is that 60% die in the hospital and another 20% die in a nursing home. Many times, this shift…
In some ways, the Jetson family gave us a look at what is becoming our technologically supported life. In two short years, the American population of those 65 and older will number 65 million. It’s a staggering number that demands…
Do you recall when Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the chief architect of the Affordable Care Act, made a chilling announcement that he does not wish to live beyond the age of 75 because his productive life will be over? As explicit…