Bioethics Forum EssayIndividuals Declared Brain-Dead Remain Biologically AliveA remarkable experiment raises anew questions about whether brain-death is really death.Read Individuals Declared Brain-Dead Remain Biologically AliveBioethics Forum EssayDo New York State’s Ventilator Allocation Guidelines Place Chronic Ventilator Users at Risk? Clarification NeededThere is a lack of clarity about the New York State Task Force guidelines on ventilator allocation. I believe disability rights concerns regarding the recommendations on chronic ventilator users are well-founded. This lack of clarity may cost lives.Read Do New York State’s Ventilator Allocation Guidelines Place Chronic Ventilator Users at Risk? Clarification NeededBioethics Forum EssayConfronting Disability Discrimination During the PandemicAs hospitals and public health authorities devise triage protocols to allocate scarce critical-care resources during the Covid-19 pandemic, people with disabilities are expressing alarm that these protocols devalue them and exacerbate long-entrenched ableism in health care. Lawsuits alleging disability discrimination in have been filed in Washington and Alabama. The U.S. Office for Civil Rights is investigating disability discrimination complaints in triage protocols. The challenge is to develop protocols that will minimize discrimination in the health care system.Read Confronting Disability Discrimination During the PandemicBioethics Forum EssayPhysician-Assisted Death and Journalism EthicsA New York Times special report on euthanasia of a Paralympics champion in Belgium was ethically problematic for several reasons.Read Physician-Assisted Death and Journalism EthicsBioethics Forum EssayIs Medical Aid in Dying a Human Right?The Kings County Medical Society in New York recently hosted a brunch with New York State legislators. One of the guests was Richard Gottfried, chair of the New York State Assembly Health Committee, who is cosponsoring A2694, a bill legalizing medical aid in dying (MAID). As a medical oncologist with 30 years’ experience treating seriously ill patients, I have concerns about it, and I expressed them to Gottfried.Read Is Medical Aid in Dying a Human Right?Bioethics Forum EssayLive-Tweeting About Dying: Last Lessons from Kathy BrandtKathy Brandt, a leader in the hospice and palliative care movement in the United States, died on August 4. She was 53 and had been diagnosed with a rare, highly aggressive form of ovarian cancer in January. Brandt and her wife regularly posted on social media about their family's end-of-life experiences.Read Live-Tweeting About Dying: Last Lessons from Kathy BrandtBioethics Forum EssayReligion, Suffering, and the Physician’s RoleShould religion play a role in a doctor's care of seriously ill patients? The author, a hematologist/oncologist who teaches Jewish medical ethics, writes: "A physician's outlook may be shaped by religious standards without having to impose it on the patient."Read Religion, Suffering, and the Physician’s RoleBioethics Forum EssayShould Feeling Tired of Life Be Grounds for Euthanasia?Should an elderly person in decent health but "tired of life" be able to die with a physician's assistance? The Netherlands is grappling with this question.Read Should Feeling Tired of Life Be Grounds for Euthanasia?Bioethics Forum EssayWhat Dr. Seuss Saw at the Golden Years Clinic“Improving patient experience” has become the mantra of many health care facilities in a highly competitive and regulated environment. But just what is it about the patient experience that needs...Read What Dr. Seuss Saw at the Golden Years ClinicBioethics Forum EssayEthical Perspectives on Advance Directives for DementiaFour articles in the Hastings Center Report make an array of claims about whether advance directives should or should not be used to instruct caregivers to withhold oral feeding of...Read Ethical Perspectives on Advance Directives for Dementia