end-of-life care

17 Stories

Judge Chucks Out Calif. Assisted Suicide Law

He says law was illegally passed

(Newser) - A California judge on Tuesday threw out a 2016 state law allowing the terminally ill to end their lives, ruling it was unconstitutionally approved by the Legislature. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Daniel Ottolia said lawmakers acted illegally in passing the law during a special session devoted to other topics,...

Doctors Significantly Overestimate How Long Patients Have to Live

Review of research finds that doctors almost double the amount of time patients really have left

(Newser) - If you're given a terminal prognosis by your doctor and you ask how much longer you have left, chances are, you'll get an overestimate of your remaining days on Earth, a new overview of research finds. Doctors and nurses apparently dread having to give patients bad news, the...

The 5 Worst Places to Die in the World

 The 5 Worst 
 Places to Die 
 in the World 
in case you missed it
Oct 10, 2015 4:30 PM CDT

The 5 Worst Places to Die in the World

'The Economist' ranks end-of-life care

(Newser) - There's no avoiding death—but some places are "better" places to die than others. The Economist looked at 80 countries and ranked them for "quality of death," looking at factors including the overall palliative care and healthcare environment, the availability and training of healthcare professionals, the...

Medicare to Pay Doctors for End-of-Life Counseling

Will 'death panels' charge emerge again?

(Newser) - Medicare unveiled plans today to begin paying doctors to have conversations with their patients about end-of-life care and how they want to die. Yes, the same idea that got shot down six years ago when Sarah Palin raised a ruckus about "death panels," reports the AP . A post...

Hospitals Giving 'Death Test' to Seniors

Analysis could help families, doctors deal with terminal illness

(Newser) - Seniors had better brace themselves: Some US hospitals are now administering the "death test," which estimates an elderly patient's chance of dying over the next 30 days. Invented in Australia, the test weighs 29 different criteria —including blood pressure, respiratory rate, and medical history—to determine...

How We Die Author Dies at Home, Age 83
 How We Die Author 
 Dies at Home, Age 83 
OBITUARY
Mar 5, 2014 12:16 AM CST

How We Die Author Dies at Home, Age 83

Nuland 'wasn't scared of death,' daughter says

(Newser) - Dr. Sherwin Nuland, whose book How We Die sparked national debate over end-of-life decisions, has died from prostate cancer at his Connecticut home. The 83-year-old surgeon's award-winning 1994 book on death argued that death with dignity was rare and doctors too often tried to prolong life when further treatment...

'Death With Dignity' Should Become the National Norm

And it may, thanks to proposed Massachusetts act: Lewis Cohen

(Newser) - “It is time we became pro-choice at the end of life,” writes Lewis M. Cohen, and Massachusetts’ Death With Dignity Act, poised to pass on Election Day, could finally make that happen. The ballot question, if approved, could “turn death with dignity from a legislative experiment into...

Dems Quickly Pull Plug on 'Death Panels'

White House reverses course, deletes references to counseling

(Newser) - The end-of-life counseling derided as "death panels" that was originally part of health care reform, then taken out, then put back in , is back out again. For now. The Obama administration has reversed itself and removed references to the counseling from new Medicare regulations that quietly went into effect...

'Death Panels' Return: Obama Enacts End-of-Life Planning

Obama to add end-of-life planning to Medicare

(Newser) - Sarah Palin's "death panels" are back. The brouhaha surrounding end-of-life counseling forced Democrats to cut it from health care reform, but now President Obama is quietly adding the same policy to Medicare by rewriting regulations, reports the New York Times . Under the new policy, beginning Jan. 1 the government...

Germany OKs Assisted Suicide in Some Cases

Euthanasia with patients' consent permitted, court rules

(Newser) - A German court made a landmark ruling in favor of euthanasia today, overturning the conviction of a lawyer who’d advised a family to cut a comatose relation’s feeding tube. The patient, 71-year-old Erika Kuellmer, had made it clear she didn’t want to be kept alive if she...

Lie of the Year: 'Death Panels'
 Lie of the Year: 'Death Panels' 
OPINION
Dec 22, 2009 5:21 AM CST

Lie of the Year: 'Death Panels'

Palin's claim spread like wildfire through health debate

(Newser) - Sarah Palin's claim that health care reform would institute "death panels" to decide whether the elderly and disabled are worthy of treatment has been deemed the biggest lie of 2009 by the editors of PolitiFact . Palin appears to have coined the term in a July Facebook posting, and it...

America Needs to Embrace Death
 America 
 Needs to 
 Embrace 
 Death 
OPINION
Sep 13, 2009 1:26 PM CDT

America Needs to Embrace Death

Lowering health care costs means cutting unnecessary end-of-life treatment

(Newser) - Nobody wants to talk about rationing health care, but “the need to spend less money on the elderly at the end of life is the elephant in the room in the health-reform debate,” Evan Thomas writes in Newsweek. To expand coverage and lower costs, Americans must overcome their...

Sorry, Glenn Beck: Senate Confirms Sunstein

57-40 vote goes mostly along party lines

(Newser) - Cass Sunstein, President Obama’s nominee for a bureaucratic White House post, has been confirmed in a 57-40 Senate vote largely along party lines, Politico reports. Sunstein, who will monitor federal regulations as director of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, has been under attack by conservatives...

Inside the Real World of End-of-Life Care

End-of-life specialists are 'psychoanalysts,' 'detectives'

(Newser) - With so many up in arms about “death panel” rumors, the New York Times paints a picture of real-life palliative care providers, or end-of-life consultants. The Times follows one specialist in a field that requires its doctors to be “part psychoanalyst, part detective,” writes Anemona Hartocollis: He’...

GOP Backed 'Death Panels' ...in 2003
 GOP Backed 
 'Death Panels' 
 ...in 2003 
analysis
Aug 14, 2009 2:10 PM CDT

GOP Backed 'Death Panels' ...in 2003

End-of-life counseling provided in Medicare bill

(Newser) - They’re up in arms against it now, but Republicans voted for a measure providing end-of-life counseling in 2003, Amy Sullivan writes for Time. That year’s Medicare prescription drug bill, which boasted support from 204 GOP representatives and 42 senators, offered funding for “counseling the beneficiary with respect...

GOP Sen. Slams Prez's Town Hall 'Shout-Out'

Says he 'vehemently opposes' Congressional measures

(Newser) - At yesterday's town hall, President Obama cited health care reform backing from a Republican senator—giving a shout-out to Georgia's Johnny Isakson—and the lawmaker is none too pleased, Politico reports. Obama said Isakson sponsored voluntary end-of-life counseling measures, prompting Isakson’s office to assert that he “vehemently opposes...

2 Words Could Clean Up 'Death Panel' Mess: Parker

'A simple amendment' would put debate to rest

(Newser) - Sarah Palin went way too far in suggesting “death panels” would kill her loved ones—but  the wording of the House health bill authorizing payment for end-of-life consultations is worrisome, writes Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post. “A simple amendment would do much to cool tempers.” The...

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