MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'directives'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:26:54 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5036228&cid=t_442104_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fconfusing-compliance-with-engagement-in-our-health-care%2F2011.07.17 Twenty percent of people who leave their doctors’ offices with a new prescription don’t fill it. Up to one-half of those who do fill their prescriptions don’t take the drugs as recommended. These individuals are considered non-compliant. But does that mean they are not engaged in their health care? Engagement and compliance are not synonyms. I am compliant if I do what my doctor tells me to do. I am engaged, on the other hand, when I actively participate in the process of solving my health problems. This new prescription is an element in that process. If I am engaged in my care, I might want to learn about this medication. Such as:  what it can and cannot do to ease my pain or slow the progress of my disease; what side effects it might produce and what I should do about them; how l... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5036228 Sun, 17 Jul 2011 18:00:40 +0100 5036228 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4450292&cid=t_442104_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fend-of-life-care-when-medicine-prolongs-dying-not-living%2F2011.02.08 The recent Washington Post article entitled, Who decides when medicine prolongs dying, not living? perfectly captures my earlier blog on why we’re afraid of death. An excerpt from the Post piece: [There's a] huge gap between Americans’ wishes about end-of-life care, as expressed in numerous public opinion polls, and what actually happens in too many instances–futile, expensive, often painful procedures performed on people too sick to leave the hospital alive–much less survive with a decent quality of life. Ninety percent of Americans say they want to die at home but only 20 percent do so. Half of Americans die in hospitals and another 25 percent in nursing homes, after a long period of suffering from chronic, incurable conditions that finally become untreatable. An ... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4450292 Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:00:00 +0100 4450292 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4399528&cid=t_442104_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fend-of-life-planning-makes-it-easier-to-say-goodbye%2F2011.01.25 This is a guest post by Dr. Barbara Okun and Dr. Joseph Nowinski. *********** End-Of-Life Planning Makes It Easier To Say Goodbye Saying goodbye as the end of life approaches can be difficult, even for those with a gift for words. In a moving account in a recent issue of The New Yorker, writer Joyce Carol Oates describes the last week of her 49-year marriage, as her husband was dying from complications of pneumonia. Like A Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion’s poignant memoir of her husband’s sudden death and its aftermath, Oates’ essay highlights the need for each of us to think about death and dying — and discuss them with loved ones — long before they become a likelihood. In our work with individuals and families facing death, we have seen too many people miss the op... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4399528 Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:00:02 +0100 4399528 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4205936&cid=t_442104_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fend-of-life-wishes-how-to-engage-with-grace%2F2010.11.27 As patients, as family members, as friends, as health care providers, we have all faced end-of-life issues at one time or another, and we will face them again. And again.  This weekend the “Engage With Grace” message is being broadcast virally, through a “blog rally,” at a time when many people are with family and friends over the long weekend. The point is: We all need to have the potentially uncomfortable conversation with people close to us about what kind of treatment we would want, and they would want, if incapable of making or communicating healthcare decisions. CNN ran a story on “Engage With Grace” yesterday. End-of-life decision-making has long been an issue of great personal and professional interest to me, and I am proud to have played a r... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4205936 Sat, 27 Nov 2010 13:00:00 +0100 4205936 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2855527&cid=t_442104_87_f&fid=34872&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blisstree.com%2Fhealthbolt%2Fsuicide-woman-uses-do-not-resuscitate%2F Who is right? A woman tries to commit suicide. She’s rushed to the hospital but she’s conscious still and hands the doctors a living will that stipulates that she doesn’t want to be treated, just kept comfortable as she dies. The doctors respect her living will and don’t treat her. They feel that if they do treat her, she could come back after them later and accuse them of assault, since she specifically refused treatment. She dies. Her family is angry, accuses the doctors of allowing the woman to die (which they did). They say, they had not choice because she told them not to. Who is right? This did happen in the United Kingdom recently. Doctors in the UK have had directives that they were to obey living wills from people who refused treatment. Failure to comply co... Healthbolt blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2855527 Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:29:21 +0100 2855527 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1704642&cid=t_442104_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F08%2Fdoroty-livadas-new-futile-care-case-in.html This is the future that Futile Care theorists hold for us. If you sign an advance medical directive granting a proxy the right to make your health decisions on your behalf in the event of incapacity--and that proxy wants life support ceased--that decision is sacrosanct, and woe betide the outsider (even other family members) who try to interfere. But, if doctors decide that the proxy's decision to maintain life support is "inappropriate," well then, to hell with the advance directive, and indeed, to hell with the proxy.Just such a scenario is unfolding today in Rochester. Dorothy Livadas named her daughter Ianthe to be her proxy. But Ianthe is exercising independent judgment requiring life support to continue that the hospital doesn't want to provide, and so the hospital has sued to have h... Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1704642 Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:08:00 +0100 1704642 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1376666&cid=t_442104_114_f&fid=34646&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhealthcarebloglaw.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F04%2Fnational-healthcare-decisions-day-april.html Today (April 16, 2008) is “National Healthcare Decisions Day”, a collaborative effort of national, state and community organizations committed to ensuring that all adults with decision-making capacity in the United States have the information and opportunity to properly communicate and document their healthcare decisions.My law partner, Sam Fox, who serves on the West Virginia State Bar's Law & Medicine Committee sent out an email a few weeks ago asking lawyers in West Virginia to participate in promoting this important initiative. To do my part I thought I would blog some information.Frist, check out the resources page on the NHDD website for more information on advanced directives and advanced care planning.Second, for more information on West Virginia advanced directives go to t... Health Care Law Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1376666 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:40:00 +0100 1376666 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1231885&cid=t_442104_87_f&fid=35052&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FWomensBioethicsBlog%2F%7E3%2F234979698%2Flogic-or-rationale-of-dnr-order.html Whether we've discussed it or not, we've all thought about the prospect of Do Not Resuscitate Orders (DNRs). In most instances the need for them is no mystery nor does it require rocket science to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] (Source: Women's Bioethics Blog) Women's Bioethics Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1231885 Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:22:42 +0100 1231885 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1091374&cid=t_442104_87_f&fid=35052&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwomensbioethics.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F12%2Fdeath-casts-shadow-in-classroom.html (Source: Women's Bioethics Blog) Women's Bioethics Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1091374 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:12:00 +0100 1091374 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=868181&cid=t_442104_117_f&fid=34612&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedoctorweighsin.com%2Fjournal%2F2007%2F9%2F13%2Fcan-we-control-the-quality-of-our-deaths-do-advanced-directi.html by Pat Salber, MDMy day began and ended thinking about “end of life” care. I am involved in a project at work to facilitate better discussions about end of life options, such as hospice and advanced directives. So, this evening, perusing the Annals of Internal Medicine (July 3, 2007), my attention was captured by a provocatively titled article, “Controlling Death: The False Promise of Advance Directives.Although published in a peer-reviewed journal, this treatise is clearly an opinion piece. Nevertheless it is thought provoking. The author, Henry Perkins, MD, from the Division of General Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio uses a single case to make his points.What he writes about this case rang true to me. He describes Mr. Jones who h... The Doctor Weighs In blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=868181 Thu, 13 Sep 2007 04:09:23 +0100 868181 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=536851&cid=t_442104_87_f&fid=35052&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwomensbioethics.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F04%2Ftexas-futile-care-law.html There is a case going on in Texas right now dealing with the Texas Futile Care Law. The bill, signed in 1999 by then Governor George W. Bush, allows hospitals to end life-sustaining treatment to patients whose medical treatment is declared "medically futile." Read the entire law here: Texas Statutes Health & Safety Code, Chapter 166. Advance Directives (specifically Section 166.046)From the Washington Post: Since Dec. 28, baby Emilio Gonzales has spent his days in a pediatric intensive care unit, mostly asleep from the powerful drugs he is administered, and breathing with the help of a respirator. Children's Hospital here declared his case hopeless last month and gave his mother 10 days, as legally required, to find another facility to take the baby. That deadline, extended once alread... Women's Bioethics Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=536851 Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:41:00 +0100 536851