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  • Case Study – Matter of Quinlan

    Evidence in the case included statements the patient made earlier referring to her “distaste for continuance of life by extraordinary medical procedures.” These statements were deemed by the court as remote, impersonal and lacking trial “probative weight.” The trial court refused the order to withdraw life-supporting apparatus. The father/guardian appealed.

  • Case Study – Managing Pain, A Family Affair

    Mrs. W is a sixty-year-old African American woman with a recent diagnosis of breast cancer with metastases to the bone and lung. Will she become addicted to the prescribed pain medication?

  • Case Study – “If you prick me, do I not bleed?”

    Elizabeth is over 100 years old, with little cognitive decline. Her blood-thinning medication requires monthly blood draws, which are painful and distressing to Elizabeth. Is continuing the monthly blood draws the right thing to do?

  • The Case of Grace: Why Are They Doing All This?

    Shortly after she retired, Grace, who has never married, sold her home and moved into Happy Valley Nursing Home where she has lived the past nine years and has now slipped into what the doctor agrees is Alzheimer’s disease. Grace started exhibiting signs of illness, which after blood tests, appears to be related to abnormal function of her spleen.

  • Case Study – Good Death or Assisted Suicide?

    “My body is all worn out. I’m worn out. Don’t want to do this anymore, Doc. Just stop that little gadget that shocks me and the part that keeps my heart going. I want them stopped. Yes, the pacemaker, too. A magnet will stop it, right? Just do it. Please.”

  • Case Study – What Should We Do? DNR for an Adult with Down Syndrome

    George is a twenty-three-year-old young man with Down’s syndrome, who lived independently in a group home. Unfortunately, an accident resulted in George suffering a severe brain injury, with no signs of consciousness after a year. He’s dependent upon a feeding tube.

  • Case Study – Could This Happen At Our Hospital?

    A 79-year-old white female with advanced ovarian cancer, severe back and abdominal pain, COPD, depression and anxiety disorder, and asthma was admitted to the hospital from Happy Valley Nursing Home through the emergency room.

  • Case Study – Casey’s Last Inning

    How do healthcare providers clearly state what they believe is the right and good and wise action that ought to be taken for the patient?

  • Case Study – Barney Says No

    With no family, Barney, her longtime friend, has been her unofficial substitute decision maker. Should her treatment plan be moved to comfort care only? Who gets to decide?

  • Case Study – Baby K

    Do physicians have an obligation to treat in a situation in which they believe treatment is utterly pointless?

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