Last year about this time (February 2015) I wrote about the “Death with Dignity,” proposed legislation, and tried to convey just how corrosive to human dignity and the sanctity of life it actually was. It died, I am proud to report, an ignominious death. This year it’s back, sporting a [...]
Ken Kesey’s 1964 novel, Sometimes a Great Notion, tells the story of a proud and hardscrabble lumbering family in Oregon who live–and die–with the oft-spoken motto, “never give a inch.” The title is somewhat intriguing, though. Far from uplifting, Kesey’s “great notion” refers to the dark lyrics of Huddie “Leadbelly” [...]
Nursing home and assisted living care are getting expensive these days. As we live longer, and particularly as the largest demographic–the Baby Boomers–retire and become eligible for Medicare and Social Security, it’s apt to get more expensive as demand peaks. High-end assisted living units locally average better than $3500/month for [...]
Nursing homes, community care facilities, and assisted living facilities may be among the most heavily-regulated industries in our State. It is a truism that heavy regulation can be a happy hunting ground for trial lawyers. So whatever you might think of trial lawyers, most objective observers agree that the tort [...]
Previously, we’ve discussed picking fiduciaries among families. Couples often have each other as the principal fiduciary–power of attorney, personal representative–and then choose one or the other of their adult children as alternates. Yet, in some instances it is either impracticable or, yes, unwise, to have a family member as a [...]
I was honored recently to be invited to a dinner meeting of the El Paso County Medical Society’s Medical Ethics committee. Surrounded by people of vastly greater distinction and achievement in the fields of philosophy, medicine, and law, I could only eat quietly and try to absorb what was being [...]
Revisionists have spent the last fifty years trying hard to excise Thanksgiving from among those few remaining holidays with expressly religious origins. We are told that the Founding Fathers were atheists, agnostics, or, at best Deists. A certain elementary school I know advised its students that the first Thanksgiving was [...]
There is the story of the young lad who was an incurable optimist. No amount of misfortune seemed ever to dim his effervescence. This was of course a mixed blessing for his parents, who, though gladdened by his sunny outlook, over time began to worry that he was headed for [...]