*new* 5 Dec 11
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/magazine/can-ambien-wake-minimally-conscious.html?pagewanted=3&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210
2 Dec 11
(not exactly a current event, but a followup to a point of discussion in Weds.' class)
Medical Bankruptcy (info from 2009, but based on a national study)
1. http://articles.cnn.com/2009-06-05/health/bankruptcy.medical.bills_1_medical-bills-bankruptcies-health-insurance?_s=PM:HEALTH
2. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/medical-bills-cause-most-bankruptcies/
3. http://www.pnhp.org/new_bankruptcy_study/Bankruptcy-2009.pdf
Note: "Medical impoverishment, although common in poor nations, 17,18 is almost unheard of in wealthy countries other than the US.19 Most provide a stronger safety net of disability income support. All have some form of national health insurance." Himmelstein, Thorne, et al. study.
I have a question in to a lawyer friend about bankruptcy (I don't know if she knows specifically about medical bankruptcies). I'll post more when I get her response.
10 Nov 11
Three severely brain-injured people thought to be in an irreversible “vegetative” state showed signs of full consciousness on a commonly used brain exam, doctors reported in the journal The Lancet. http://nyti.ms/taYv39
9 Nov 11
A government report says the officials did nothing to correct sloppy practices at the facility in Dover, Del. http://nyti.ms/swDmWL
5 Nov 11
Doris V. Amen, the director of the Jurek-Park Slope Funeral Home in Brooklyn, says many customers appreciate her starting price of $1,999 for a wake. http://nyti.ms/uefPOl
http://www.whathappensnow.com/articles_show.cfm?id=37&cat=8&sub=1
ReplyDeleteSince when did it cost so much to die?? I feel like this is ridiculous. Honestly I may as well start saving now for my funeral, or at least get good life insurance.
That price is likely a steal, but that isn't even the expensive part. If you choose to get buried rather than cremated then costs skyrocket. It doesn't seem that prices will drop because it's not as though people can choose not to die.
ReplyDeletefrom Megan
ReplyDeleteI agree the price of it all makes dying seem like a bigger expense than living. It really makes me wonder where all this money is going, I have to wonder if a good chuck of what people are paying to be remembered went towards Ms. Amen's two Cadillacs. I hope to offend no one but reading this article makes this woman look like a heartless predator. She refers to dying people as "pending" and hopes that their deaths won't interfere with her Halloween Party. The profit people make off of other people's suffering is disturbing, as these individuals seem to have no respect for the dead but rather prey on a dying person's wish to be treated and remembered with respect after they pass away.
I agree with Megan and how that the prices of what it cost to die seems like a bigger expense than living in some cases. However I do not believe that the price of what it cost to have one buried or cremated is going to go down anytime soon, because there are always going to be people dying.And regarding the article about air force mortuary officials misplacing dead human remains is absolutely ridiculous. I believe that the three mortuary officials should have been fired not just disciplined. I hope that their would be more air force mortuary officials that would pay closer attention and not misplace body parts.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the New York Times article, “Study Finds Signs of Awareness in 3 ‘Vegetative’ Patients,” (by Benedict Carey) I am again reminded of the obvious limitations of science. It truly makes my stomach turn to think about the idea that patients could be trapped in their own bodies, buried alive as the article noted, and be conscience. It makes me even sicker to think that medical professionals, through the failure of established scientific knowledge and tools, could misdiagnose these people keeping them, thus, trapped this way; worse, killing them because they are ruled no longer living. This discovery, if worked out further and tested more rigorously, could lead to, “routine, two-way communication with some of these patients, allowing them to share information about their inner world, experiences, and needs” (Carey 2011). This would be a wonderful discovery for family members of those misdiagnosed as vegetative and could help clear up some of the scientific grey area that has allowed misdiagnoses such as those mentioned in the article for so long.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Megan and Ashley when they say that the cost to die seems higher than the cost to live but in reality we all know it isn't. Though the prices and fees to be buried or cremated are steep, they are no where near the amount that we would pay to get a good education. Professional schools alone cost as much as a nice house for just 3 to 4 years of education. Yes, this will pay off in the end by the salary you will be making but it is still an expensive initial cost. The cost for a bone marrow transplant is upwards of 100,000 dollars, expensive yes but it could save your life so people are willing to take on that expense. In the end I kind of feel like the expense to be buried or cremated is worth it. That is what you want for your body and if that will cause you to in turn rest peacefully then it is worth it. Not saying that I agree the costs should be that steep but that's life.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading the article, “Air Force Officials Disciplined Over Handling of Human Remains,” I felt great sadness for those lost Marines and Soldiers and their families. I just could not understand why their remains would be treated with such indignity and disrespect, especially after their service to our country. Most disturbing was the situation mentioned in the article where remains were stored in a plastic bag and then removed, tested, and placed back into the bags with little organization. This situation made me wonder about which remains ended up in which coffin. The possibility that a grieving family would receive anything other than their son’s or daughter’s remains seems like adding insult to injury. I feel that those in charge of the mortuary should have been fired. As we discussed in a previous paper in class, there are certain rights that every body deserves, no matter if it is living or dead.
ReplyDeletefrom Jenny Rife
ReplyDeleteRe: An Undertaker With Purple Nails
$1999.00 is actually pretty inexpensive; most funerals fall between $5000 and $10,000. If you skip any sort of service to commemorate the deceased and go with cremation, you could spend much less. The point of this piece wasn’t the cost; it was a character study. Ms. Amen was chosen, I suspect, because she’s not your usual undertaker. She doesn’t fit our preconceived notion of an undertaker: a benign man with a black suit, a somber voice, and a way of walking on eggshells around the bereaved. She’s brash, flashy, and probably less delicate than you’d want or expect in your time of grief. Undertakers don’t bury the dead out of the goodness of their heart; they’re doing their job. Death services is a business, like any other. I don’t expect them to be saintly and self-sacrificing; the fact that Ms. Amen hopes a dying man hangs on until after her Halloween party isn’t much different to me than anyone with a job who hopes that job won’t keep them from their party, or date, or vacation. The only thing I rolled my eyes about was the emphasis on her looks/wardrobe. If she were a man, would the writer have mentioned the fit of his suit, or the way he clamped his Rockport loafers onto the hearse’s bumper? Somehow, I doubt it. :)
from Jenny Rife on PVS pt.
ReplyDeleteThe discovery of brain activity is a hopeful development, and I hope more is done to further our understanding of these patients and what they’re able to think and feel. Such knowledge would enable us to improve their quality of life, at least. In the movie “Awakenings,” the doctor (Robin Williams) works with a PVS patient (Robert DeNiro) on a Ouija board, hoping to help him spell his name; instead, the patient spells “R I L K E S P A N T H E R.” So the doctor goes to the library and looks up Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem, “The Panther:”
His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
Has grown so weary that it cannot hold
Anything else. It seems to him there are
A thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.
As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
The movement of his powerful soft strides
Is like a ritual dance around a center
In which a mighty will stands paralyzed.
Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
Lifts, quietly--. An image enters in,
Rushes down through the tense, arrested muscles,
Plunges into the heart and is gone.
Haunting, evocative of futility and the desperation of being trapped for a terrible, numbing length of time.
Jenny you sure do have wonderful post! :) It sounds like this new discovery with EEG patients might be able to identify patient who are in a "locked in" state versus PVS. With this development maybe more research can be done to find out ways to provide treatments that may give the patients a better quality of life.
ReplyDeleteI was very surprised by the story of Chris and his “minimally conscience state” in the article, “A Drug that Wakes the Near Dead.” Since reading about the various forms of consciousness and when death occurs early this year in the Barry text, I have known that the line between life and death was exceptionally blurred. With the continuing advances of medicine, I see that the line is only becoming fuzzier and fuzzier. While reading this article, I was obviously amazed by the changes the author described in Chris when he took his medicine. To think that at one point he was unresponsive and the now can follow commands through the simple use of a pill is mind-boggling. Unfortunately, I also felt great sadness for Chris and his parents. I can only imagine the frustration that he and they must feel, knowing that the “Chris” they love will only be there for a short time (as long as the Zolpidem lasts). I do not truly know what Chris feels, but I can barely contemplate the overwhelming dread one would feel being trapped in his or her own body. While there are advances being made, the brain is more complex than anyone could ever imagine and injuries there are slow to heal, if they heal at all. This idea that vegetative patients are more alive than the healthcare professionals know is a scary idea, and credit needs to be given to Chris’s parents for staying by his side and discovering their son once again.
ReplyDeleteThree severely brain-injured people thought to be in an irreversible “vegetative” state showed signs of full consciousness on a commonly used brain exam, doctors reported in the journal The Lancet. http://nyti.ms/taYv39
ReplyDeleteAs technology continues to improve there will always be new advancements in modern-day medicine. This article was interesting because it proved that it is hard to determine if a patient is in a “vegetative state” because even through medical professionals think they can diagnose a patient, sometimes it’s more difficult. On the other hand, just because the brain exam proved consciousness in these cases it doesn’t mean it will be as effective in future cases.
Doris V. Amen, the director of the Jurek-Park Slope Funeral Home in Brooklyn, says many customers appreciate her starting price of $1,999 for a wake. http://nyti.ms/uefPOl
ReplyDeleteLosing a loved is never easy. The last thing someone wants to think about after a loss is “How can we afford a funeral and a wake for our loved one?” With the starting price of just $1,999, family members can now focus on friends and family instead of the final bill. Ms. Amen gives her customers a classy funeral for their loved one without stressing them with finances. Ms. Amen takes the worry away from the family left behind so that they may say their final goodbyes with grace and dignity. I think this is a great service that Ms. Amen provides and she obviously feels good about helping out the grieving families. I also believe that the families respect her for what she has to offer.
Wow. I'm not so sure how I feel about Ms. Amen. She seems to be quite a character but I admire her for her strength and uniqueness. I find it quite ridiculous though that $2000 is a good deal for a funeral nowadays but I guess it shouldn't surprise me. I mean we pay twenty times that to go to college (like Ozzie mentioned).
ReplyDeleteA funeral being a final ceremony in honor of a loved one is so important for a family's closure that prices have rose simply because they can. It's true that we all die so really the funeral home industries must feel as though they are in the perfect business. It’s sad to see that death has become a business when it used to be something more personal and private (as seen in The Death of Ivan Ilyich). Even though I am disturbed by the price, preparing a dead body for burial is not something I would want to do so I guess that is how jobs such as Ms. Amen’s arose.
In reading the article about Chris and what it means to be minimally conscious, I am reminded of the film The Diving Bell & the Butterfly. I thought it was awful for one man to experience such tragic circumstances but now I see that he is not as rare as I had previously imagined. Chris, too, must have feelings of being trapped inside his own body (while conscious). My heart also goes out to the families who must feel helpless in such a situation. At least by knowing such individuals exist, we can figure out how to best treat them and hopefully continue to make progress.
The fact that families are bankrupt from medical expenses is not surprising. Medical costs are high and can add up quickly depending on the illness and the length of time it takes to rid oneself of the disease. Having a large family alone could increase the amount of medical bills. Unfortunately, some diseases can’t be cured and must be treated over the course of one’s lifetime. (Genetic disorders, AIDS, etc) The fact that insurance companies discriminate or drop coverage based on a client’s health is also not helpful.
About the Drug that Awakes the Near Dead article- First I have to say I was a little shocked by the mom needing to pull the doctor in and show her the movements of her son. I understand doctors often make a diagnosis and then have the patient's family attempt to prove otherwise. I hope, however, that doctors are more open eared to their patients and will listen to them because in cases like these, paying close attention matters a lot. I think it is very inspiring what this family has gone through for their son. They have given up so much of their time and money for him. But then when you read the end of the article, you see why. The drug clearly makes a large difference in the way the son can interact with the world. Maybe, with more research of course, a drug can be found to completely bring people out of semi-consciousness.
ReplyDeleteI read the article on medical bills and bankruptcy in America. I think that it is crazy that so many people are going bankrupt because of medical bills. At first I thought that it was most likely because they did not have health insurance but then read that some did and were going bankrupt from being bogged down by co-pays and bills for treatments that their insurance would not pay for. This relates to our discussion in class because of all of the end of life treatments that people are paying for that are futile. I know that it may sound harsh, but if those futile treatments were limited then maybe more could be used to help the people whose treatments are not futile just very expensive or not covered by insurance. This would greatly help the bankruptcy problem because so much money goes into end of life care, more then any other form of medical care. If futile treatment was demanded by the family or patient then I believe that they should have the right to pay for it themselves, but not be able to use government funding to do so. If other people had access to this money then maybe they would not have to file bankruptcy, and they might even receive life saving treatment that they previously would have never been able to afford.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the article about the drugs that helps to awaken the near dead was very interesting. Of course I think that in order for this to work there would have to be some form of brain activity to start with. I don't think that a person who has absolutely no brain activity and is being kept alive by artificial means only, would benefit from this drug. It is very good though that they are experimenting in this area to help patients that might otherwise never be able to communicate with the world again. I think that more and more research needs to be done in this area now that some sort of breakthroughs like this one are showing up. Not relating to the actual drug, I was also surprised with the reaction of the doctor to the mother when she said her son could respond to her. I find it disappointing that she had to pull him into the room in order for him to even consider what she was saying. I understand that this is something that he probably hears everyday, if that is the department he is working in, put the patients and their families deserve credit for being there with their loved ones everyday and knowing how they react. Even if the doctor was correct and the patient was not responding and it was only the family thinking that they saw a response, they still deserve the time of day. I think that this goes along with our discussion of humility and how it plays an important role in our professional lives. In order for the families to respect the doctor and put their trust in his judgment, I think that he has to be humble and put himself in the shoes of the family members. He has to respect the situation that they are in and should act accordingly.
ReplyDeleteI also read the article about the woman that was offering wakes for $2000. I think that it is great that she is doing this because honestly I find it totally unnecessary to spend thousands and thousands of dollars that could potentially cause a lot of financial problems, on a funeral. At the end of the day the body is going to the same place. I still think that the funeral should be nice and show respect for the dead, but spending that much money is outrageous. I think that the funeral companies have taken advantage of the fact that when someone dies the family really has no choice other than to spend the money for the dead. There are no inexpensive options for them so the family must pay for it. I agree with what Gabby said; that it is sad that death has become a business where people can take money from the victims just because they can. I guess that this shouldn't seem so surprising to me though because it is not like this is the only field where companies have taken advantage of the personal situations people find themselves in.
ReplyDeleteI read the article about the individuals in the Air Force who were not punished for the mishandling of the remains of two soldiers. First, I thought that it was terrible, and cannot even understand how two whole bodies can go missing in the first place. The fact that they did nothing to correct these irresponsible practices makes it even worse. I don't understand how something as reputable as the Air Force can make mistakes like these. Th whole situation was obviously extremely careless, and even though the individuals were punished, I feel like they should have been fired. People in less reputable lines of work make mistakes that are not even close to being as severe, and get fired for that. I think that it is also horrible that incidences like this one have happened before, and obviously the Air Force has not done much to correct or prevent this kind of problem. While I do not think that you can actually harm a dead body, or dead person, you can certainly harm their families. It is necessary for them to have closure and be able to bury their loved ones properly and now they will never be able to do that. It is outrageous that this happened and the military had no concern for the family. The administration sent them there to fight for their country and risk their lives and they can't even ensure that their bodies will be returned safely home. These men and women give their lives for and they can't even take care of their bodies properly. Something here needs to change, and soon.
ReplyDelete