Doing Away with Dogmatic Medical Directives 2022
It is unrealistic to make fixed treatment instructions in the present, to be implemented in an unknown time in the future, in unpredictable medical circumstances, carried out by clinicians who are now strangers. This is why, and what we can do about it.
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Who Makes Medical Treatment Decisions? An Algorithm 2021
This shows how medical treatment decisions are made, directly by patients, and indirectly by surrogates. It condenses many laws into an easy-to-follow chart.
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Concise Contracts, 4th Edition 2016 (First Edition, 1996)
The ideas of contracts match the ideas of human relationships. Contracts are simply an unambiguous way to make agreements. Understanding them is an essential part of law school, and is beneficial to anyone navigating our complex modern society. This book is written in plain English as an accessible reference covering the basics.
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End-of-Life Decisions: Who Decides and the Role of the Psychiatrist 2014
This article explores the interplay of law, ethics, and social considerations in support of medicine at the end of life. It pays special attention to the role of psychiatry. Written with Dr. Richard Martinez; originally published in The Psychiatric Times.
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How to Reconcile Advance Care Directives with Attempted Suicide 2013
When people are admitted to a hospital following an attempted suicide, their advance directives can raise ethical quandaries. This is a recommended approach to finding consensus in those circumstances.
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What Is “Consensus” When Choosing a Proxy? 2009
Consensus means different things to different people in different circumstances. It is like “semi-annual” and “bi-annual,” both of which have come to mean either twice a year or every two years, and are thus useless for precise language. See how it plays out in using this statute.
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Relatives As Surrogates 2005, The Colorado Lawyer
Family members often make inappropriate medical treatment decisions when they act as surrogates for relatives. Even with the best of intentions, the medical literature reveals that choices by family members have a poor correlation with what their incapacitated relatives actually wanted.
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Surrogate Decision-Making for “Friendless” Patients 2005, The Colorado Lawyer
If a person is mentally unable to make medical care decisions, a substitute decision-maker must do so. As society becomes proportionately older, more people in that situation are likely to also outlive their families and social circles. This article addresses alternative means of substitute decision-making that must then be found.
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Living Wills 1998, In Philip Kapleau, The Zen of Living and Dying
We live in a world of ever-expanding medical treatment options, where more decisions are the responsibility of patients than ever before. Some of the most important medical decisions we will ever make arise as we near the end of our lives. By preparing adequately for death we not only reduce the decision-making burden on our families, we also engender greater clarity in ourselves. Here’s how to do so.
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Living Organs and Dying Bodies 1997, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
Organ donation raises many issues for religions beyond mere approval or prohibition. The methodology of donation intersects with the passage from this world—a passage that has always been a fundamental religious concern. This article attempts to reconcile specific Buddhist religious teachings about dying, with the needs of organ donors.
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Reconciling Patient Choice with Physician Conscience 1997, The Colorado Lawyer
What happens when the medical treatment to which a patient feels entitled conflicts with the sincere personal objects of the treating doctor? A patient has some right to treatment, yet a doctor also has some right of conscience. These issues will arise more frequently in our era of galloping technology, with patients who are better educated consumers. Whose rights prevail? How should doctors respond to these issues?
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Truman’s Bomb, Our Bomb 1995, The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs
“The United States did not drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki primarily to end World War II without invading Japan, nor to threaten the Soviet Union at the threshold of the Cold War. Striving to emulate Roosevelt, desensitized by carpet bombing in Germany and Japan, provoked by the alienation between East and West, Truman felt he had to use the Bomb simply because he could not imagine doing otherwise.” [Excerpt from the article]
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The ADA and Privately Owned Historic Facilities 1994, The Colorado Lawyer
Society rightly values access for the disabled, recognizing that we are all benefited by universal access to buildings and places. At the same time, we also accord historic buildings special protection from modification. What happens when these needs conflict? How are they balanced? This aricle attempts to reconcile these meritorious rights.
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Protecting Marital Obligations from Bankruptcy 1994, The Colorado Lawyer
Bankruptcy became another weapon in the war of the sexes. Parties to a divorce sometimes tried to undermine the property settlement after a divorce by filing for bankruptcy. This comprehensive article outlined the primary ways attorneys could protect settlements. However, many of the conclusions in this article have been superseded by subsequent legislation, so be sure to update your research on this topic.
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We Didn’t Get into This Ecological Fix by Lack of Technology 1991, The New York Times 
Environmental good health is a matter of our collective personal and social values and behaviors, not the cleverness of our technology. Here’s what I mean.
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