living will

6 Stories

Cops: Cut From Will, She Killed Dad and His Girlfriend

Sherry Heffernan charged with fatally stabbing John Enders, Francoise Pitoy

(Newser) - A Pennsylvania woman charged Tuesday with murdering her 87-year-old father and his girlfriend of 15 years had just been removed from his will, a friend of the couple told police. Sherry Lee Heffernan, 55, allegedly drove an RV from her home in Landenberg, Pa., to her father's property in...

Sometimes, Resuscitating the Elderly Is Just Cruel

Doctor: Patients, families need to have conversation beforehand

(Newser) - Last week, a British doctor made headlines for his belief that hospitals give up too early on way too many patients declared dead. Now, another is arguing in the Daily Mail that he sees too many elderly people being resuscitated when it makes little sense to do so, all because...

Coleman Will: Don't Unplug Me!

Living will asked for life support for 15 days

(Newser) - Gary Coleman's ex-wife Shannon Price ignored instructions in the actor's living will when she ordered his doctor to disconnect his life support, court documents show. Coleman had asked that he not be unplugged until after he had been in an irreversible coma for at least 15 days. But Price—named...

Dying Doc: Don't Keep Me Alive
Dying Doc:
Don't Keep
Me Alive
OPINION
Jul 27, 2009 1:13 PM CDT

Dying Doc: Don't Keep Me Alive

ALS patient explains why he chooses quality of life over quantity

(Newser) - Martin Welsh considers himself a lucky man, with a loving family and innumerable friends. “Life has been truly wonderful,” the 55-year-old doctor writes in the Los Angeles Times. But soon, that life will end, and he doesn’t want his doctors to do anything to prolong it. Welsh...

It's Time for 'The Talk' About Rationing Care
It's Time for 'The Talk' About Rationing Care
OPINION
May 8, 2009 1:10 PM CDT

It's Time for 'The Talk' About Rationing Care

At end of life, openness reduces stress for all: Goodman

(Newser) - Two weeks before she died, Barack Obama’s terminally ill grandmother had a hip replacement. Obama said he’d have paid for the operation, but questioned whether society should have to. “I think you just get into some very difficult moral issues,” he said. But maybe morality and...

States Rewrite Organ-Donation Laws
States Rewrite Organ-Donation Laws
Apr 4, 2007 11:26 AM CDT

States Rewrite Organ-Donation Laws

New revision would make it easier to obtain organs

(Newser) - Doctors will be able to take organs from potential donors in more sticky situations, under revisions to state laws on the boards in more than 24 states. Model legislation that's already passed in four states clarifies how to handle ethically complex decisions, helping to alleviate the chronic shortage of kidneys...

6 Stories