[Monterey Herald] At 82, retired engineer Leonard Thompson is out to show he still has a few good years left. Years? What’s this bunk about mere years, sonny? More like decades. Why the heck not?
Thompson, after all, exercises body and mind daily, even developing his own workout program for seniors that emphasizes stretching, deep breathing, [...]

[ABC] A terminally ill British teenager has won the right to die after she was taken to court by a hospital that wanted to force her to have a heart transplant.
Thirteen-year-old Hannah Jones has been in and out of hospital for most of the past 10 years, but now she has refused any more operations [...]

The Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) is calling for provinces and territories to legally recognize advance care directives for minors who are very sick or dying.  In a position paper published last week the CPS states that: 
Medical and technological advances have resulted in higher survival rates in… children with complex health conditions, many of whom would not [...]

[The Independent] It might be termed the hallucinogenic way of death. Psychoactive drugs such as “magic mushrooms” could be used to enhance the experience of dying, according to an expert in medical ethics.
Robin Mackenzie, director of medical law and ethics at the University of Kent, is to call today for people to be given more [...]

Three years after the fight over Terri Schiavo pulled the nation into the end-of-life debate, the case of a comatose Fresno County woman is reopening old wounds — and could prove even more inflammatory.
The family of Janet Rivera, 46, wants to keep her alive in a Fresno hospital. The county, acting as her legal guardian, [...]

Providing proportionate medical care is crucial – a balance between overtreating and undertreating patients – but I worry that ’slow medicine’ may be linked more with saving money than providing quality patient care, per the below NYT article.
Edie Gieg, 85, strides ahead of people half her age and plays a fast-paced game of tennis. But when [...]

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) released an ethics statement that a clinician must perform requested abortion-related services or refer patients to someone who will, potentially violating federal laws preventing “abortion-related discrimination and protecting a doctor’s conscience rights.” 
The ethics statement has been met with opposition and concern by many including Michael Leavitt, Health [...]

If there is a right to die there will be a duty to end life: Bioethics and Euthanasia. 
A French teacher suffering from a rare case of cancer that has left her disfigured lost a request Monday that she had lodged in a court to be allowed to die by euthanasia. Chantal Sébire, 52, suffers from [...]

WHEN IS A person dead — or dead enough?
The question has long influenced decisions about when it’s appropriate to end medical treatment for people who are hopelessly ill. However, a quieter debate has simmered for years about how the concept of death informs the practice of organ transplantation. Transplant surgeons rely on strict definitions of [...]

A woman dying of Alzheimer’s has a fever. Should she be given antibiotics? Many people would say yes. But a provocative new study suggests that antibiotics are overused in people dying of dementia diseases and should be considered more carefully because of the growing problem of drug-resistant superbugs.
The study raises ethical questions about when it’s [...]