Should You Kill Your Disabled Child?

I've just read a remarkable book about this question:   Rescuing Jeffrey , by his father, Richard Galli. I got to the book via " C...

Badmouthing Your Doctor

A headline on the front page of this morning's Boston Globe jumped out at me - " Doctors fire back at patient critiques: Lawsuits ...

Suing your children in Singapore

In the post I wrote yesterday I referred to the tradition of filial piety in Singapore. When I was discussing that topic with a lawyer at th...

Was the Massachusetts Board of Registration Too Harsh on this case of Doctor-Patient Sex?

The Boston Globe recently reported that the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine revoked the license of Dr. Gary Brockington, a ...

More about the Massachusetts "Death with Dignity" Act

Last week I wrote  about the Massachusetts "Death with Dignity" ballot initiative. For those who are interested in the initiative ...

Massachusetts Death with Dignity Ballot Initiative

My home state of Massachusetts has an initiative on the November ballot that would establish a "death with dignity" law closely m...

Returning to Practice After Loss of License

Two years ago I wrote about Dr. Brian Kwetkowsi, a primary care physician in Rhode Island, who lost his license for having a sexual relatio...

Patient Autonomy after Death - the Case of Anne Sexton

I hadn't thought about the controversy surrounding Diane Middlebrook's biography of Anne Sexton since its publication in 1991 until ...

A Conservative Judge Finally Gets Health Reform Right

Judge Jeffrey Sutton's finding on the health insurance mandate in the U.S. Court of Appeals (Sixth Circuit) gives hope that the right w...

How to Defend Resistance to the Health Insurance Mandate

For decades, the U.S. has seen the number of uninsured as a national disgrace. We've wrung our policy hands together to address the prob...

Judge Vinson's Ruling

I've spent several fascinating hours reading the decision handed down yesterday by Judge Roger Vinson of the U.S. District Court for No...

Chilean Miners, Informed Consent, and Medical Ethics

I've never met Chris MacDonald, but I admire his superb Business Ethics Blog . Chris teaches philosophy and business ethics at Saint Mar...

Judge Vaughn Walker's Decision about California Proposition 8

I recently read all 136 pages of Judge Vaughn R. Walker's decision in which he found that California's Proposition 8 is unconstitut...

Justice and Full Vindication for Whistleblowing Nurses

In February I wrote about how physician Rolando G. Arafiles, hospital administrator Stan Wiley, and Winkler County (west Texas) Sheriff Robe...

Doctor-Patient Sex - Is There a Duty to Warn the Patient's Spouse?

Justice Nicholas Colabella recently ruled in Levine v Werboff that an aggrieved husband is entitled to bring suit against his wife's ps...

Child Pornography, Law, and Ethics Education

A recent New York Times article about federal judge Jack Weinstein's view that the law requiring mandatory sentences for possession of ...

Health Care as a Right - the Showdown Approaches

All developed countries except the U.S. recognize a right to health care. Now twenty states, led by Florida's Attorney General, have bro...

Jury Convicts John Odgren of First Degree Murder

After a relatively short 12 hour deliberation, a Massachusetts jury found John Odgren guilty of first degree murder. Odgren, who was 16 at ...

Massachusetts Murder Trial Goes to Jury

On January 19, 2007, John Odgren, a 16 year old sophomore at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in Massachusetts, fatally stabbed 15 year ...

Justice and Ethics Prevail in Texas Whistleblower Case

It only took the jury one hour and a single vote to to acquit nurse Anne Mitchell, against whom a vengeful sheriff and prosecutor had brough...