Word: patients
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...almost 29 years in New York City, as have leaders of the hitherto outlawed Communist and Socialist parties. Colonel Octave Cayard, who in 1970 led a failed coast guard mutiny against the Duvaliers, also arrived earlier this month. The church-run Radio Soleil has counseled Haitians to be patient. One of its oft-aired Creole adages: "Being in a hurry doesn't make the day break." That may be true, but the Haitian people are not likely to wait much longer for meaningful signs of change...
...bold new ruling by the American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs ought to make it easier for doctors to go along with a family's request to end treatment. After two years of deliberation, the seven-member panel affirmed that patients' wishes, as best as can be determined, should be respected and their "dignity" maintained. It is "not unethical," said the council, for doctors to discontinue all life support for patients who are in irreversible comas, "even if death is not imminent." In its most controversial provision, the council included food and water on the list...
...stopping food and water nonetheless remains one of the most agonizing that doctors face. Thanks in part to the precedent established by the Karen Ann Quinlan case ten years ago, it is no longer unusual to shut off a respirator or discontinue kidney dialysis for terminally ill or comatose patients. Food is another matter. "Most people equate hydration and feeding with nurture and caring," observes Dr. Russel Patterson, president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and a member of the A.M.A. judicial council. This equation is entirely natural, argues Patterson, but not for the comatose patient with "no question...
...York City. But there were bitter objections as well. "Deciding to begin selective starvation is a decision no civilization should make," said Philosophy Professor Patrick Derr of Clark University in Worcester, Mass. And dehydration, critics noted, can be a gruesome way to die (though just how much a comatose patient feels is not known...
With debate still vibrant, the practical impact of the A.M.A. decision is likely to be mixed. Doctors will no doubt feel more comfortable about acting quietly with family approval to hasten the dying process. The family of a patient like Nancy Jobes, whose plight is more public, will be able to make a stronger argument but may still face a legal battle; the Jobes' request to remove the feeding tube goes to court this week. However helpful, the A.M.A.'s new ruling cannot ease the heartbreak for families weighing such a decision. It is one thing to shut...