Research reported in the February 2010 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine indicates that some individuals with brain damage previously thought to prevent thought, consciousness and communication in fact possess previously unsuspected levels of awareness. Even if aided by advanced technology, they have the ability to answer questions accurately. Experts caution that this dealt with a small […]

A conference in Jerusalem in early January 2011 debated the brain-versus-breathing parameter. The issue has been in the news in Israel since Israeli soccer legend Avi Cohen was left brain dead after a December motorcycle accident. His bodily functions ceased after eight days, and his family retreated from a previous commitment to donate his organs despite being […]

In November 2010, the Rabbinical Council of America, the central body of Modern Orthodox rabbis in the U.S., circulated a detailed report raising questions as to whether the organization’s longstanding acceptance of brain stem death as a definition of death comported with Jewish law. A majority of Jewish legal scholars cited said death was defined by the […]

On Jan. 6, 2011, the Obama administration reversed course on end-of-life counseling regulations due to concerns that they would revive the “death panels” controversy. Read about it in an article from Christianity Today.

Read a June 6, 2011, “Personal Health” column in The New York Times about a New York State law, the Palliative Care Information Act, that requires doctors to offer to discuss end-of-life care with terminally ill patients. California passed a similar law in 2009 and other states are considering similar measures.

Read a June 2, 2011, Catholic News Service story about the mid-June meeting of the Catholic hierarchy at which a document officially condemning physician-assisted suicide was up for discussion.

In May 2011, the Gallup Poll reported that doctor-assisted suicide is the moral issue that divides Americans most.

Read William Saletan’s essay in Slate about Jack Kevorkian and his own father’s recent death to cancer: “Kevorkian didn’t have the answers,” he writes. “But he raised the right questions.”

Read the June 3, 2011, Washington Post obituary on Jack Kevorkian. It says that, “Though [Kevorkian] was the most well known figure in fighting for euthanasia’s legalization, the legislative results of his efforts were largely unsuccessful, if not counterproductive.”