As COVID-19 dominates the news, the opioid crisis rages on unabated. The governmental response has been largely incoherent, as a wide-ranging host of criminal and civil initiatives pepper the national landscape. This Article discusses the current state of play in addressing the opioid epidemic, identifying the pros and cons of each approach, and concluding with recommendations for the best path forward. This Article also places this debate in the context of disability rights theory, an important yet heretofore ignored perspective, as well as therapeutic jurisprudence.
Continue reading “The Search for Answers: Overcoming Chaos and Inconsistency in Addressing the Opioid Crisis”Month: February 2021
Playing God: Faulty Decision-Making in Medical Futility Disputes
Baby Tinslee Lewis was born in late February 2019 with a rare heart defect and was placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a machine that fulfilled the functions of her heart and lungs. By the time she was ten months old, Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, stated that her condition required long-term life-sustaining treatment and that simple palliative care such as feeding and bathing could cause serious complications. Her physicians wanted to terminate their care for Tinslee because they believed that continuing care was only postponing an inevitable death, but Tinslee’s mother wanted to continue treatment.
Continue reading “Playing God: Faulty Decision-Making in Medical Futility Disputes”