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Biomedical subjects

H J Wershow

Publications and source records attributed to H J Wershow.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1981

Physicians' opinions toward legislation defining death and withholding life support.

We explored attitudes and practices of Alabama physicians regarding two bills considered in the 1978 State Legislature. One bill defined death to permit the withdrawal of life supports; the other permitted the cessation of active treatment when demanded by terminal patients. Members of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama (MASA) in practices permitting independent action in such cases composed the sample. Twenty percent of 1,300 questionnaires were returned. Most participants idealistically resented legislative interference but realistically were resigned to or welcomed legal clarification of physicians' rights and responsibilities. Respondents encountering demands for life-support withdrawal generally acceded, usually after consultation with family and/or colleagues. Most used analgesics to control pain, if necessary, even to a point compromising respiration. Most considered withdrawal of life support, and most approved of "living wills." Alabama physicians are in the mainstream of American medicine in this area of bioethical concern.

Alabama↗
PubMed1977

Setting priorities in health services.

A growing recognition that our resources are not limitless has made it necessary for us to abandon the concept of unlimited production and consumption and to set priorities among the goods and services that society is to provide. The author argues that determining priorities in the area of health services should be done on a rational basis, with increased emphasis on primary prevention.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Days beyond recall: subsistence homesteading in the rural south, circa 1920.

Accented in some 100 semi-structured interviews with Southern aged poor is the bitter struggle to survive. People worked long hours for little, bartering farm produce for the few store-bought necessities. Primitive housing, education and medicine sufficed. Both black and white poor suffered brutal exploitation, despite which they review their life with satisfaction. We hypothesize that, to maintain mental health, it is better to idealize the unalterable past. Several global assessments of "morale" are discussed. It is also suggested that this journal become a clearing house for questions that measure psychic wellbeing in the aged more naturally and by indirection than do scales in current use.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The outer limits of the welfare state: discrimination, racism and their effect on human services.

The European social democracies have been more generous than the United States in social provision, including services to aged. The momentum of provision has slowed down in recent years. We suggest that prosperity which has led to use of foreign laborers in menial jobs has caused this slow down. The dynamics are similar to the historical U.S. use of "non-100% Americans" as our menial workers. Changes in social policy strategies are needed: 1) universal provision, rather than programs aimed at minorities, is needed to enlist support of stable working and middle classes; 2) tax reforms, which lower progressive income-tax structures for middle incomes, and value-added tax, may be necessary to overcome anti-tax ideologies; 3) clear priorities as to most necessary services must be established by the gerontological community.

Aged↗