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Biomedical subjects

R E Cranford

Publications and source records attributed to R E Cranford.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

The vegetative and minimally conscious states: ethical implications.

Modern medical technology has created new syndromes of severe and permanent brain damage. In the first 25 years of the right-to-die debate, the permanent vegetative state has been the paradigmatic neurologic syndrome for decisions to discontinue treatment. In the near future, however, a far more problematic syndrome may be even more important in the right-to-die debate, the minimally conscious state. This paper presents a few of the medical and ethical similarities and differences between the permanent vegetative and minimally conscious states and discusses how value-laden these decisions may become in the future.

Brain Diseases↗
PubMed1989

The physician's responsibility toward hopelessly ill patients. A second look.

Physicians have a specific responsibility toward patients who are hopelessly ill, dying, or in the end stages of an incurable disease. In a summary of current practices affecting the care of dying patients, we give particular emphasis to changes that have become commonplace since the early 1980s. Implementation of accepted policies has been deficient in certain areas, including the initiation of timely discussions with patients about dying, the solicitation and execution in advance of their directives for terminal care, the education of medical students and residents, and the formulation of institutional guidelines. The appropriate and, if necessary, aggressive use of pain-relieving substances is recommended, even when such use may result in shortened life. We emphasize the value of a sensitive approach to care--one that is adjusted continually to suit the changing needs of the patient as death approaches. Possible settings for death are reviewed, including the home, the hospital, the intensive care unit, and the nursing home. Finally, we consider the physician's response to the dying patient who is rational and desires suicide or euthanasia.

Ethics, Medical↗
PubMed1989

The neurologist as ethics consultant and as a member of the institutional ethics committee. The neuroethicist.

Because of the increasing number of neuroethical dilemmas in medicine, neurologists are becoming more involved with the activities of institutional ethics committees and also serving as ethics consultants. This article discusses the role and functions of a "neuroethicist" and gives common clinical examples that illustrate how a neurologist can be of value in these neuroethical dilemmas in the clinical setting.

Ethics, Medical↗