Estate Planning

Organ donation, trasnplant discussed on NPR
Weekend Edition - Sunday had a very fine segment this morning on organ donation. Given what they were trying to do with this piece, there probably wasn't time to portray the personal impact of donating and receiving, convey some of the statistics about the various waiting lists, provide a brief overview of some of the evolving strategies for increasing organ yields, AND discuss some of the

Medical journals reconsideration of brain death criteria could affect ethics of organ donation
An article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), questioning the criteria of ?brain death? and ?cardiac death? especially in relation to organ donation, could affect the validity of ethical arguments approving the practice of organ donation at a person?s apparent death.

The death row inmate as organ donor
In a recent issue of Good Magazine, Graeme Wood argues that we should explore the possibility of allowing death row prisoners to, essentially, die by organ donation: The real objection to the Mayan Protocol [death by organ donation] is aesthetic...

Encouraging Blood and Organ Donation Through Tax Credits
Joseph B. Clamon (McDermott Will & Emery, Chicago) has published Tax Policy as a Lifeline: Encouraging Blood and Organ Donation Through Tax Credits, 17 Annals Health L. 67 (2008). Here is the Conclusion: The demand for blood and human organs...

Planning for Organ Donation
A new study (find it here) suggests that even when a testator (and family members) support organ donation, there is no guarantee that these wishes will be carried out when someone dies...

Israel Passes Organ Donation Law; Religious Controversy Remains
According to Haaretz, Israel's Knesset last week enacted the country's first law on organ donations. Among other things, it outlaws the brokering of sales of organs. Organ donation has been controversial in Israel because many Orthodox rabbis have insisted that cardiac death, rather than the earlier brain death, defines the end of life under Jewish law...

El Al Israel Airlines Ltd.
$20 million settlement in cargo services price fixing lawsuit.

Air Pollution
Low Levels May Increase Stroke Risk

Antidepressants
May Increase Risk for Recurrent Cancer

Abacavir
Potential Increase Risk for Cardiac Events

Job Site Fatalities Increase
Safety Experts Concerned

Cell Phone Use
Can Increase Risk of Brain Cancer 5 Times