Judges as Medical Decision Makers: Is the Cure Worse than the Disease

I shall examine and criticize three of the many judicial decisions in the area of law and medicine. These cases are Doe v. Bolton, Superintendent of Belchertown State School v. Saikewicz, and Rogers v. Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health. Those of you who like to think of the law as reason and justice tempered by mercy will be offended by what I have to say; but I shall be evenhanded. Those of you who think of medicine as science and art tempered by compassion will also be offended. My justification for the critical and polemical thesis I shall present is my deep and growing conviction that in law, as often as in medicine, the cure can be worse than the disease. There is a word in medicine for cures that create diseases-the word is iatrogenic. Law needs a similar word; let me suggest juridicogenic

Judges as Medical Decision Makers: Is the Cure Worse than the Disease

I shall examine and criticize three of the many judicial decisions in the area of law and medicine. These cases are Doe v. Bolton, Superintendent of Belchertown State School v. Saikewicz, and Rogers v. Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health. Those of you who like to think of the law as reason and justice tempered by mercy will be offended by what I have to say; but I shall be evenhanded. Those of you who think of medicine as science and art tempered by compassion will also be offended. My justification for the critical and polemical thesis I shall present is my deep and growing conviction that in law, as often as in medicine, the cure can be worse than the disease. There is a word in medicine for cures that create diseases-the word is iatrogenic. Law needs a similar word; let me suggest juridicogenic

The reduction and dissolution of Mn(III) and Mn(IV) oxides by organics

Although it is known that manganese oxides are solubilized by reduction in anoxic waters, the chemical processes are poorly understood. A study of the reduction and dissolution of manganese oxide suspensions by twenty-seven organic substrates that have chemical structures similar to those of natural organics was undertaken to determine the rates and mechanisms of the solubilization reactions. Dissolution of suspensions by hydroquinone in the pH range 6.5 < pH < 8.5 is described by the following experimental rate law: d[Mn^(2+)]/dt = k_l{H^+}^(0. 46) [HQ]^(1.0) (Mn_T - [Mn^(2+)]) where [Mn^(2+)] is the amount of dissolved manganese, [HQ] is the hydroquinone concentration, and Mn_T is the initial amount of manganese oxide. The apparent activation energy of the reaction was found to be +37 kJ/mole. The Mn(III,IV) oxide suspension was prepared by oxidizing a Mn(OH)_2(s.) suspension with oxygen, and has a composition characterized by MnO_(1.66). Suspension particles were between 0.2 and 1.0 microns in diameter. Calcium and phosphate were found to inhibit the dissolution reaction, by adsorbing on the oxide surface. Dihydroxybenzenes and methoxyphenols dissolved the suspensions at appreciable rates. Of the aliphatic substrates examined, only ascorbate, oxalate, and pyruvate dissolved the oxide. Dissolution by marine fulvic acid was found to be photocatalyzed. A model was developed to explain the observed rate dependence and the relative reactivity of different organic substrates. The model assumes that complexes between substrate and surface sites form prior to electron transfer and dissolution. The pH dependence is not explained by this model; involvement of H^+ in the dissolution of reduced surface sites may be responsible for the observed fractional order with respect to H^+

Judges as Medical Decision Makers: Is the Cure Worse than the Disease

I shall examine and criticize three of the many judicial decisions in the area of law and medicine. These cases are Doe v. Bolton, Superintendent of Belchertown State School v. Saikewicz, and Rogers v. Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health. Those of you who like to think of the law as reason and justice tempered by mercy will be offended by what I have to say; but I shall be evenhanded. Those of you who think of medicine as science and art tempered by compassion will also be offended. My justification for the critical and polemical thesis I shall present is my deep and growing conviction that in law, as often as in medicine, the cure can be worse than the disease. There is a word in medicine for cures that create diseases-the word is iatrogenic. Law needs a similar word; let me suggest juridicogenic

The Tree of Life (2011)

This is a film review of The Tree of Life (2011)

Raptor Use of Water Sources as Documented via a Remote Camera Network

The MPG Ranch maintains a large network of over 200 remote cameras on two properties in western Montana. We use these cameras to document the occurrence of rare or unusual wildlife, the phenology of life history activities, and wildlife use of areas of interest. Over the course of 3 yrs, our cameras have documented raptors frequently visiting natural and man-made water sources. Most of our common, resident raptors visit water sources for activities such as bathing, preening, drinking, and hunting. Camera stations at natural water sources near breeding territories of Cooper’s hawks (Accipiter cooperii), northern goshawks (Accipiter gentilis), Northern saw-whet owls (Aegolius acadicus), and western screech owls (Megascops kennicottii) recorded routine visits to water during the breeding season. These behaviors are difficult for observers to see in the field, and their documentation adds insight into our overall understanding of the life history and habitat needs of raptor species. Frequent use of stock tanks underscores the importance of providing escape structures to reduce mortality risk

Anomalous Cosmic Rays

Anomalous cosmic rays (ACRs) first started showing up in observations 40 years ago. Within a few years a paradigm was developed to explain their origin: they begin their life as interstellar neutral atoms that drift into the heliosphere, become singly ionized by chargeexchange with a solar wind ion or by photoionization, are picked up by the expanding solar wind, and accelerated to the observed energies by diffusive shock acceleration at the solar wind termination shock. This paradigm became widely accepted and withstood the tests of further observations until 16 December 2004, when Voyager 1 crossed the termination shock and didn't find their source. In August 2007, Voyager 2 crossed the termination shock and also did not find the source location of ACRs. Clearly, the source location was not at the termination shock where the two Voyagers crossed. Alternative models have been proposed with acceleration elsewhere on the shock or by other acceleration processes in the heliosheath. We discuss the latest observations of ACRs from the Voyager spacecraft and hopefully shed more light on this ongoing puzzle