From this story today on Slashdot comes the remarkable cure of a patient with HIV:
“HIV is the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Until now, HIV has no cure and has led to the deaths of over 25 million people. However, a possible cure has appeared. Dr. Gero Hutter, a brilliant physician in Germany, replaced the bone marrow of an HIV patient with the bone marrow of a donor who has naturalimmunity to HIV. The new bone marrow in the patient then produced immune-system cells that are immune to HIV. Being unable to hijack any immune cell, the HIV has simply disappeared. The patient has been free of HIV for about 2 years. Some physicians at UCLA have developed a similar therapy and plan to commercialize it.”
Amazing. 2008 just keeps getting better and better.
This Tuesday Washington State became the second state (after Oregon) to allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients.
Initiative 1000 was leading in most counties across the state Tuesday. “I’m elated,” said former Washington Gov. Booth Gardner, who filed the initiative and was one of its biggest campaign contributors. Gardner is battling Parkinson’s disease, though Parkinson’s is not considered a terminal disease that would qualify under the initiative. Barbara Coombs Lee, president of Compassion & Choices, a national right-to-die organization based in Denver that has provided financial backing for I-1000, said her group hopes to pass similar initiatives in other states in the future, though it hasn’t selected any specific states yet.
My understanding is that these laws were allowed by certain specific language in the Oregon and Washington State Consitutions. Getting similar laws passed in other states then would seem a long and uphill battle.
“I-1000, modeled on a decade-old Oregon law, permits terminally ill, competent adult residents of Washington, who are medically predicted to have six months or less to live, to request and self-administer lethal medication prescribed by a physician.”
Just do it. And when you’re done you can come back and watch this funny little video. If you have already voted then you can watch it now. But, seriously, if you haven’t voted, you don’t get to watch it. Google is watching you right now, so I’ll know if you didn’t vote but you watched anyway. Oh yeah, I’ll know.
Welcome to The Ohio Trust & Estate Blog. My name is Michael D. Bonasera and I am an associate attorney practicing in the Columbus, Ohio office of Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP. I work principally in trust and estate planning. I also do a lot of work in probate and in enforcement of fiduciary rights and responsibilities.
Loading
Disclaimer:
This blog does not give legal advice. This blog does not create an attorney client relationship. You are not permitted to rely on anything in this blog for any reason. This blog is an entirely personal endeavor. This blog is an advertisement of myself as an individual and is not supported or endorsed by my firm.
