The Jewish principle concerning a decision with regard to a dangerous treatment is as following: A patient who is estimated to die within 12 months because of a fatal illness is permitted to undergo a treatment that on the one hand may extend his life beyond 12 months, but on the other hand may hasten his death. There are, however, several limitations to this ruling related to the chances of success with the proposed treatment, the nature of the treatment, whether it is intended to be curative or merely to postpone the danger and death, whether the treatment is absolutely necessary, and others. One is not obligated to undergo a dangerous treatment, but one is permitted to do so. The permissibility to forfeit a short life expectancy in order to achieve more prolonged life applies only with the patient’s consent. That consent is valid and is not considered a form of attempted suicide. Neither is a refusal to submit to treatment considered an act of suicide; the patient has the right to refuse a dangerous procedure. In all situations where a permissive ruling is granted for a patient to endanger his short life expectancy, the ruling should be arrived at after careful reflection and with the approval of the rabbinic authorities acting on the recommendation of the most expert physicians.
Suicidal phenomena in the general hospital can take a variety of forms that can be parsed by taking into account whether or not the patient 1) intended to hasten death, and 2) included collaborators, including family and health care providers, in the decision to act. These two criteria can be used to distinguish entities as diverse as true suicide, non-compliance, euthanasia/physician-assisted suicide, and hospice/palliative care. Characterizing the nature of “suicide” events facilitates appropriate decision-making around management and disposition.
Essential monoclonal gammopathy is usually an asymptomatic condition, the characteristics of which have been defined over approximately 70 years of study. It has a known population-attributable risk of undergoing clonal evolution to a progressive, symptomatic B-cell neoplasm. In a very small fraction of patients, the monoclonal immunoglobulin has biophysical characteristics that can lead to tissue deposition syndrome (e.g. Fanconi renal syndrome) or, by chance, have characteristics of an autoantibody that may inactivate critical proteins (e.g. acquired von Willebrand disease). In this report, we describe the very uncommon forms of ocular injury that may accompany essential monoclonal gammopathy, which include crystalline keratopathy, crystal-storing histiocytosis, hypercupremic keratopathy, and maculopathy. The first three syndromes result from uncommon physicochemical alterations of the monoclonal immunoglobulin that favor crystallization or exaggerated copper binding. The last-mentioned syndrome is of uncertain pathogenesis. These syndromes may result in decreased visual acuity. These ocular findings may lead, also, to the diagnosis of monoclonal gammopathy.
Introduction. The current study evaluated the rate of ependymal enhancement and whether its presence influences survival of patients with malignant glioma (GBM).
Methods. A retrospective review of all patients who were treated in our institution from 2005 to 2011 was conducted. Data extracted from the medical records included age, date of diagnosis, co-morbidities, treatment regimen, and time of death. Magnetic resonance images (MRI) were evaluated for the presence of ependymal enhancement and its extent, and the correlation to survival was investigated.
Results. Between 2005 and 2011, 230 patients were treated for GBM. Eighty-nine patients were excluded from the study due to insufficient data, leaving 141 patients for analysis. Median age at diagnosis was 60 years. Sixty-seven (40.6%) patients had evidence of ependymal enhancement on MRI (group A), and 70 (42.4%) patients did not have evidence of enhancement. The assessment of ependymal enhancement was inconclusive due to mass effect and ventricular compression that precluded accurate assessment for 28 (17%) patients (group C). Median survival was 14 months for group A (range, 12–16 months), 15.9 months for group B (range, 14.28–17.65 months), and 11.7 months for group C (range, 6.47–16.92 months) (P>0.05). A multivariate analysis to predict survival indicated that male gender (P=0.039), hypertension (P=0.012), and biopsy only compared to complete gross tumor resection (P=0.001) were significant for poor survival.
Conclusions. Pretreatment ependymal enhancement on MRI was not found to be associated with poorer survival. These results might be due to better treatments options compared to prior reports.
Whilst painting the vault of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo Buonarroti left an autographical sketch that revealed a prominence at the front of his hyper-extended neck. This image was recently diagnosed as goiter. The poet Michelangelo in a sonnet dated 1509 described himself as being afflicted by goiter similarly to the cats in the northern Italian Lombardy, a region with endemic goiter. Several narratives extended this sonnet into a pathological theory. The analyses of Michelangelo’s works, however, his portraits and self-portraits, of poems and major biographies, have not indicated the likelihood of goiter. This investigation makes an attempt to assess the diagnosis on clinical as well as iconographical grounds.
As I shared in my January 2015 editorial, the furor surrounding publication in The Lancet of the open letter by P. Manduca et al. carried potential for bad and for good. Here at Rambam Health Care Campus, we have chosen and will continue to look for the good.
Surgical Apgar Score is a simple, 10-point scoring system in which a low score reliably identifies those patients at risk for adverse perioperative outcomes. Surgical techniques and anesthesia management should be directed in such a way that the Surgical Apgar Score remains higher to avoid postoperative morbidity and mortality.
The purpose of this review was to investigate what type of exercises can potentially prevent osteoporosis (OP) and its associated fractures in high-risk populations. MEDLINE was searched for work relevant to various types of exercises used to prevent osteoporotic fractures in high-risk population, from the year 1995 onwards. Twelve articles were identified, and, from them, four were deemed suitable to the objective. The studies reviewed show that various types of exercise are effective and safe in preventing the onset of OP. For example, high-intensity progressive resistance training (HiPRT) has been shown to increase vertebral height and femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD), in addition to improving functional performance. Additional studies reviewed suggested that bone reabsorption levels may be positively impacted by low-impact exercise, such as walking. This review provides insight into the effectiveness of various types of exercise to combat and possibly prevent OP for high-risk individuals, which include postmenstrual Caucasian females, people with multiple comorbidities, individuals who smoke or consume alcohol, and the frail elderly population. The prevention of OP should reduce both the social (emotional) and economic burdens faced by patients, caregivers, and health-care systems. Moving forward, research that identifies and bridges pharmaceutical treatment and exercise should be conducted, in addition to the comparison of passive versus active forms of exercise to determine which treatment best prevents OP in high-risk populations.
A great deal of biomedical research focuses on new biotechnologies such as gene editing, stem cell biology and reproductive medicine, which have created a scientific revolution. While the potential medical benefits of this research may be far-reaching, ethical issues related to non-medical applications of these technologies are demanding. We analyze, from a Jewish legal perspective, some of the ethical conundrums that society faces in pushing the outer limits in researching these new biotechnologies.
We are proud to introduce you to the Fifteenth Annual Rambam Research Day, now established as a key annual event at Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel, reflecting the diverse research activities on our campus.
