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Chancellor McCoy and the Way of Wisdom

September 30, 2015 • Posted in Blog

D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.

What does Tennessee have to do with Switzerland (featured in the fake ad pictured below)? Less than it could have, given yesterday’s decision to uphold the State of Tennessee’s ban on assisted suicide. The decision by Chancellor Carol L. McCoy has the rather counter-intuitive effect of the State winning without someone losing their head. Read on below for the details . . .

Fake ad image from Salvo, used with permission.

“If you can keep your head when all about you, Are losing theirs and blaming it on you . . ...read more

Slip Slidin’ Away

July 31, 2015 • Posted in Blog

D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.

I doubt that Paul Simon had Physician-Assisted Suicide (P-AS) in mind when he penned the words to “Slip Slidin’ Away,” but they seem strangely apropos. The terms in the debate are the first to slip, slide away: the Hemlock Society became Compassion and Choices. The latter, which is involved in the Tennessee debate, is hopeful that physician-assisted suicide will become “aid-in-dying”; that is, before it slips into voluntary euthanasia, and then slides away into involuntary euthanasia.

What would happen if physician-assisted suicide (P-AS) were legal?

The role of physicians would be drastically altered. Guaranteeing ...read more

Stamp of Approval — or Not

April 30, 2014 • Posted in Blog

D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.

Hippocrates, the “father of medicine,” was honored by this commemorative stamp issued by Transkei in 1982. The Rod of Asclepius — the rod entwined by a serpent — as the symbol of medicine is included on the stamp as well.

Image: Hippocratic Medicine stamp from Australia, recognizing the General Assembly of World Medical Associations (~1968).

Asclepius, the Greek god associated with healing, is one of the gods referred to in the Hippocratic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath (probably not written by Hippocrates, by the way) in its ancient form included swearing to a number of gods and goddesses; forbade ...read more