US Hospice Structure and its Implications for the "Right to Die" Debate : An Interdisciplinary Study of the "Feeling of Being a Burden to Others".

This article is an analysis of the relationship between US hospice structure and the feeling of being a burden to others (FBO). A goal of US hospice care is to reduce the FBO. But in America, hospice is limited in its ability to do so because of the high caregiver burden it places on family members of dying people. Through a historical study, I show that this burden was excessive when the hospice system was created and has worsened over time. Through three ethnographic vignettes, I demonstrate how this burden inculcates in dying people the FBO. I then examine the bioethical implications of this finding for the existing US debate about physician-assisted suicide (PAS). The presence of FBO due to insufficient hospice care supports arguments made by PAS opponents about the social pressure placed on dying people. This finding is not itself sufficient to resolve the "right to die" debate. But it provides the ground for a compromise, across the debate, to reduce the FBO by changing US hospice structure. The resulting consensus will further the goals of both PAS proponents and opponents.

Child death in the United States: productivity and the economic burden of parental grief.

This article examines the economic consequences associated with the death of a child. The economic costs (funeral and medical expenses and productivity losses) of child death 6 months following the death were estimated based on 213 parents who had experienced the death of a child (usually unexpectedly and predominantly mothers). Findings suggest that productivity losses associated with child death comprise most of the costs and that the economic effects are substantial. Costs associated with on-the-job productivity losses ("presenteeism") outweigh the costs associated with absenteeism. To date, no research has empirically measured both absenteeism and presenteeism following bereavement.

Exploring the relationship between dental wear and status in late medieval subadults from England.

Dental wear patterns were recorded on 458 deciduous molar teeth, of 142 subadults from late medieval (AD 1086-1539) England, to explore the relationship between dental wear and burial status of children. A new ordinal method for scoring dental wear stages on the deciduous molar teeth was devised. It was postulated that if a discernible relationship between dental wear stage and burial location could be seen then this could reflect a difference in diet between those receiving higher or lower status burial. The dental wear stages recorded were statistically similar for the dentitions of subadults from different cemeteries, as well as from different burial locations, indicating a comparable diet for the children studied.

Guilds and middle-class welfare, 1550­1800: provisions for burial, sickness, old age, and widowhood.

Guilds provided for masters' and journeymen's burial, sickness, old age, and widowhood. Guild welfare was of importance to artisans, to the functioning of guilds, to the myriad of urban social relations, and to the political economy. However, it is an understated and neglected aspect of guild activities. This article looks at welfare provision by guilds, with the aim of addressing four questions. Firstly, for which risks did guild welfare arrangements exist in the Netherlands between 1550 and 1800, and what were the coverage, contributions, benefit levels, and conditions? Secondly, can guild welfare arrangements be regarded as insurance? Thirdly, to what extent and how did guilds overcome classic insurance problems such as adverse selection, moral hazards, and correlated risks? Finally, what was the position of guild provision in the Dutch political economy and vis-à-vis poor relief?

Filipino veterans' benefits improvements. Interim final rule.

This document amends Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adjudication regulations to reflect changes made by the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001, which changed the rate of compensation payments to certain Filipino veterans residing in the United States and the Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act of 2000, which changed the amount of the burial benefit paid to the survivors of certain Filipino veterans who were residing in the United States at the times of their deaths.

Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act of 2000. Final rule.

This document amends various Department of Veterans Affairs(VA) regulations concerning the definition of the term "active military, naval, or air service"; the payment limitation based on the value of certain incompetent veterans' estates; the plot allowance for certain individuals buried in State veterans' cemeteries and the limitation on payment of pension for certain recipients of Medicaid-covered nursing home care. The amendments are necessary to reflect statutory changes contained in the Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act of 2000.

An exploratory study of funeral cost for suicides.

Funeral cost was less for younger people and for cremation. Among 156 funerals examined, after matching for sex, age, and cremation/burial, the funerals of a small sample of 6 suicides cost less than those of the controls.

The cost of head trauma in Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1970-74.

A study of the total cost of head injury in Olmsted County, Minnesota, with the costs projected to the United States population, revealed that the annual cost for head trauma in the US can be estimated at approximately +12.5 billion using a 6 per cent discount rate. The nonmedical costs accounted for more than 92 per cent (+11.5 billion) of the total cost, while direct medical costs amounted to +1.0 billion.

Financial burden of childhood cancer.

Fifty-nine of 73 families of children referred for treatment of cancer during 1980 co-operated in a study of the financial consequences of the illness. Except for two social class I families who declined to take part, the sample was representative of the childhood cancer population and families were of similar socioeconomic status to the general population. During the first, inpatient, week week of treatment the sum of income lost plus additional expenditure exceeded 50% of total income in over 45% of families. During a subsequent week of outpatient treatment, loss of income plus additional expenditure amounted to more than 20% of income in over half the families. These problems affected all the groups studied and were not confined to lower paid or those living furthest from the centre. Financial help was available from charitable sources and the DHSS towards travel, extra nourishment, and heating costs but could not be obtained to compensate for loss of earnings. The families of children who died had difficulty in meeting the cost of funerals. Families of children with cancer need more help than is at present available, especially to offset loss of income and the cost of funerals.