Posts Tagged ‘death’
Two die in expensive, holistic, Sedona sweat lodge
They should have stuck with Richard Simmons
Yavapai County Sheriff’s deputies are combing the scene where two died and 19 fell ill during a simulated Native American sweat-lodge ceremony at a Sedona resort.
At least three people remain hospitalized in critical condition and one person in fair condition at Flagstaff and Sedona-area hospitals.
And although officials will not reveal what ailments they are suffering from, sweat-lodge dangers can include heat exhaustion, asphyxiation from carbon-monoxide poisoning and exploding rocks.
According to a Sheriff’s Office spokesman, 64 people were in a crudely constructed sweat dome at the resort Thursday evening when they were overcome…
The victims were attending a five-day program called “Spiritual Warrior,” hosted by self-help guru and inspirational speaker James Arthur Ray…
The Angel Valley Spiritual Resort Web site says that Ray has held the workshop there since 2003. And Ray’s Web site lists the cost for next year’s program at “only $9,695 per person…”
Participants in the Ray program also could practice Holotropic Breathwork, a trancelike state brought on by breath control, and Vision Quest, a multi-day stay in the outdoors without food or water.
I’ll try to refrain being too much of a smartass and just note in passing that some of these folks certainly have qualified for Darwin Awards. And paid a lot of money to do it.
UPDATED: The two who died have been identified.
Call for a Blood Oath to stop health care reform
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission
In a fiery speech that had her conservative Colorado audience cheering, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann railed against the dangers of health care reform and other Democratic initiatives, warning the proposals “have the strength to destroy this country forever.”
“This cannot pass,” the Minnesota Republican told a crowd at a Denver gathering sponsored by the Independence Institute. “What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t pass…”
In a speech filled with urgent and violent rhetoric, Bachmann — who proudly acknowledges she is the country’s “second-most hated Republican woman,” behind only former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin – drew a clear line on health care reform…
“Right now, we are looking at reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom,” she said. “And we may never be able to restore it if we don’t man up and take this one on…”
Bachmann appears to have taken note of Sarah Palin raking in the bucks from the nutball Right. As she gets closer to November 2010 – after barely squeaking through the last time – we may see another wingnut resignation. Followed by a religious rockstar road tour.
Looks like the inmates are thoroughly in charge of the Republican asylum.
Thanks, Mr. Justin
Canadian doctors move to include euthanasia as appropriate care
With great caution, the Quebec College of Physicians is prepared to cross the line on the controversial debate over euthanasia and propose that it be included “as part of the appropriate care in certain particular circumstances.”
After examining the issue for three years, the College’s task force on ethics concluded that Quebec society has evolved to the point where it could tolerate euthanasia in specific circumstances. The task force’s recommendation will likely be part of a “reflection” document the College will release next fall, hoping that a public debate on the issue will pressure the federal government to eventually amend the criminal code.
“We are being very cautious in our approach,” said the College’s secretary, Yves Robert. “Avoiding the debate contributes to the general hypocrisy around this issue. To say that it doesn’t happen because it is illegal is completely stupid. … We have to stop hiding our head in the sand,” Dr. Robert said.
Anyone out there think Americans will stop hiding their collective heads in the sand? Will the bible-thumping crowd ever consider quality of life and death as something beyond their compendium of 14th Century rulebooks?
Why worry about insurance companies? They could care less about you!
Dead at 17 – courtesy of CIGNA healthcare
Wendell Potter says he is finished defending the insurance industry, which he says is “beholden to Wall Street.”
At a hearing last week before the Senate Commerce Committee, the former vice president of corporate communications at the insurance giant Cigna testified, “I know from personal experience that members of Congress and the public have good reason to question the honesty and trustworthiness of the insurance industry…”
In his testimony and during an interview with CNN, Potter described how underwriters at his former company would drive small businesses with expensive insurance claims to dump their Cigna policies. Industry executives refer to the practice as “purging,” Potter said.
“When that business comes up for renewal, the underwriters jack the rates up so much, the employer has no choice but to drop insurance,” Potter said…
Now a senior fellow on health care for the nonpartisan watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy, Potter writes a blog on health care reform. In particular, he is keeping an eye on efforts to defeat legislation that would give Americans the option of joining a government health care plan, something he now supports.
He says he witnessed how the insurance industry torpedoed health care reform efforts during the Clinton administration.
“They conduct what I call duplicitous PR campaigns. They’ll say what people want to hear,” Potter says. “It’s how they operate. You cannot trust these guys.”
Potter is also taking aim at some of the TV commercials aired by groups opposed to changes. One such ad caught Potter’s eye. Run by the conservative organization Patients United Now, the ad says that “now, Washington wants to bring Canadian-style health care to the U.S.”
“Sometimes you’ll see misleading information. And sometimes you’ll see outright lies, like that [ad] is,” Potter said, referring to the spot…
Potter notes that the leading proposals for health care in Congress do not seek to set up Canadian-style health care in the United States. He says claims that overhauling the system would lead to “rationing” of care are missing his point.
“What we have is rationing by corporate executives who are beholden to Wall Street. And it happens all the time,” Potter said.
I’m not certain which is worse. My gullible fellow-citizens who eat up right-wing lies fed to them as TV commercials – or the fracking politicians who enjoy service akin to Canadian-style health insurance which we pay for – who know better and still repeat the lies on behalf of insurance company lobbyists.
I didn’t realize Canada was center of the subversion of everything held dear by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. More power to ‘em!
The best tribute to Farrah Fawcett was written a month before her death, by Leonard Pitts, Jr.
Those of us who were around THEN will remember this image.
I wasn’t a Farrah Fawcett fan. Nothing personal, she just wasn’t on my preferred list of actors and actresses.
But, as so often happens, she became more interesting as her mortality showed. It happens with movie stars, politicians (even the ones you couldn’t stand), everyday people you never knew. (If you don’t believe it, start reading the obituaries every day, and see if you don’t find yourself clipping the tale of a total stranger once in a while.)
I digress. In May, one of my favorite columnists, Leonard Pitts, Jr., did a piece on Farrah Fawcett. I decided then that I would link to it when she died.
I’m not going to post an excerpt, none of it. You have to read it all. If you don’t read every line, you’ll miss it:
Aboriginal prisoner was cooked to death in security van
Mr. Ward
A coroner has found that an Aboriginal man was “cooked to death” after he spent four hours in the back of a security van in searing heat with no air conditioning as it drove across the goldfields of south-west Australia.
The 46-year-old Aboriginal elder suffered third degree burns after collapsing in the heat and falling to the floor of the van while it travelled 250 miles from Laverton to Kalgoorlie in 117ºF heat.
Ward, whose first name cannot be used because of an Aboriginal cultural prohibition that forbids relatives from naming their dead, had been arrested a day earlier in January 2008 for drink driving.
He was given one pint of water before boarding the van but the coroner found he died before he could finish drinking it…
The West Australian coroner, Alistair Hope, found that Ward was effectively “cooked” to death and heavily criticised the state prisons department, the private security firm that operated the van and the two guards who escorted Ward.
“It is a disgrace that a prisoner in the 21st century, particularly a prisoner who has not been convicted of any crime, was transported for a long distance in high temperatures,” Hope said. The security guards, who did not check to see if he needed a toilet break, food or water, had breached their duty of care.
Little need to point out the racist traditions in Australia and the likelihood of the role that played in the mistreatment of this prisoner – leading to his death.
Next up? Whitewashing the penalties accorded the security guards.
Canadians choosing to die a dignified death where they lived – at home
It’s a common tale: a grandparent’s health begins to fail and, realistically, their death is imminent. Often those older patients are rushed to hospital, taken out of their homes for treatment that will likely only extend their life by a few days.
University of Alberta researcher Donna Wilson is hoping this can change and already has seen some drastic changes in where Canadians are choosing to die.
Wilson looked at mortality data of Canadians dating back to 1950. Up until 1994, 80 per cent of Canadians were choosing to pass on in a hospital bed. But since the mid-’90s there’s been a drastic change in the number of people going to hospital to die. The number is now down to 61 per cent.
“So after years of [the numbers] going up, we have completely reversed that and are now at the 1960 level, before there was free hospital care in Canada,” said Wilson, who adds the decrease in numbers of people dying in hospital has happened without direct health policy or government planning.
Her next study she wants to find out why this trend is happening. But she already has some ideas on the huge swing.
“My guess is that a lot of it has to do with the fact that death is no longer unexpected,” said Wilson. “A lot of people are dying at an advanced age and you begin to accept that fact that it’s going to happen and it [can be] a dignified event. If you take the person to the hospital . . . care is by strangers rather than family members.”
She’s calling on government to help support the trend of people dying at home.
“We need to start putting more money in to home care and develop some hospices, have some courses for families and maybe build a few more nursing home beds,” said Wilson, who adds this not only helps the health-care system but also can provide a more dignified and potentially less painful death for the patient.
Certainly appeals to me. My only concern would be for the hassles this might put my wife through.
But, I’m confident she’d be happier – as I would be – to die where we’ve lived happily together for so many years.
Life online – after death
What happens to our online lives after we log off for the final time. The answer, until recently, was nothing.
But now, as online usage increases and social-media sites soar in popularity, more companies are popping up to try and fill that void created in your digital life after death.
Jeremy Toeman built his company to change all that. Legacy Locker allows users to set up a kind of online will, with beneficiaries that would receive the customer’s account information and passwords after they die.
“We know it’s a hard thing to think about — to get people to face mortality. We know it’s kind of morbid, but for those who live their entire lives online, it’s also very real…”
Legacy Locker isn’t the only new company helping techies plan for death in the digital age.
AssetLock (formerly YouDeparted.com) offers a “secure safe deposit box” for digital copies of documents, wishes, letters and e-mails. Deathswitch and Slightly Morbid also offer similar services in a variety of prices and packages, depending on how many accounts are involved.
Dom DeLuise dies at 75
DeLuise was surrounded by family when he died in a Santa Monica, California, hospital Monday night, son Michael DeLuise told CNN affiliate KTLA.
DeLuise was most famous for his supporting roles in a number of Mel Brooks films, including 1974’s “Blazing Saddles” — in which he played a flamboyant musical director who led dancers in a number called “The French Mistake” — and 1976’s “Silent Movie,” in which he played the assistant to Brooks’ director Mel Funn. He was also in the Brooks-directed “The Twelve Chairs” (1970), “Spaceballs” (1987) and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” (1993).
But he could also assay more serious roles, most notably in the 1980 dark comedy “Fatso,” in which he played an overweight man trying to wean himself from comfort food.
Oklahoma Teabagger arrested for Twittering death threats
An Oklahoma City man who announced on Twitter that he would turn an April 15 tax protest into a bloodbath was hit with a federal charge of making interstate threats last week, in what appears to be first criminal prosecution to stem from posts on the microblogging site.
Daniel Knight Hayden, 52, was arrested by FBI agents who identified him as the Twitter user CitizenQuasar. In a series of tweets beginning April 11, CitizenQuasar vowed to start a “war” against the government on the steps of the Oklahoma City Capitol building, the site of that city’s version of the national “Tea Party” protests promoted by the conservative-leaning Fox News.
“START THE KILLING NOW! I am willing to be the FIRST DEATH!,” read a tweet at 8:01 PM that day. “After I am killed on the Capitol Steps, like a REAL man, the rest of you will REMEMBER ME!!!,” he added five minutes later. Then: “Send the cops around. I will cut their heads off the heads and throw the[m] on the State Capitol steps.”
Hayden’s MySpace page is a breathtaking gallery of right wing memes about the “New World Order,” gun control as Nazi fascism, and Barack Obama’s covert use of television hypnosis, among many others…
Hayden’s penultimate tweet at 12:49 AM on April 15 returned to the subject of his martyrdom. “Locked AND loaded for the Oklahoma State Capitol. Let’s see what happens.”
The FBI arrested him at his home later that day, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oklahoma City, which otherwise declined to comment on the case.
Is anyone surprised? I checked out the scraggly crowd who showed up for the local Teabagger demo. It was a mix of Posse Comitatus types along with those I refer to as professional True Locals, e.g., unless you can show 10 generations going back to Spanish Colonial days you shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
No doubt there were a few nutballs truly deserving the title.
