Rebranding “mental” illness

Nov 7, 2012 | Mental Health

“Madness”, “lunacy” and “insanity” were accepted medical usage into the early 1900s. Those words are still associated with people with mental illness. Over time and with more medical research, we have discarded “mongoloid”, “retard”, “moron”, “crippled” as...

Ashley Smith:Finally an open trial

Nov 5, 2012 | Mental Health

We rarely hear success stories about those with mental illness but we always hear the stories of chaos and mayhem. So we begin to assume that anyone with a mental illness is a potential threat. How else to explain the draconian methods used on Ashley Smith? Her...

Brain death and organ donation

Nov 4, 2012 | Ethics

When is life over? There was a time when death was declared when the heart stopped. That definition has been changing over the years. Death is now declared when the brain is dead. Personally, I want to know that if I am declared dead, I am dead and not just partly...