The Hazards of Belief

Bannasidhe wrote: »

The argument being made here was how 'our' method is more humane than Kosher/Halal.
That is an assumption made by people who have never witnessed 'our' method or 'their' method.

I am argument against people assuming.

Bishops urge rethink over longwave shutdown

RTÉ has been urged to reconsider its decision to shut down its longwave radio service at the end of the month.

Ireland's Catholic bishops said the loss of the service would mean fewer people would be able to listen to religious programmes.

They expressed concern that people living in rural areas and in Northern Ireland and the UK will be worst affected.

Suspended between life and death


When Ariel Sharon died in January this year, eight years after a stroke, he'd survived for longer than would probably be expected had he lived elsewhere in the world.

Since 2005 it's been illegal in Israel to turn off ventilators when a person is dying or has no hope of recovery. The result is that large numbers of patients spend years on life support, many of them unconscious.

...

At the nurse's station there's a CCTV monitor where all 20 patients can be viewed on one screen and you see very little movement - just sleeping people.

In most countries a ward like this would not exist, and doctors and families in discussion together, might have made the decision to turn off Schmail's ventilator to allow him to die.

But since 2005 this has been illegal in Israel and is considered to be killing the patient, even if they are already dying.

The law in Israel was informed by Jewish tradition, but talking to families of other faiths in the hospital here, it seems to have become a cultural viewpoint too.

...

When I visit the children's ward there are the colourful mobiles, wall friezes and the tinny sounds of piped nursery rhymes. There are 22 children here and it feels like any other children's ward - barring the absence of much noise.

Some of these children survived drowning, others had near-fatal accidents. It's as though they've been put down for an afternoon nap, except that they don't wake up. And over the years they grow of course.

I meet Eli Cohen whose daughter was only three years old when she choked on her own vomit during the night, starving her brain of oxygen.

Despite any change in her condition, his daughter has progressed, growing from a young child into a teenager. In four years' time she'll be a young woman and moved to the adult ward.

...

A mother of a boy on the ward

She was from Georgia and spoke no Hebrew, but through a three-way translation she tells me, "I've been here all day and all night for eleven years."

Her son looks as though he was asleep and there seems to be flickering behind his eyelids, but he too is unconscious after a cardiac arrest.

Alcohol, kennels, manicures - Hep C group spending revealed

Some €2.3 million was allocated between 2009 and 2013 to Positive Action, which was set up in 1994 to support women infected with Hepatitis C by contaminated blood products administered to them after they gave birth.

An internal audit found almost €104,000 was spent on travel to conferences over four years, with some spouses accompanying directors.

Other expenses included €19,450 on supermarket bills, gifts worth €2,223, a courier to transport dry cleaning cost €202 and dog kennels cost €185.

More than €600 was also spent on alcohol at a conference on liver disease, €550 for a member to attend a Dancing the Spiral course.

More than €100,000 was spent on therapies such as angel card readings, angel healing, crystal reading, spiritual healing, aromatherapy and reflexology.

A range of massage and beauty therapies, including facials, manicures and pedicures were also funded and the internal audit found this was not an appropriate use of scarce public funds.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke, Ms Bruton said members of the group got solace from angel card reading.

The HSE took over the running of Positive Action in January after raising what the executive described as “serious concerns” over its governance and management of public money.