"You will not find a group less in favor of automatically aggressive, invasive medical care than intensive care nurses, because we see the pointless suffering it often causes in patients and families. Intensive care is at best a temporary detour during which a patient’s instability is monitored, analyzed, and corrected, but it is at worst a high tech torture chamber, a taste of hell during a person’s last days on earth."
posted by Baron Kriminel on Nov 26, 2012 - 45 comments

Last operational flight of the F-14s

Speaking of gravity-defying cats... Remember the F-14, Tom Cruise's favorite ride? It's the end of an era for the venerable warbird. The variable-geometry Tomcat was the last carrier aircraft built specifically for fleet defense and long-range interception -- in fact, it grew up with a dedicated weapon system just for the job. Like any cat with nine lives, it showed up doingnew and different things. In its later years it found a new role as a precision-strike aircraft (the "BombCat") and nearly lived to be the bridge to the new F-35 multirole Joint Strike Fighter. Excuse the warmongering. What can I say...I was bored with the lousy NFL early games on TV this afternoon..
posted by alumshubby on Oct 24, 2004 - 9 comments

Dutch Legalize Euthanasia "The Netherlands has become the first country in the world to legalise mercy killing after a controversial law on euthanasia came into force on Monday." While tolerated for nearly two decades, opponents are comparing the practice to Nazi Geramny. Is this a step forward for those living with severe pain and no hope in sight?
posted by futureproof on Apr 1, 2002 - 32 comments