Okay...I am completely ready for this weather to WARM UP already! Supposedly we are to get more snow soon...ya know what they say---too much of a good thing isn't so good?!?! Well...too much of a beautiful thing (snow) is an ugly thing (current midwest weather).

I am in KC this weekend with my Grandma. We're packing up some of my apartment and visiting the babies. Oh they are growing and OH they are cute. Packing is going well. My lease is not up until the end of March, so that allows us to move bits here and there and not freak out doing it all at once. That'll be nice to be able to take it home, put it away, and then come back for more.

So...I'm reading this book right now called "Better" by Dr. Atul Gawande. It is a rather interesting book and I find it to be well written. He is upfront and honest about medicine; triumphs and failures. He is a general surgeon in Boston, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and also teaches at Harvard School of Public Health. One of the topics he addressed was something I never had given much thought to. He addresses a physicians role in lethal injection. It is against the code of ethics of the AMA to be direct and intentional cause of a death, but he interviews a few doctors with different arguments. The AMA does, however, allow a doctor to pronounce the death. One doctor who is pro-death penalty sees nothing wrong with his administering the fatal dosage as it is his "duty" as a member of society. Another doctor opposes any, even the pronouncing of a death in this case, against the ethics. Another doctor, however, raised a point that made me think---he said that is opposed to the death penalty in all ways, however, he has read about cases where the person was not given the drugs in the correct amount or order, therefore, he suffered greatly for several minutes. He said that it was inhumane to have people who had no training adminster these drugs and create sure torture. It was against the 8th Amendment. He, therefore, see it as his duty to protect those on death row and adminster the drugs himself so that he ensures there is no undue suffering. It was very interesting to read so many few points, especially as someone who is looking into a future of medicine. Where do the boundaries lie on so many issues? I, myself, cannot imagine being responsible in any way for a person's death, so I would want no part of it. But the third doctor made a point that I can see...should physicians step it to ensure that the person does not suffer? What do you think? I would love viewpoints on this to those who are willing to share.

Dr. Gawande has very interesting topics in his book. It provide a lot of history of medicine as well as some wonderful accomplishments and some shortcomings that need to be addressed. He also wrote another book, "Complications" that I cannot wait to read as well.

Picture: Katie is all smiles while in her jumperoo! (January 2008)