Clinical judgment best left to medical staff
I’m a registered nurse in a state facility, and I’ve watched clinical judgment freeze when law intrudes on medicine. The recent Georgia case of Adriana Smith — declared brain-dead yet kept on life support for months — was never about preserving life. It was about controlling death.
Viability has a medical definition: If a fetus can survive outside the womb, it’s viable; if it can’t, it isn’t. Hope, potential or guesswork are no substitute for biology.
Maintaining a deceased woman’s body solely to gestate a fetus isn’t health care. It retraumatizes families and demoralizes medical staff. Georgia’s statutes must be rewritten so decisions rest with families and professionals, not politics — and viability must be tested in the real world, not imagined in a courtroom.
JENNI WELLS, VACAVILLE, CALIF.
Reverse course on closing Brookhaven Kroger
News that Kroger, located at 3855 Buford Highway in Brookhaven, will be closed soon has been met with dismay by its employees and customers alike.
Apparently, Kroger executives determined that this store was “underperforming.” They are mistaken. For decades, this Kroger has faithfully and successfully served working and middle-class communities in the vicinity of Buford Highway, Clairmont Road, Dresden Drive and other nearby streets. Senior citizens and parents with their children often walk to the store. If these people lack cars or driver’s licenses, they will be hard-pressed to take their business to the larger branch at Cherokee Plaza.
Many customers depend on the in-store pharmacy to fill their prescriptions. The drugstore staff is the best I’ve ever encountered. It’s a pleasure dealing with them.
I hope Kroger will reconsider and keep this store in Brookhaven open.
BARBARA SWINT, BROOKHAVEN
Georgia Power needs more oversight
The Public Service Commission should not have voted to allow Georgia Power to freeze base rates for consumer electricity through 2028. This freeze removes two important components of the rates we consumers pay.
First, with the freeze, there is little motivation for Georgia Power to research and implement best practices or improved technology, which would lead to reduced rates.
Secondly, rate increase requests typically require an in-depth review of Georgia Power’s financial books by the PSC. I like the thought of an annual review much better than once every three years.
The job of the PSC is to keep Georgia Power on its toes. We must remember that Georgia Power is a profit-seeking organization that, without diligent oversight, will take advantage of any opportunity to increase profits at the expense of consumers who have no alternative choice of electricity.
JAN PHILLIPS, DUNWOODY
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
