BACKGROUND Advance directives (AD) imply the promise of determining future medical treatment in case of decisional incapacity. However, clinical practice increasingly indicates that standardized ADs often fail to support patients' autonomy. To date, little data are available about the quality and impact of ADs on end-of-life decisions for incapacitated acute stroke patients. METHODS We analyz...

infanticide is a horrendous crime universally condemned from all ethical, juridical and moral standpoints. however, legislation on infanticide foresees mitigating circumstances for infanticidal mothers, with sentences by far disproportionate to the severity of the crime. the main justification for this abstaining from severe punishments has been the so-called post puerperal psychosis, whose dia...