End of Life

Lessons From Life's Last Moments

Arthur Rosenfeld | Posted 05.29.2012

Read More: Suicide, Taoism, Mind-Body Connection, Meditation, Mindfulness, End of Life, Death and Dying, Religion News
Arthur Rosenfeld

The sound of the siren is so distant it's obvious the ambulance will not arrive in time. Lying there, what can you think of that you wish you had done? Who do you wish you had spent your time with?

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Are You Making Decisions About Your Health Care In A Vacuum?

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 05.18.2012

Read More: Aggressive Care, End of Life, Palliative Care, Death & Dying, End of Life Care, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

Knowledge is power. There is no knowledge more important than to have knowledge about what all of your options are as you approach the end of your life or as you make decisions about life-changing conditions.

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Can A Person 'Suffer From Life'?

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 04.27.2012

Read More: Chaplain, Withholding Nutrition and Hydration, Dying, End of Life, Suffering From Life, Assisted Suicide, God, Alzheimers, Euthanasia, Charles Snelling, Netherlands, Death, Adrienne Snelling, Religion, Royal Dutch Medical Association, Right to Die, Christian, Dr. Petra De Jong, Death & Dying, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

Do you think that there is such a thing as "suffering from life"? Do you think that people should be able to make their own decision as to whether or not to end their life?

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Death And Taxes: Why We Need To Talk Openly About End-of-Life Care

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 04.16.2012

Read More: Taxes, Terri Schiavo, National Health Care Decisions Day, Advance Directives, Death & Dying, Living Wills, End of Life, Compassion, Health Care Proxy, Home News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

The greatest gift you can give to your family, is letting them know what your wishes are regarding how you want your body treated as you near the end of your life. So, in addition to preparing your tax return, take the time to prepare your advance directive.

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3 Zen Ways to Nurture the Very Sick

Marguerite Manteau-Rao | Posted 04.13.2012

Read More: Hospice, Dementia, Caregiving, End of Life, Zen Hospice Project, Food, Elder Care, Eating, Caregiver, Alzheimer's, Compassion, Zen, Mindfulness, Mindful Care, Dying, Healthy Living News
Marguerite Manteau-Rao

Food is one of the last few pleasures left when illness leaves one laying in bed in a small room with little else available in terms of sensory gratification. Food is also an important part of caregiving.

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Lent: An Excuse To Say 'I Love You'

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 04.25.2012

Read More: Giving Up for Lent, Religion, NY Times, Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow, End of Life, Death and Dying, Wall Street Journal, Professional Chaplains, I Love You, Lent, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

Allow Lent to be a time to "turn another way," to do something with an intention towards those whom you love.

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David Oliver: A Different Kind of Courage

David Casarett, M.D. | Posted 04.09.2012

Read More: Hospice, Social Media, End of Life Care, End of Life, Death & Dying, Mindfulness, Emotional Intelligence, David Oliver Cancer Videos, Healthy Living News
David Casarett, M.D.

I often hear my patients and their families talk about courage. They say that someone faced his illness courageously, for instance. When they talk about courage, though, they're usually talking about a very specific kind of courage that has to do with the way that a patient is struggling with an illness.

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Maintaining A Relationship With God When Your Life Is Intolerable

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 04.02.2012

Read More: Religion, Paralyzing Stroke, End of Life, Right to Die, "Locked in"Syndrome, Tony Nicklinson, Theology, Euthanasia, Help to Die, God, Christianity, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

God is there to help us get through those challenges, not to inflict them.

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The Death and Dying Series Part One: How Do You Relate to Death?

Judith Johnson | Posted 03.26.2012

Read More: Death and Dying, Feelings About Death, Human Mortality, End of Life, Personal Beliefs and Values, Death, Dealing With Grief, Coping With Death, Death & Dying, Dealing With Death, Dealing With Loss, Healthy Living News
Judith Johnson

Talking about and dealing with death is our last great social taboo. We all know that we will die someday as will our beloved ones and cherished pets and everybody else. Yet, most of us relate to death as wrong -- as something that shouldn't happen.

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Spiritually Seeking A Death Both 'Beautiful And Painful'

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 03.18.2012

Read More: End of Life, Dying, Jesus, Death, Holy Ground, End of Life Care, Grief, Dealing With Grief, Christianity, Death & Dying, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

Just before New Years, I found myself helping a family whose loved one was dying. As a chaplain in a hospital, I never know whether a family will allow me "in" at the time that is most painful for them.

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Good News From Kentucky!

Barbara Coombs Lee | Posted 03.13.2012

Read More: Barbara Coombs Lee, Compassion and Choices, Patient Choices, End-of-Life Choices, Patient Choice, Patient Choice Act, End-of-Life, Death & Dying, Patient Choice Health Care, Healthy Living News
Barbara Coombs Lee

The year 2011 closed with good news out of Kentucky. On Friday Governor Steve Beshear refused to approve a Louisville hospital merger that threatened patient choice.

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How Does The Faith Community Honor Elders?

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 02.16.2012

Read More: Failing Faith, Elderly, Religion, Older Adults, End of Life, Suicide, Churches, God, Caring for Our Elders, Faith, Churches and the Elderly, Christianity, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

How churches care for their elders like Lillian shows how much they value their elders. It also shows where their values are. I can't imagine that Jesus would forget our elders, and neither should we.

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Who Is In Control When Your Loved One Has Cancer?

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 01.19.2012

Read More: Family Members, End of Life, Dying, Wwjd, What Would Jesus Do, Cancer, Extended Family, Family, Control, Christianity, Death & Dying, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

n reality, Susan can't control what is happening in her body, so she needs to control what she can, and so she is trying to control how others handle her disease ... at least as far as it concerns how they will deal with her.

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'Death Is Very Likely The Single Best Invention Of Life'

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 12.26.2011

Read More: Steve Jobs, Religion, Steve Jobs Children, End of Life, Dying, Death, Stanford University Commencement Address, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

How about you? When you are nearing the end of your life, what would you hope that you would not regret not doing? Perhaps Steve Jobs can influence our lives more than technologically.

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Would Your Faith Assist You In Dying A "Natural" Death?

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 12.02.2011

Read More: Religion, Dying and Death, Scotand Yard, End of Life, Lady Joan Downes, Switzerland, Euthanasia, Sir Edward Downes, Faith, Debbie Purdy, Death & Dying, Ethics, Christianity, Dignitas, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

I wonder if they would have chosen to go to Dignitas had they had a religious belief. Would their faith have given them the strength to go through a "natural" death?

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We Don't Talk About How We Are Going To Die

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 10.15.2011

Read More: Dudley-Clendinen, Choices in Dying, Advance Directives, Dying, End of Life, Ecclesiastes, Facing Death, Lou Gehrig?S Disease, Als, God, Death & Dying, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

Thinking about the prospect of only having several months to live, I wonder how many of us could do what Dudley is doing while he is dying -- living one day at a time?

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Sibling Rivalry And The Death Of A Parent

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 09.24.2011

Read More: Sibling Rivalry, Dying Parents, Death & Dying, Advance Care Planning, Death of a Parent, Elder Parents, End of Life, Sandwich Generation, Financial Concerns, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

This sense of one sibling being favored over another often comes to the fore in its ugliest form when a parent is dying, and there are adult children, and there have been no communications by the parents about their wishes.

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A Million Questions That Need To Be Asked Of Our Aging Parents

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 09.05.2011

Read More: Caring for Aging Parents, Aging Parents, Dying, Advance Directives, End of Life, Sandwich Generation, Power of Attorney, End of Life Medical Decisions, Death & Dying, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

One of the Ten Commandments is to "obey" our parents. Well, what happens when we think that it is not in their best interest to continue living where they are living or we feel it is unsafe, and they disagree with us?

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Thanks To Dr. Jack Kevorkian

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 08.17.2011

Read More: Hospice, Terminally Ill Patients, Life Goals, End of Life Care, Dying, PAD Laws, Palliative Care, End of Life, Suffering, Jack Kevorkian, Debilitating Illness, Physician Aid in Dying, Quality of Life, Death, Death & Dying, Healthy Living News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

I believe that he should actually be thanked because Dr. Kevorkian raised the awareness that we don't do dying well, particularly when people are suffering and in physical pain.

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RIP Jack Kevorkian: Pioneer, Zealot, Dramatic Foil

Scott Swenson | Posted 08.03.2011

Read More: End of Life Care, End of Life, Death With Dignity, Death & Dying, Jack Kevorkian, Death, Dr. Kevorkian, Jack Kevirokian Dead, Politics News
Scott Swenson

His message was simple: in an increasingly mechanized and technological age, modern medicine is trapping many sick people in a life of suffering and torture that can be alleviated if they choose.

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Talking About The Horse On The Table

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 07.23.2011

Read More: End of Life Issues, Dying, End of Life, Dorothy Becvar, Family Denial About Death, In the Presence of Grief, Confronting Death, Death and Dying, Acknowledging Death, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

What does God expect you to do when a loved one is clearly dying: to encourage them to let go or to plead with them to "not die"?

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What Does God Think Of Our Life-Extending Technology?

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 07.10.2011

Read More: Patient Self Determination Act, Health Care Proxy, A Clergy Guide to End of Life Issues, Surrogate Decision Making, End of Life, Dying, Advance Directives, Health Care Surrogate, Power of Attorney for Health Care, Death & Dying, Do Not Resuscitate, Religion News
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs

When I lead workshops on completing advance directives, I ask people to prayerfully consider the following questions and to remember that God will be present with them throughout this process.

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The End-Of-Life Paradox

Kenneth J. Doka, M.Div., Ph.D. | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Facing Mortality, Fear of Death, End of Life, Fears of Death, Death & Dying, Death Fear, End of Life Conversations, End of Life Discussions, Healthy Living News
Kenneth J. Doka, M.Div., Ph.D.

As older adults may need to address the issues of their death, middle-aged children struggling with their own awareness of mortality may be deeply threatened by their parents' death and hence avoid such discussion.

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10 Things To Know About A Loved One's Final Hours

Marguerite Manteau-Rao | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Hospice, Caregiving, End of Life Care, Death & Dying, Hospice Care, Caregiver, End of Life, Caregivers, Death, Healthy Living News
Marguerite Manteau-Rao

I have witnessed many families struggling with how to be during the last hours of a person's life. I have been struck by the lack of knowledge and the misconceptions that people have about the needs of a person approaching the end.

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Do We Need A Lenten Spoiler Alert? Psst ... Jesus Lives!

Rev. Amy Ziettlow | Posted 06.19.2011

Read More: Easter, Dying. Aging, End of Life, Hope, Hospice, Spoiler Alert, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, Shawshank Redemption, Resiliency, Healthcare, Death, Lent, Christianity, Religion News
Rev. Amy Ziettlow

Do we need to tell the story of Jesus' life, trial, suffering and death, when we already know the end of the story? Does knowing that the resurrection is to come spoil the Lenten experience?

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