End of Life Care

The Religious Right's Assault on Palliative Care

Barbara Coombs Lee | Posted 05.30.2012

Read More: Murder, Right-to-Life, Religious Right, Palliative Care, Euthanasia, Georgia, Do Not Resuscitate, End of Life Care, Anti-Choice, Politics News

The medical establishment's support for patient choice exists within a particular, and peculiar, bioethical framework.A problem arises for palliative care physicians when people question their intention.

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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

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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Ned's Choice

Maria Rodale | Posted 04.04.2012

Read More: Husband Murder, Maria Rodale, Age-Gracefully, Die Gracefully, Aging, End of Life Care, Dying, Maria's Farm Country Kitchen, Healthy Living News

Every once in a while you meet someone who changes your life. That's what happened to me one day when I turned into a driveway that had a sign out fro...

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United, as Women and for Women

Barbara Coombs Lee | Posted 05.12.2012

Read More: Contraception, Bridges to Choice, Heights of Compassion, International Women's Day, End of Life Care, Conference, Choice, Healthcare, Chicago, Politics News

March 8th was the 101st annual International Women's Day. In some countries this Day holds the same stature as Mother's Day and celebrates women's eco...

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Lessons For Caregivers: Survivor's Guilt And The Memory Room

Bernard Mooney | Posted 04.26.2012

Read More: Bernard Mooney, Tough Care, Caregiving, Caregiver, End of Life Care, Family Caregiving, Care Giver, Dementia Caregiving, Care Givers, Elderly Caregiving, In Home Caregiving, Health Post50, Care Giving, Caregivers, Tough Care Bernard Mooney, Fifty News

When my wife died, I felt survivor's guilt because the two of us shared every good thing and every bad thing that had occurred for a very long time. Now I felt guilty that she no longer had the opportunity to experience the things that are still to come.

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Coping with Terminal Illness: The Problem of Getting an Honest Prognosis

Joseph Nowinski, Ph.D. | Posted 04.14.2012

Read More: Cancer, Palliative Care, Terminal Illness, End of Life Care, Death & Dying, Healthy Living News

On the one hand, we may be able to sympathize with doctors' reluctance to be the bearers of bad news, including the reality of imminent death. On the other hand, there may be some real negative consequences that result from their reticence.

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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

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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Resolving to Talk with Your Loved Ones About Aging with Dignity and Independence

Dr. Bruce A. Chernof, MD | Posted 04.03.2012

Read More: Aging Gracefully, Aging, Difficult Conversations, End of Life Care, Aging With Dignity, Retirement Planning, Aging With Independence, Gerontology, Health Care Reform, Long-Term Care, Medicaid, Medicare, Health Care, Financial Planning, Family, Long-Term Services and Supports, Fifty News

I invite you to think about what aging with dignity and independence means. Then take time to have the tough conversations with your loved ones about what is important to you as you grow older, and how you will get help should you require daily assistance.

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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

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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The Health Benefits Of Volunteering As A Caregiver

Jeanne Dennis | Posted 01.24.2012

Read More: Hospice, Hospice Care, Volunteering, Bereavement, End of Life Care, Caregiving, Hospice Volunteering, Palliative Care, Hospice Care and Caregiving, Healthy Living News

I am sometimes asked if it is difficult to be a hospice volunteer, to get to know someone only to have them pass away. The short answer is no. It is rewarding, transformative and life-affirming.

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Gingrich's 'Death Panel' Hypocrisy

The New Republic | Alec MacGillis | Posted 12.18.2011

Read More: Sarah Palin Death Panels, 2012 Elections, Death Panels, Elections 2012, 2012, Gingrich, Newt Gingrich Death Panels, Palin Death Panels, Gingrich Death Panels, Advance Care Directive, Sarah Palin, End-of-Life Care, Medicare, Gundersen, Newt Gingrich, Health Care, Gundersen Hospital, Politics News

As one admirer put it in a July 2009 blog post, "If Gundersen's approach was used to care for the approximately 4.5 million Medicare beneficiaries who...

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Question Authority: The Boomers Are Coming and They Won't Play Dead

Bernard Starr | Posted 11.29.2011

Politicians beware -- the boomers are coming. Like drill sergeants you may bark your marching orders and expect unchallenged compliance. But this army will march to its own drum beat.

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Long-Term Health Care: Think, Plan While You're Healthy, Able

Glenn D. Braunstein, M.D. | Posted 11.12.2011

Read More: Alzheimer's Disease, Advance Directives, End of Life Care, Medicare, Long-Term Care, Alzheimer's, Pat Summitt, Dr. Glenn Braunstein, Cedars Sinai, Chronic Illness, Glen Campbell, Caretaking, Long-Term Care Cost, Los Angeles News

Americans are notorious disease-and-death deniers. We cling to the fantasy that death will come only when we're age 100 and have earlier taken a brisk walk, read the WSJ and had a romp in the hay. It doesn't happen that way.

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The Call to Generation X to Reform Health Care

Rev. Amy Ziettlow | Posted 10.12.2011

Read More: Hospice, Aging, Dying, End of Life Care, Gen X, Generation X, Health-of-Baby-Boomer-Generation, Reform, Old Age, Sherwin B. Nuland, Healthcare Reform, Daniel Callahan, Baby Boomers, Caregiving, Death, Politics News

I recently commented on Facebook that in 20 years I will be in my late 50s, caring for my elderly baby boomer parents, and trying to pay for the young...

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The Ethics Of Hospice Care

Jeanne Dennis | Posted 10.01.2011

Read More: Hospice Investigation, Healthy Living Body, End of Life Care, Palliative Care, Hospice OIG, Hospice Care, Health Care, Hospice Ethics, Healthy Living News

Any industry that has regulations -- ours has plenty and rightly so -- will have people and institutions that flout those regulations.

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Hospice Straight Talk: Myths Meet Reality

Jeanne Dennis | Posted 09.27.2011

Read More: End of Life Care, Terminal Patient Care, Hospice Misconceptions, Healthy Living Body, Hospice and Palliative Care, Health Care, Hospice Myths, Palliative Care Misconceptions, In-Home Care Myths, Healthy Living News

As we seek to better understand options at all stages of life, it seems a good time to address some lingering myths and misunderstandings about hospice and palliative care.

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Let The Terminally Ill Decide

Joseph Nowinski, Ph.D. | Posted 09.15.2011

Read More: End of Life Care, End of Life Planning, Korean War, Dying, Death & Who Makes the Decisions, Veteran, Death & Dying, Who Should Make Decisions, Death, Healthy Living News

Uncle Ed was what you would call a man's man. A Korean War Veteran, he was nothing if not a planner. Yet at 84, we could not help but wonder who should make the decisions?

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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

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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Reflections On Jack Kevorkian: Who Owns Death?

Janice Van Dyck | Posted 08.04.2011

Read More: Advance Care Planning, End of Life Consultations, Euthanasia, End of Life Care, Death & Dying, Kevorkian, Death, Assisted Suicide, Jack Kevorkian, Jack Kevorkian Death, Kevorkian Assisted Suicide, Healthy Living News

There's something about assisted dying that still makes a lot of people squirm. With Dr. Kevorkian's death, I think it's time for us to take that bogeyman out of the closet.

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'Don't Plead With Me Not To Die'

Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs | Posted 08.03.2011

Read More: Losing a Loved One, Advanced Directives, End of Life Care, Dying Process, Dying, Death and Dying, Terminal Illness, Death, Loved Ones, Religion News

If God did not mean for us to live forever and did not indicate that longevity beats out quality, doesn't it make sense that when someone is dying the expectation would be to encourage them to let go?

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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

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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Honoring Life By Creating a 'Sacred Space' For Its Final Days

Jeanne Dennis | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: End of Life Care, Creating the Right Atmosphere for the Elderly, Hospice Care, How to Care for the Elderly, Care for the Elderly, How to Decorate a Hospice, Healthy Living News

Those of us in hospice care see death and dying as a part of living. When a loved one is dying, we encourage families to create spaces that reflect the life that's come before.

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Reliance On God Linked With Treatment Choices In New Cancer Study

Posted 07.02.2011

Read More: Cancer Research, Cancer Treatment, God and Cancer, Cancer, God, End of Life Care, God and Cancer Study, Belief in God, Religion News

By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service (RNS) Cancer patients who consider the length of their lives to be "in God's hands" are more willing than...

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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

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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Death and Taxes: National Healthcare Decisions Day Is April 16

Janice Van Dyck | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Advance Care Planning, Dying With Dignity, End of Life Care, National Healthcare Decision Day, End of Life, Death & Dying, Death, National Healthcare Decisions Day, Healthy Living News

On the 15th you fill out your 1040 Form for your Uncle Sam, and the next day you fill out an advance care directive to make the future easier for the rest of your family.

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