Death: The Final Word?
In spite of decades working with the dying and bereaved families, my familiarity with end-of-life choices, death and grief was now staring me in the face, reflecting the image of the woman who gave birth to me.
In spite of decades working with the dying and bereaved families, my familiarity with end-of-life choices, death and grief was now staring me in the face, reflecting the image of the woman who gave birth to me.
Pat LaMarche | Posted 04.16.2012
Curtis Johnson, a 55-year-old business man and educator who suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis otherwise known as ALS, finds that even though he lives in Washington he cannot get the assistance he needs to end his suffering when the time comes.
Felice Shapiro | Posted 04.09.2012
Mid-life presents a flood of issues that force us to deal individually with events not of our own making. However, we are on common ground as we all attempt to seek peace in the aftermath of a death.
Barbara Coombs Lee | Posted 05.22.2012
Eighteen years ago, Dr. Peter Goodwin led the fight to grant Oregonians the right to end-of-life choice. Terminally ill with a rare, fatal brain disease with no known cure, Peter exercised the right to a peaceful death he helped secure.
Posted 03.14.2012
By Anne Saker Religion News Service PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) Peter Goodwin, the first doctor in Oregon to campaign publicly for the terminally ill to ...
Barbara Coombs Lee | Posted 04.25.2012
As with contraception, a free society must find the middle ground. Catholic Bishops must be free to exercise their religion, yet we cannot allow them to deny that same freedom to the rest of us.
Ann Brenoff | Posted 05.14.2012
Aunt Sylvia is 96 years old and if you asked her, would tell you she would like to die.
Barbara Coombs Lee | Posted 11.15.2011
The Montana experience is ongoing, with aid in dying governed by standards of practice and the same regulatory procedures as all medical care. Its impact will likely reach across our nation.
Barbara Coombs Lee | Posted 08.17.2011
The choice of how to address suffering in a terminal illness must be the province of dying individuals themselves in consultation with their doctors, families, clergy and conscience.
Scott Swenson | Posted 08.03.2011
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.
Janice Van Dyck | Posted 07.22.2011
Every day people die agonizing deaths from terminal illness. Every day their loved ones suffer with them.
Tijana Milosevic | Posted 11.17.2011
I wonder whether dignity and pride, as perceived by the Japanese, might underlie seemingly disparate reactions to life hurdles.
Barbara Coombs Lee | Posted 05.25.2011
Historically, end-of-life choice has suffered at the hands of politicians. The people's simple yearning for freedom and control at the end of life has been no match for the heavy hand of politicians.
Scott Swenson | Posted 05.25.2011
As frustrating as our broken political system is, when it comes to communicating complex ideas, just having the conversation is itself a victory.
Michael Janofsky | Posted 11.17.2011
Paul was still the smartest one in the room. He was taking care of us as we were struggling to comfort him. He was showing us how to die -- with dignity, humility, courage and grace.
Barbara Coombs Lee | Posted 11.17.2011
"There's nothing more we can do." For too long, for too many, medical professionals have used these words when they believe they cannot cure their pa...
Posted 05.25.2011
Dr. Jack Kevorkian believes laws that allow terminally-ill adults to end their lives by taking prescribed lethal doses of medicine are wrong because t...
Fawn Germer | Posted 11.17.2011
Alzheimer's Disease is a cruel insult to anyone who suffers its indignity. This is the last, lingering chapter in a story that began with my mom's paralyzing stroke 19 years ago.
Bryan Cones | Posted 05.25.2011
British scientists have discovered "cognition" in a vegetative patient. This may encourage some at the "natural death" end of the pro-life spectrum. But I find it more to be a sign of our cultural denial of death than an affirmation of life.
Barbara Coombs Lee | Posted 05.25.2011
Ruth Proskauer Smith, a friend and an activist for individual autonomy, died last night, closing her life in the manner she had wished for, planned fo...
Lance Simmens | Posted 05.25.2011
The fringe elements, carefully nurtured by fear, hatred, mistrust, and fitful bouts of fantasy are positioning the conservative opposition into a death spiral
Scott Swenson | Posted 05.25.2011
Why is it that in life's most personal and private moments--sexuality, conception, birth and the dying process--the party that says it governs least always governs most?
Tom D'Antoni | Posted 11.17.2011
Thankfully, none of us in Oregon have to face either arrest nor a terribly painful lingering death if we don't want to. The voters twice agreed to our Death with Dignity law.
Barbara Coombs Lee | Posted 05.25.2011
This ill-conceived rule will surely obstruct and delay good care in many instances, increasing the suffering of dying patients and their loved ones.
Robert V. Taylor | Posted 05.24.2012