End of Life

Baxter, The World's Oldest Working Therapy Dog Comforted The Dying

Janet Kinosian | Posted 11.18.2009 | Living


Janet Kinosian

As an end-of life therapy dog doing sensitive and compassionate end-of-life work, Baxter's job was to comfort those who lay dying while giving intimate aid to those on their transition from life to death.

Dying Wishes Followed More Often For Whites

forbes.com | Posted 10.23.2009 | Living


Dying white cancer patients are more likely than black patients to have their end-of-life wishes respected, a new U.S. study shows. Some black patien...

BAXTER: The World's OLDEST End Of Life Therapy Dog Dies (VIDEO)

Posted 10.22.2009 | Living


Baxter, the beloved therapy dog with his own Facebook page and book, Moments With Baxter, died at age 19 on Friday, October 16 after years of voluntee...

Why Healthcare Reform is Good for Older Americans

Kelly Matheson | Posted 10.15.2009 | Politics


Kelly Matheson

The Elder Justice Act in the health reform bills would finally provide the increased federal resources and leadership to prevent, detect, treat, understand, intervene in and, where appropriate, prosecute elder abuse.

Debate Misses Point of End-of-Life Counseling

Gail Austin Cooney, M.D. | Posted 09.25.2009 | Living


Gail Austin Cooney, M.D.

As a doctor specializing in palliative care and hospice, I'm disheartened to see how end-of-life counseling was twisted into something sinister and untrue, then ultimately dropped because it was deemed too divisive.

Health Care Reform and Death

Paul Gewirtz | Posted 11.15.2009 | Politics


Paul Gewirtz

Death is essentially a taboo topic in public debates, and serious discussion about terminal illness and death has been almost completely lacking in the recent health care debates.

The Truth About End of Life Care

Jeanette Aileen Fuller | Posted 10.17.2009 | Living


Jeanette Aileen Fuller

So much has been said by those who claim to understand what "end of life care" means, and all of it has little if any root in truth. So, I will give you my personal experience with "end of life counseling."

End of Life Counseling? Had That in My Twenties

Hal Donahue | Posted 09.30.2009 | Politics


Hal Donahue

Early in my service I was told, "When a jet crashes, often the boots are all we can find." Such was my not-so-subtle introduction to the need for end of life planning.

Ted Kennedy and the End of All Health Care

Alison Rose Levy | Posted 09.30.2009 | Living


Alison Rose Levy

As the debate over insurance coverage proceeds, let's remember that there is an end to all health care--it ends with a funeral. Before that end comes for each one of us, does our health care system provide a few simple essentials as we move through life to death?

Policies of Fear or Ignorance?

Ryan Mack | Posted 09.26.2009 | Politics


Ryan Mack

Living wills and health care proxies are very critical documents and every independent citizen, young and old, should have these documents within his or her estate plan.

How Americans Cope With End Of Life Decisions: Study

Pew Social & Demographic Trends | By Kim Parker, Pew Research Center | Posted 09.20.2009 | Living


The national debate over health care reform has focused new attention on the decisions people make about medical care at the end stages of life. Publ...

Living Wills: Preparing For End of Life

wsj.com | MELINDA BECK | Posted 09.19.2009 | Living


Forget about the health-reform debate for the moment. Should you have a living will specifying the kind of care you'd want at the end of life if you c...

Why End of Life Counseling Is Imperative

Hale "Bonddad" Stewart | Posted 09.13.2009 | Politics


Hale

For loved ones, end of life planning makes one of the most difficult times that much easier to deal with. Instead of helping families plan for this, we are getting fear mongering and stupidity.

Terri Schaivo, End of Life, and Health Care Reform

Paul Raushenbush | Posted 09.11.2009 | Politics


Paul Raushenbush

The last and only public policy debate we had about health care and end of life issues was the Terri Schiavo case. No wonder the conversation has turned hysterical.

AP Fact Check: No 'Death Panel' In Health Care Bill

AP | RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR | Posted 09.11.2009 | Politics


WASHINGTON — Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin says the health care overhaul bill would set up a "death panel." Federal ...

Death, Dishonesty and the GOP

Terrance Heath | Posted 09.03.2009 | Politics


Terrance Heath

Democrats don't want to "kill Granny," but Republicans want to ensure that "Granny" suffers needlessly in death, and that her family deals with the confusion of not knowing what "Granny" wanted.

End-of-Life Decisions: Medicare Is Already in the Room

Mayhill Fowler | Posted 08.31.2009 | Politics


Mayhill Fowler

The big irony, one that encapsulates our national innocence of death, is the assumption behind the Medicare rumor -- that people can indeed decide how they wish to die. If only that were true.

'Prescriptive Music' Comforts The Dying

msn.com | Posted 08.24.2009 | Living


SPRINGFIELD, Ore. - In a white-walled hospital room, pancreatic cancer slowly drained all the life that remained in Carolyn. There was nothing more t...

Healthcare Reform and the Price of Torture

Barbara Coombs Lee | Posted 08.14.2009 | Home


Barbara Coombs Lee

In this country we usually torture people before we allow them to die of whatever is killing them --- cancer, emphysema, the multi-organ failure of di...

Religion Linked to More Aggressive End of Life Care

Valerie Tarico | Posted 04.26.2009 | Living


Valerie Tarico

Religious patients were less likely than secular patients to sign do not resuscitate orders or to create living wills.