Good Decisions
QUESTION: What are we trying to achieve by treatment? That is THE question everyone involved in medical decision making needs to ask. Who is everyone? Physician, patient, and family. Most...
Something to Think About: a blog on end of life
Time
The Future
I caught myself thinking, as I folded laundry this evening, that I want this day to end. I want this week to hurry up as I have something in the...
Three Keys- To The Dying Process
We can die gradually two ways. We just get old and our body wears out or we get a life threatening illness, disease, and die gradually that way....
Alzheimer's, Dementia Patients and Hospice
QUESTION: Please speak to Hospice Approval Denied due to only major diagnosis code being Alzheimer's and not considered to be in final stage. But person not eating, ~70 lbs now,...
Is a Peaceful Unmedicated Death Possible?
QUESTION: I am a 30 year old woman working as a psychology intern at a local hospital. My engagement in the hospice program has me thinking a lot about my...
Oxygen, Morphine and Air Hunger
QUESTION: What do you think of use of oxygen at the end of life? – Does it hasten or prolong death? I consider use of oxygen at end of life...
Dementia Doesn't Play By The Rules
QUESTION: My question is about when someone with advanced dementia is in that sort of vague pre-active dying period, say those months in and out of the hospital, the time...
The Odds, Google and The Big Question
Generally speaking, a person goes to a physician because something is amiss with their physical body. We don't feel well so we go to doctors for help. Physicians "fix" what...
Our Precarious, Fragile Lives
James Dillet Freeman wrote a book years ago titled, Love, Loved, Loving. In the book he tells the story of a King who dies and upon his death meets an...
Telling Bad News
No one wants to be the bearer of bad news. Americans are a death denying society. We view death as the enemy and a failure: something to be feared and...
Death of a Child and Bereavement
QUESTION: Death of a child. Why can't I move on? It seems I am stuck in pain all the time. I can’t think of any loss greater than the loss...
Why Write an Advance Directive Now?
If we talk about dying, death or even make our advanced directives and a will then it must mean that we are going to die---soon. My husband and I were...