Stuck in Grief
In normal grieving, time begins to lessen the intensity of the emotional pain of our loss. There is a process to grief (see My Friend, I Care) and although we never forget...
Something to Think About: a blog on end of life
Time
16 Days Without Food or Water- How Long Can She Survive?
If she has had no water of any kind for 16 days I would expect her to die at anytime--maybe before I write this.
Dangers of Morphine for the Dying
Dear Barbara, Talk about the dangers of giving morphine to one who is dying? I have written many articles on morphine yet I repeatedly get this question. What that tells...
Death As The Enemy
I was just on the phone with a woman who told me the doctor told her friend he was surprised she had lived this long with the disease having spread...
"If They Would Just Eat, Everything Would Be Better"
Dear Barbara, what are the physical changes in appearance during the dying process? Also talk about not forcing food upon the dying. The physical changes in appearance during the dying...
Pneumonia, The Old Man's Friend
Now, all this said, there are thin lines and points to debate, in what istreatment to get better and treatment for comfort. Is pneumonia related to alife threatening illness or...
Abstain From Doing Harm
Where is medicine that treats PEOPLE that have diseases? Where is medicine that looks at the PERSON and finds out how they want to live and die based upon their...
Does "No Code" mean "No Care"?
First, lets define “No Code”. The simplest explanation I found was Googled from the Free Dictionary http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/no+code“a note written in the patient record and signed by a qualified, usually senior or...
Reaching for the Far Side of Grief
We are generally very tired, physically and emotionally, by the time our caregiving is over. Our thinking processes are not what we are used to. We are tired, weepy, aimless,...
What to Ask When Looking for a Quality Hospice
Because we don’t really think about end of life care until we or someone close to us needs it we enter into relationships with hospice that may not be satisfactory...
Have We Lost the Essence of Hospice?
...The end of life avocation that hospice originally presented is becoming a gift of the past. Now it is a business with high censuses, detailed and often confusing regulations, and...
Hospice- The Initial Visit
Dear Barbara, I recently had a meeting with a family that was referred to hospice from a facility. They had about 10 family members at the meeting. The topic of...