Something to Think About

My message throughout all this time has been to educate, educate, educate. Educate anyone who will listen about how people die. To help people understand how death comes, what it...

...Fortunately, I suppose, my mother is now bed-bound and we were able toget Hospice to help out, so she now fits the bill for a 'model patient'... but itstill seems...

From the moment of a diagnosis of a life threatening illness we begin grieving. We grieve not just the eventual losses that come with serious illness but the approaching death...

There have been many changes in hospice care since it began. Some for the better, some not so much. What I am suggesting as representing a “good” hospice is becoming...

...not telling a person they can’t be fixed is taking away their opportunity to do and say that which is important to them. It is taking away their ability to...

We need to look at the promises made, evaluate them as to: can it be done, should it be done, and am I willing to do it? 

Many years ago I attended a workshop at The Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. The topic was about when a clinician enters the administration work field. I don’t remember much...

Families often replay the final moments of a loved one’s life, searching for meaning in every sound, expression, or tear. Drawing from being at the bedside of hundreds of deaths,...

Have a conversation with those people that are closest to you about your ideas of “the perfect death”. “If I can’t speak for myself, here is what I want you...

I used to say I could teach any nurse the skills needed for end of life care, but that it was the nurse's ability to be supportive and their people...

We often think because a person is facing the end of their life we have to do whatever they want us to, regardless of how it affects us. We treat...

How to let go and stop feeling guilty? At first you probably aren't even aware of your feelings. When someone close to us dies, even if we are told it...

I know “dying of a broken heart” is used frequently when death comes as a result of a tragic life event. I’m not sure that is actually why the person...

If you teach your families well about the approaching end of life there will be no problems with them understanding the labor of dying. Having someone you care about dying is...

Morphine is one of the most misunderstood medications in end-of-life care. Let me explain when it is used, how it relieves pain, and why its purpose is always comfort—not to...

I wrote this poem one day after seeing two particular patients. One was a woman in her 40's who was working through the anger of not being able to see...