Something to Think About

It is because end of life care is different than caring for someone who is going to get better that we think the care being provided is causing harm. It...

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? 

I believe that everyone has the right to decide how they will live and how they will die. There are people that no matter the disease will want to have...

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...

Most of us are at the bedside of someone who is dying because we are emotionally involved. We are watching with our hearts and emotions, not our intellect, our minds...

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,...

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...

...There is no perfect relationship. There are good times and difficult times. Sometimes the difficulty we have with the person that is dying keeps us from being at the bedside....

 If we did not relate to praying in living then we will not necessarily relate now. We die the way we have lived. We don’t change who we are just...

I do not think there is a need for narcotics just because death is approaching. Dying is not painful. Disease causes pain...

Most families are stressed, tempers can flare, nerves get frayed. It is up to us, as professionals, to use our communication skills to ease the tensions...

The congestion that occurs before death will depend upon how hydrated ordehydrated a person is. The more fluids in their body, the more congestion.Sometimes changing their position (laying them on...

Death for those who work in end of life is not failureor the enemy. It is the ending of the work we do. Our satisfaction in thedeath of a patient...

A great question. You have actually touched on a line of thinking that a lot of people have about the use of narcotics at end of life: that the narcotic...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

We have the medical capabilities and procedures to keep a person alivealmost indefinitely BUT is it in the best interest of the person to do so? Wehave to ask “what...