Something to Think About

From the time we turn 18 until our last breath, we should have an advance directive in place. Once a person turns 18, parents have no legal standing. Most physicians...

In the days to weeks before gradual death occurs a person realizes, at last, that they are dying. They may not share that realization with anyone, but they know. If...

Filling out an Advance Directive when you are healthy is different than filling one out when you are elderly or living with a serious illness...

Number one, we are all going to die at some point. Of course the operative words here are “at some point.” If we are told death will be the outcome...

I want the medical profession, the medical model we find in doctors’ offices and hospitals, to do everything possible to help me not only regain my health, but to return...

I also thought as we get older that question tends to come out of hiding more easily. The older we are the more the question lies in the back of...

I think the reason hospice gets their referrals in the weeks before death rather than months is because hospice implies death will come. We look for and hope for a...

Deciding not to “tell mom she can’t be fixed" takes away that gift. Who are we (yes, even family) to determine what a person needs to or does not need...

 Know that all of these signs of approaching death, whether indicating months or weeks, are just guideposts. Some people will show all of them...

Our job as an end of life specialist is to address the elephant in the room, to be direct and honest in the gentlest way possible. We are not doing...

There are many of the same circumstances with today’s coronavirus as we faced with  HIV/AIDS in the early years— lack of medical knowledge, lack of guidance, and fear. I think...

We do this all the time. We enter tense situations where people are frightened and unsure, with people who have never seen us before. This is what we do: We create...

You have to walk the walk before you can talk the talk. Learn from your patient/family interactions. At the same time read everything you can get your hands on...

Hospice has worked with nursing facilities for many years now. Our relationship  and interactions with patients and their families is now better understood and better defined. That said, some nursing facilities...

So many factors affect the length of our labor to leave this world that it is imprudent to put a specific time frame on approaching death. The closest we can...

At 8:17pm she took one more breath and then at 8:18 there was one more which I describe as hot caramel pouring onto vanilla ice cream. It was the most...

We can be as much at a loss when our pet is dying as we are when a person is dying but there doesn’t seem to be the support and...

What is the aim of a life review? As a caregiver my aim is not to direct a life review but to be a presence, a listener, and a friend....

Hospice can not take the experience and sadness of a loved one dying away. Our goal is to help the family create a sacred experience, to help their loved one...

The hours before actual death is very scary, a "I don't know what to do" time, for anyone present. Someone who knows the normal natural way a person dies can...

There are other signs of approaching death that indicate a person with a disease (at any age) has weeks to live...