Something to Think About

QUESTION: My father and I have always had a difficult relationship. He is now approaching death. What do I do? There is no perfect relationship. Life is a series of...

Treating people with a cold professionalism vs. treating them as children is either end of a spectrum of respect for a patient’s personhood. Cold professionalism can be as dehumanizing as...

QUESTION: Please talk about end of life pain management. There is so much confusion around end of life pain management. Confusion regarding use of narcotics, fear of overdosing and addiction....

QUESTION: Talk about self care for professionals who work in end of life. No matter our chosen career taking care of ourselves is important but working with end of life...

QUESTION: My father-in-law died a few months ago. I’m not thinking about him as much as I am thinking about my mother and brother who died years before. When we...

We spend so much of our life being afraid of death. We pretend we will live forever so we don’t make Advance Directives or Living Wills. We take all treatment...

GRIEF AND THE HOLIDAYS I posted this blog article last year about this time and am reposting it for this year’s holidays. In our grief any holiday celebration tends to...

The phenomenon generally occurs in the weeks before death and can be accompanied with restlessness and agitation. Generally, medication is not required unless the confusion and restlessness puts the person...

We must always respect a person’s choices. Remember, we approach this final challenge in our life in the same manner we have approached all of our challenges. If a belief...

I had a dream last night. I dreamt I was visiting a facility. There were several women walking through the rooms showing me the beds where people lay. Most people...

QUESTION: Could you write about the fear of dying from the perspective of a patient not willing to go on hospice due to his fear of death and dying? It...

This is a letter I received from Colleen Todd. She has given me permission to reprint this edited version. The love and beauty in this letter touched me greatly. It...

It is my hope that people will read “Gone From My Sight,” “The Eleventh Hour” and watch “New Rules for End of Life Care” so that their experience will be...

QUESTION: You say people can see and interact with those who have died before us as they, themselves, lay dying. How about if a person is not dying, can they...

There are pros and cons to telling a person they can’t be fixed. I've touched on some of them. I don't know the "right" answer. I do know that we...

Question: What about dying and coming to peace? A lot has been talked about people accepting and “coming to terms” with their approaching death. Even Elizabeth Kubler-Ross talked about acceptance...

QUESTION: Please address the need for closure by medical professionals who work with end of life. I began working in hospice with the personal belief that death was not bad,...

Question: How to talk to Doctors about the benefits of hospice and speaking to their patients early enough so that they can get all the benefits hospice offers. This is...

Question: Talk about coping over the years after the loss of a child. I can’t think of a greater loss than the death of a child. Children are our legacy...

QUESTION: How long can a body sustain without food and only take in nutritional liquid supplements? Because there are many influencing factors my answer won’t be definitive but I can...

QUESTION: I wonder if you have any insight on Compassion Fatigue within Hospice staff? Wikipedia states: “Compassion fatigue, also known as secondary traumatic stress (STS), is a condition characterized by...