… how nourishing it can be to sit with a person in their 80s and listen to the stories of their life. What’s refreshing about a person of this age is that pride and vanity have largely fallen away from their faces and they gaze on the world in a less defensive, more open, more childlike way. […]
honoring & following … the elderly … Read More »
… Benedict XVI in a recent television interview answers a mother’s question about the state of her comatose son’s soul … … Certainly his soul is still present in his body. The situation, perhaps, is like that of a guitar whose strings have been broken and therefore can no longer play. The instrument of the
Derek Doyle in his book The Platform Ticket … Perhaps it is only when you have worked in a hospice that you truly appreciate … that it is not death which people fear but the manner of dying, whether it be the pain or the fear or, we are often told, the loneliness. Let me
… in a recent conference Diane Meier discusses her experience re assisted suicide … transcript of key passage … video of her entire talk … “And as I got a bit older and had more experience taking care of patients and families, and realizing autonomy was not really relevant to the human condition – We
diane meier on community … Read More »
… 2010 Annual Report … The vast majority of the 72 persons who killed themselves did so for reasons of control and autonomy – not intractable suffering (p. 7) The vast minority (2 of the 72) underwent any kind of mental health evaluation. related posts here and here …
washington state’s experience with assisted suicide … Read More »
… Gawande writes about ‘hot spotters’ … “An important idea is getting its test run in America: the creation of intensive outpatient care to target hot spots, and thereby reduce over-all health-care costs.” A common factor these programs share is intense one-on-one care and accompaniment by an interdisciplinary team … “My philosophy about primary care
patients only a mother could love … Read More »
Janssen and Macleod in Pall & Supportive Care talk to patients and their caregivers about how doctors do (or do not) care for them as individuals. “Building a caring human relationship begins with doctors recognizing themselves and each patient as individuals first and foremost. A connection invited on that level provides a firm base on
What does care mean …? Read More »
… handout posted “What must be made very clear here, is that patients who are suffering during the dying process, and contemplate PAS because they feel they have lost all meaning, dignity and purpose in life, are asking physicians, “Do you agree that my life is worthless because I am dying? They are searching in
suicide at life’s end … Read More »
Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940) – Louis Henry Vaquez at “La Pitié” hospital (1921), Oil on canvas, National Academy of Medicine, Paris The assistants take part in the general atmosphere and in the gestures of their chief and mentor, as they watch the patient, who constitutes the real focus of the painting; the lines drawn from the
that gaze and that hand … Read More »
