Lamar Hankins

Oct 28

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Opposition to medical-assistance-in-dying–Part 2

By Lamar Hankins | Death With Dignity Act | 2 Comments

In Part 1 of this series, I addressed ten criticisms of MAID laws, particularly those in Oregon and Washington, though most such laws are modeled largely on Oregon’s law. In Part 2, I look at criticisms of MAID laws concerning economic pressures, coercion, depression, inadequate resources for MAID clients, doctor shopping, inadequate Medicaid rules, ableism, and the failure of the drugs prescribed to MAID clients. My hope is that we can learn from opponents of MAID laws how to make the laws better.

Oct 21

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Opposition to medical-assistance-in-dying–Part 1

By Lamar Hankins | Death With Dignity Act | 2 Comments

With this post, I begin a multi-part series about the views of those who oppose medical-assistance-in-dying (MAID) or have written critically about MAID laws. I think there are some good ideas that we can learn from these critics to help us improve MAID laws, though that is not their intent. They will oppose MAID under any law, no matter how carefully written.

Oct 14

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Choices and dilemmas in dementia care

By Lamar Hankins | Dementia | 8 Comments

Larissa MacFarquhar discusses treatment approaches for people in the late stages of dementia in the October 8, 2018, issue of The New Yorker–The Comforting Fictions of Dementia Care. It is not unusual for late-stage dementia patients to have delusions (the belief in something that is not real) or hallucinations (false sensory perceptions of objects or events). How caregivers might respond to these and related dementia problems is the subject of MacFarquhar’s article.

Oct 07

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Taking control of our funerals: An option for some–Part 2

By Lamar Hankins | Dying, End-of-life care | 5 Comments

What resources and services do home funeral guides and end-of-life (EOL) assistants offer or provide?

Sep 30

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Taking control of our funerals: An option for some–Part 1

By Lamar Hankins | Dying, Funeral Planning | 3 Comments

Those of us in the right to die (RTD) movement want to take charge of our own deaths should we be faced with unwanted suffering, either immediately or in the foreseeable future. Some of us who are supported by our families and friends might also like for those same family members and friends to take care of what happens to our bodies after death–a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach to funerals. Others of us won’t care or we may favor a commercial disposition option.

Sep 16

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One man’s experience using Washington’s PAD law

By Lamar Hankins | ALS, End-of-life care, Medical Aid in Dying, PAD, Suffering and Death | 2 Comments

A Washington state man, Aaron McQ, described his illness (a rare form of ALS) as “terrifying . . . like waking up every morning in quicksand.” He agreed to discuss his experience with Kaiser News to help provide more understanding about how users feel after qualifying for PAD. Over 3,000 terminally ill residents in the US have used PAD laws since Oregon’s first took effect twenty years ago. This is one man’s experience.

Sep 10

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Rational Exits

By Lamar Hankins | Choice | 8 Comments

Many older people decide for themselves that they don’t want to be wholly dependent on others, and they don’t want to be remembered as someone in that circumstance. Others do not want to be an increasing burden on their family, a decision that is theirs, irrespective of whether the family feels that they are a burden. Such old and increasingly infirm individuals may get little, if any, pleasure from living with myriad physical dysfunctions, and all that such health problems entail. They are the ones who should decide whether their lives are any longer worth living.

Sep 02

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Thoughts about a good death and dignity in dying

By Lamar Hankins | Dying | 5 Comments

Nothing is more personal than how we define a good death, yet our definition may not be obvious at first. Consideration of this question leads me to the idea that a good death is a dignified death; that is, the dying process is dignified. To maintain dignity in the dying process depends greatly on how our death comes. If it comes through violent means, dignity may not be found.

Aug 26

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Lessons about PAD from disability rights advocates

By Lamar Hankins | Disability, Disability Rights, Medical Aid in Dying, Not Dead Yet, PAD | 6 Comments

Disability rights groups that oppose self-determination for people who seek physician-assisted dying (PAD ) argue that such people should not have the right to decide for themselves when their lives are no longer tenable. Nevertheless, the disability rights groups do make points related to PAD that are worth considering; for one, they have helped me realize that over the last ten years I have become disabled.

Aug 19

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Fashioning an advance directive for dementia

By Lamar Hankins | Advance Directives, Dementia | 11 Comments

This post lays out a process for making a dementia directive to be used when or if we become unable to make our own views known because of mental incapacity. If you are willing to live with dementia through the end of the disease, this post will not be of use to you.