The Good Death Society Blog

May 21

2

How DWD laws discriminate

By Lamar Hankins | Death With Dignity Act, Suffering and Death | 6 Comments

All of the Death With Dignity (DWD) laws now in the US are modeled after the Oregon law that went into effect in 1997. The other jurisdictions that have adopted such a law include Washington, Vermont, Washington, D.C., Colorado, California, and Hawaii. A judicial decision in Montana allows DWD to be practiced with cooperating doctors.

Missing from all of these laws is the right of people who have specific kinds of incurable, debilitating, painful, or extremely distressing medical conditions, but are not necessarily within six months of dying, to use these laws.

May 15

4

A reader’s question about nitrogen

By Janis Landis | Q & A | 6 Comments

We’ve received a question from a reader which we believe would be of general interest. The writer asks:

“How does FEN President Janis Landis know there is no air hunger with nitrogen inhalation onset? Is this an assumption, inference, observation, result of experimentation? Please clarify.”

May 13

0

POLST: Avoid The Seven Deadly Sins

By Charlie Sabatino | POLST | 4 Comments

The POLST — or Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment — Paradigm has become a powerful tool for identifying and honoring the goals of care of seriously ill or frail individuals. But that power can be turned against patients if health care providers misunderstand or misuse it. Each of these seven deadly sins require resolute reconsideration for redemption.

May 06

4

STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF SUICIDOLOGY: “SUICIDE” IS NOT THE SAME AS “PHYSICIAN AID IN DYING”

By American Association of Suicidology | Death With Dignity Act, Medical Aid in Dying | 3 Comments

The American Association of Suicidology recognizes that the practice of physician aid in dying, also called physician assisted suicide, Death with Dignity, and medical aid in dying, is distinct from the behavior that has been traditionally and ordinarily described as “suicide,” the tragic event our organization works so hard to prevent. Although there may be overlap between the two categories, legal physician assisted deaths should not be considered to be cases of suicide and are therefore a matter outside the central focus of the AAS.

Apr 29

1

An obituary I would like to see

By Janis Landis | Advance Directives, Death With Dignity Act, Suffering and Death | 3 Comments

No, it is not an obituary for a specific individual. It is an obituary that recognizes and celebrates taking control of one’s end-of-life suffering.

Apr 22

1

Seeking justice in Minnesota

By Lamar Hankins | Choice, Free speech, Suffering and Death | One Comment

On April 16, 2018, the Final Exit Network (FEN) filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the State of Minnesota. The suit asks the court to declare that Minnesota’s law prohibiting speaking to a person about how to hasten her own death is a violation of the free speech clause of the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The suit seeks, also, to void FEN’s conviction under the statute, and to bar the State of Minnesota from again initiating a prosecution of FEN, and its personnel, under the statute based solely on the utterance of “speech” that “enables” a suicide.

Apr 15

3

When Something Has Happened We’d All Prefer Not: My Advance Directives In case of a Sudden Life Threatening Event

By Timothy Boon, RN | Advance Directives | 2 Comments

Timothy Boon, RN, is the CEO of Good Shepherd Community Care (GSCC) in Newton, MA. GSCC is an independent, community-based, not-for-profit, non-sectarian, hospice care agency, the first organized in Massachusetts 40 years ago. Recently, he wrote a poem in the style of Dr. Seuss, and recited it on video for ZDoggMD (otherwise known as Dr. Zubin Damania, Founder of Turntable Health, a direct primary care clinic in downtown Las Vegas). The poem is posted here by permission of the author. The video is posted courtesy of ZDoggMD.

Apr 08

2

Dying together

By Lamar Hankins | Medical Aid in Dying | No Comments

It is not unusual for married couples to die within a few days, weeks, or months of one another. It has become more common in recent years for couples, especially those who have been together for many years and are in poor health, to plan their deaths together by taking barbiturates or some other drug that is deadly when taken in sufficient quantity. Recently, through Canada’s assisted-dying law, a Canadian couple, married for almost 73 years, arranged their joint deaths in the same bed, while holding hands.

Apr 01

0

Helping Kids Think About Death Without an Afterlife

By Dale McGowan | Dying | No Comments

Talking to children about death is a topic not yet dealt with on this blog. This first discussion by author and blogger Dale McGowan approaches the topic from a freethinking, rather than from a religious perspective. Even for the religious among us, McGowan offers some insights that may be helpful. And even adults may derive benefit from his perspective.

Mar 18

0

Thinking about being a burden on others

By Lamar Hankins | Death With Dignity Act, Disability | 5 Comments

When a family member provides care in the home for someone with a disability, when does this responsibility become a burden on the caregiver? Is being a burden asking too much of a family member? These and related questions are discussed in this week’s post.