ALS

Oct 29

1

VSED: The Least Bad Option

By Kate Christie | ALS, Alzheimer's, Choice, Death Doula, Death With Dignity, Dementia, Dying, End-of-life care, End-of-Life Planning, Good Death, Hospice, Medical Aid in Dying, Palliative Care, VSED | 14 Comments

“Your mother didn’t choose a terminal illness. She only chose not to let the disease pick when and how she would die.”

Jul 23

2

Choosing Death Over Suffering: Informing Patients About Physician Aid-In-Dying (Part 1)

By Amber Comer | ALS, Assisted Suicide, End-of-life care, Medical Aid in Dying, Oregon Death with Dignity Act, PAD | One Comment

As more states legalize PAD and the practice becomes more ethically accepted, it is important to determine a standard of care to guide physicians.

Oct 24

8

What Ways Can You Die When You’ve Had Enough of Life?

By Althea Halchuck | Advance Directives, ALS, Choice, Dementia, Disability, Dying, End-of-life care, Final Exit Network, Grief, Medical Aid in Dying, Mental Illness, POLST, Right-to-Die Laws, Suffering and Death, Suicide, Surrogate, The Right to Die, VSED | 13 Comments

When you believe it’s time to go, what options do you really have? There are more than you you think, without having to resort to a violent ending.

Jan 17

9

Dave Warnock, Part 2

By Dave Warnock | ALS, Final Exit Network, The Right to Die | 3 Comments

Part 2 of my conversation with Dave Warnock, an atheist who was recently diagnosed with ALS and who spent over 30 years as a fundamentalist evangelical Christian minister.

Jan 10

6

Dave Warnock, Part 1

By Dave Warnock | ALS, Dying, Final Exit Network, The Right to Die | One Comment

Dave Warnock is a former fundamentalist evangelical Christian minister who rejected his faith and was later diagnosed with ALS. Here’s the first of a two-part conversation.

May 05

1

Death from ALS — It May Not Be as Peaceful As You’d Like

By Harwell Thrasher | ALS | One Comment

Author and retired technology expert Harwell Thrasher shares his experiences caring for his wife Sharon after she was diagnosed with ALS.

Sep 16

1

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.

Nov 05

0

ALS and the End-of-Life Choice

By Ted Ballou, D.Sc. (doctor of science in electrical engineering) | ALS | 3 Comments

Once ALS starts, it almost always progresses, eventually taking away the ability to walk, dress, write, speak, swallow, and breathe and shortening the life span. How fast and in what order this occurs is very different from person to person. While the average survival time is 3 years, about twenty percent of people with ALS live five years, 10 percent will survive ten years and five percent will live 20 years or more.