How To Prepare Yourself For A Good End Of Life
Don't wait until you're at death's door to explore your passions, deepen your relationships and find your posse. (Continue reading ...)
Being Present In The Unpredictable
The most touching moments are those when I get to witness a client’s surrender to the natural course of things … when the control and desperation subside and acceptance fills the void. (Continue reading ...)
Precious Time
Not everyone gets Precious Time. It is a blessing if we recognize it for what it is, name it, and face it. (Continue reading ...)
Patients Want A ‘Good Death’ At Home, But Hospice Care Can Badly Strain Families (Part 2)
For many families, making hospice work at home means hiring extra help -- out of your own pocket. (Continue reading ...)
Patients Want A ‘Good Death’ At Home, But Hospice Care Can Badly Strain Families
“Imagine if you’re the caregiver, and that you’re in the house. It’s in the middle of the night, 2 o’clock in the morning, and all of a sudden, your family member has a grand mal seizure.” (Continue reading ...)
We Like To Talk About “A Good Death”. But How Often Does This Really Happen?
Even though I would argue that most deaths aren’t good, we improve the quality of death of the vast majority of people we care for, often substantially. And there isn’t much that’s more satisfying than that.
It just doesn’t make the death good. (Continue reading ...)
Medical Aid In Dying Is Still Called “Assisted Suicide”; An Anthropologist Explains The Problem With That
It’s time that we revise and refine our cultural lexicon around this emergent end-of-life practice. A medically assisted death definitively warrants a linguistic and conceptual category of its own. (Continue reading ...)
My Husband Was Dying. I Was Being Ignored.
These stories are not for everyone, but they are topics that the author believes shouldn't remain in the silence. (Continue reading ...)
End-Of-Life Conversations Can Be Hard, But Your Loved Ones Will Thank You
End-of-life conversations can ease suffering for families, not just patients. You can start these conversations simply, like saying, “I need to think about the future. Can you help me?” (Continue reading ...)
The Lost Art Of Dying Well
When sickness and death strike, sometimes guidance from the past offers the clearest path forward. (Continue reading ...)