Medical Aid in Dying

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.

Oct 03

3

Is MAiD Compatible with Hospice and Palliative Care? Dr. BJ Miller reflects.

By BJ Miller | Choice, Disability, Dying, End-of-life care, Final Exit Network, Medical Aid in Dying, Right-to-Die Laws, Suffering and Death, Suicide, The Right to Die | 3 Comments

A TED Talk star, interviewed by Oprah and featured in N.Y. Times Magazine, opens up to Final Exit Network about Medical Aid in Dying, the state of U.S. healthcare, and how we irrationally fear death.

Sep 12

2

Lillian’s Story: Pride and Prejudice

By Ruth Dixon-Mueller | Choice, Disability, Dying, End-of-life care, Final Exit Network, Free speech, Medical Aid in Dying, Right-to-Die Laws, Suffering and Death, Suicide, The Right to Die | 5 Comments

Smart, independent and strong-willed, Lillian blogged openly about her intention to “turn out the lights” in her own time. After it happened, the obituaries did not tell it the way she wanted.

Aug 22

5

A Chosen Death: The Right to Write Your Own Life’s Story

By Lowrey Brown | Choice, Dying, Final Exit Network, Medical Aid in Dying, Right-to-Die Laws, Spirituality, Suffering and Death, The Right to Die | 13 Comments

Everyone clamors for “a natural death.” It rarely happens. “We have always done everything in our power to wrestle death from the hands of nature,” says someone who knows.

Aug 01

0

Pets vs. Humans: A Difference In Compassion, And In Knowing What The Patient Desires

By Lamar Hankins | Choice, Dementia, Disability, Dying, End-of-life care, Final Exit Network, Medical Aid in Dying, Suffering and Death, Surrogate, The Right to Die | 7 Comments

It’s a pillar of the RTD movement, that we treat our suffering pets more humanely than suffering friends and family members. “Let me die like a dog” has long been a call to compassion. The author went through the agonizing decision to “put down” a beloved canine companion, and he regrets not knowing what “Woody” would have wanted.

Jul 18

4

DWD Laws Leave More Unanswered Than They Address

By Katie Engelhart | Choice, Death With Dignity Act, Dementia, Disability, Dying, End-of-life care, Medical Aid in Dying, Mental Illness, Organ and Tissue Donation, PAD, Religion, Right-to-Die Laws, Suffering and Death, Suicide, The Right to Die | 7 Comments

On the surface, continued passage of U.S. death-with-dignity laws appears favorable for the RTD cause. But the landscape is littered with potholes, land mines, and detours that raise more questions than the new laws address.

Jul 11

3

My Path To Supporting Patients All The Way

By Ben Janzen | Choice, Dying, End-of-life care, Medical Aid in Dying, Religion, Spirituality, Suffering and Death, The Right to Die | One Comment

What happens when a devout person of faith – steeped for life in church doctrine that preaches the sanctity of life – must minister to dying patients who choose to exit with aid because state law provides that option?

May 23

5