When sickness and death strike, sometimes guidance from the past offers the clearest path forward.
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When done right, hospice offers Medicare beneficiaries an intimate, holistic and vital service. But sometimes pinpointing what constitutes a “good death” is nearly as difficult as determining what makes a good life, and families do not always realize when hospice is failing them.
“We can’t keep up with our waitlist,” Arnoldy says of skyrocketing interest in the program. “The last time we opened up registration, the applicants crashed our system.”
A “good” death is one in which you exert maximum autonomy over your end-of-life journey. Here are some checklists for what needs to be done.
“You have to be well connected within a network of doctors or skilled in researching such matters, and that’s one possible explanation of why well-educated people are disproportionately represented in our findings.”
Unconscious, Michael lingered for hours. His waiting children had no one to call for advice, but Michael had left instructions for this eventuality. Sobbing, his son Bill lovingly carried out his father’s wishes.
“In people’s imagination, dying seems dreadful; however, these perceptions may not reflect reality” … or does it?
“The rest is up to you,” he finally said, ending the conversation for good. He didn’t have any more guidance, and certainly no more patience to talk about it. I was surprised. To me, it felt slightly irresponsible to leave all these decisions to other people.
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