Aug 24, 2015
(Mildred Z. Solomon and Nancy Berlinger July 31, 2015, TIME) It is crucial to ask people about what they want Two announcements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) represent welcome news in the long struggle to improve end-of-life care. One...Aug 11, 2015
(August 6, 2015, Marissa Harshman, The Columbian) More terminally ill patients in Washington received prescriptions to end their lives in 2014 than in previous years. Washington’s Death with Dignity Act allows adults in the state with six months or less to live to...Aug 5, 2015
(By Kristin M. Kostick and Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby, August 3, The Washington Post) Beverly prepares for her husband’s showering ritual as usual. She spreads the towels across the bed. Robert, so frail that he can barely walk, comes to lie down while she undresses...Jul 30, 2015
Lacking a coherent view of how people might live successfully all the way to their very end, we have allowed our fates to be controlled by the imperatives of medicine, technology, and strangers. -Dr. Atul Gawande, Being Mortal To anyone who cares for patients, or for...Jul 27, 2015
SURPRISING | Holly Prigerson, the study’s principal investigator, said she and colleagues had expected “the exact opposite.” By PAM BELLUCK The New York Times It is an excruciating question for cancer patients with a prognosis of months to live: Should they try...Jul 22, 2015
(By Michelle Andrews, KUOW) Conversations about end-of-life care are difficult. But even though most people now take some steps to communicate their wishes, many may still receive more intensive care than they would have wished, a study published in July found. The...Jul 21, 2015
(By Susan Gubar, June 25, 2015, The New York Times) Like many people with advanced-stage cancer, I wonder when I will decide about treatment, “Enough is enough.” In helping me formulate an answer to this question, Atul Gawande’s latest book, “Being Mortal,” will now...Jul 21, 2015
(By Katy Butler, July 11, 2015, The New York Times) One cold March day, when she was 84 and suffering from congestive heart failure, my beautiful mother went to the garage and measured her Camry’s tailpipe, planning to buy a hose to fit it. She was grieving my...Jul 15, 2015
(Roxanne Nelson, July 13, 2015, Medscape) Just as birth doulas help mothers bring their newborns into the world, end-of-life doulas can bring comfort and support to those who are dying. Depending on their training and background, an end-of-life doula can provide...Jul 1, 2015
(By Ellen Goodman, July 1, 2015) I was 25 when I flew home for my father’s last birthday. His cancer had returned and he would die three months later at the age of 57. What I remember most about that weekend was the large rectangular gift box he opened. My mother had...