Covid-19 can cause Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) in which oxygen levels plunge and breathing is impossible without a ventilator. Unless there is an advance directive stating that the patient does not want ventilation, she is heavily sedated and a…
Judith Graham | Kevin Md, Conditions | August 13, 2019 This article talks about: "....a common complaint: Surgeons don’t help older adults and their families understand the impact of surgery in terms people can understand, even though older patients face…
Cancer is the #1 diagnosis for those taking advantage of medical (or physician) aid in dying. This could be simply because the prognosis (to achieve the required six months or less to live) is more predictable than other diseases. This…
Melissa Bailey, Kaiser Health News June 18, 2019 The latest miracle machine in modern medicine — whose use has skyrocketed in recent years — is saving people from the brink of death: adults whose lungs have been ravaged by the…
by MD Brad Stuart, Tracey Danaher, PhDb, Rana Awdish, MD, FCCPc, Leonard Berry, PhDd,e Mayo Clinic Proceedings XXX 2019, 1-9 This article examines how clinicians can help affected families find their way from “focused hope” (which centers on cure) to…
By Barbara Coombs Lee, February 11, 2019 When Blake Nordstrom, one of the fourth-generation of his family to lead the Nordstrom department store chain, died in January at age 58, the extended family of Nordstrom customers and associates were not…
Numerous studies have demonstrated that healthcare surrogates lack knowledge of patients’ preferences. Surrogates struggle with guilt, stress, and doubt when they make decisions without knowledge of their loved ones' wishes. Surrogates should be included in the process of advance care…
By Marissa Cabrera, Maureen Cavanaugh, KPBS June 6, 2017. Audio: 6 min 35 seconds Hemlock Society of San Diego founder Faye Girsh discusses why the California End of Life Option Act does not go far enough.
By Linda Van Zandt - Los Angeles Times Aug 14, 2016 "We had been forced to assist in the most bizarre fashion, jumping through seemingly random legal hoops and meeting arbitrary deadlines while my aunt suffered, and finally emptying capsules,…
Derek Humphry discusses the real world events behind his 1978 book Jean's Way. The book describes how he helped his cancer-riddled terminally-ill wife with her request to end her life, in England. The book has been published in six different…
In this 1973 award-winning French-Italian film with Marcello Mastroianni, four gourmet friends rent a chateau. If you ever thought about how it would be to eat yourself to death, this will amuse and entertain you.
Ezekiel J. Emanuel, The Atlantic, October 2014 "Americans may live longer than their parents, but they are likely to be more incapacitated. Does that sound very desirable? Not to me." Ezekiel J. Emanuel The compression of morbidity "...this theory postulates…
by Faye Girsh, Ed.D. If you’re thinking about ending your life maybe you are depressed. Depression is a treatable condition which often leads to thoughts of dying. If you have at least five of these symptoms occurring nearly every day…
By Erwin J. D. Kompanje - Translated from Dutch into English from the NNVE newsletter 'RELEVANT'. (Vol.30. Number 1.2004):- It is often suggested that terminal patients die sooner after having received a higher dose of morphine or terminal sedation.…
Keynote speech to the 13th National Hemlock Conference 1/10/03 by John Shelby Spong, Eighth Episcopal Bishop of Newark I am both honored and delighted to speak to this national gathering of the Hemlock Society. It is a rare experience for…
by Bishop Shelby Spong I want them to remember me as a person who was vital to the end, as one who was in possession of all that makes me who I am, and as one who died well. My…
The Colombian Constitution provides a solid basis for decriminalizing merciful homicide, when a person who is undergoing intense suffering caused by an incurable illness, requests that it be put to an end, which implies causing death. I will briefly refer…
