How My Father Escaped Jail for Christmas
My mother and father never married. This meant, as my mother explained, that I was his legal next of kin, responsible for making his medical decisions. This responsibility, already complex because of his lack of a living will, would prove to be even more fraught...
Our Sacred Little World of Dying
Anna’s illustrations capture her mother’s final months. Read more on Medium.
We need to talk about death, say parents of kids with life-limiting illnesses
Julie reached out to me to speak about those frantic final days and hours at Montreal’s Sainte-Justine Hospital where Kate’s doctors tried desperately to extend her life — an attitude that Julie now believes made it difficult for her, her partner Brian and...
Stories of Hope are Essential to Palliative Care
Hope is an essential feature of human experience, but for patients living with a life-altering diagnosis, it can be sorely lacking. In my work as founding director of the Palliative Care Program at University of California, San Francisco, I’ve learned that in order to...
New Medicare Rules Should Help ‘High Need’ Patients Get Better Treatment
Doctors have complained for years that they’re not paid adequately for time-consuming work associated with managing care for seriously ill older patients: consulting with other specialists, talking to families and caregivers, interacting with pharmacists and more.... What To Do When Your Parent Says They Want To Die
[W]hat should we do when a parent expresses a wish to die? Listen carefully, experts say. Respond calmly, and be sure to let your loved one take the conversational lead. “The first thing is to be curious,” said Dr. Susan Block, head of the department of psychosocial...
‘More At Peace’: Interpreters Key To Easing Patients’ Final Days
Alfredo David lay in bed, looking deflated under an Avengers blanket, as a doctor, two nurses, and medical interpreter Veronica Maldonado entered his hospital room. He wrapped up a call from his wife, then fiddled idly with his phone. He had received distressing news...
Aid-In-Dying Laws Only Accentuate Need For Palliative Care, Providers Say
LOS ANGELES — More times than she can count, Dr. Carin van Zyl has heard terminally ill patients beg to die. They tell her they can’t handle the pain, that the nausea is unbearable and the anxiety overwhelming. If she were in the same situation, she too would want...
Hospital workers find solace in pausing after a death
For trauma workers like Jonathan Bartels, a nurse who has worked in emergency care and palliative care, witnessing death over and over again takes a toll. Over time, they can become numb or burned out. But about two years ago, after Bartels and his team at the...
Palliative care: a different voice in healthcare
Healthcare expenditure is the biggest threat to America’s economy, due to an aging population and a system in which physicians are often paid based on what they do to their patients, rather than fostering a patient’s overall quality of life. Dr. Timothy...Q&A: Palliative Care
Question: I’m requesting help or ideas. Unfortunately It’s time for my mother (who has Alzheimer’s) to go to a care facility. She is currently at home. She has refused to get into a vehicle for almost a year now. For her safety and others, what...
Why Are We in Denial About Death?
Physicians and family members must find the courage and compassion to talk about dying before it’s too late.
Should Doctors Take Care of Their Relatives?
[O]ver a roughly 25-year span, my father, Phillip I. Lerner, acted as the primary doctor for his relatives several times. All of the physicians agreed that the prognosis was grim, but that was not enough for my father. Pearl’s worst fear, which she had often stated,...Top Posts
Recent Comments