Monthly Archives

December 2017

Dec 30
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Dying in the Americas Conference

By | Final Exit Network | One Comment

Final Exit Network announces Dying in the Americas 2018, a conference devoted to re-imagining the future of dying with the objective of a peaceful death for everyone. The conference will take place March 21 to March 25, 2018, in the peaceful setting of the Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa in Henderson, Nevada, in the foothills outside Las Vegas. The program is open to academics, health care professionals, physicians, nurses, geriatric social workers, Thanatologists, hospice and nursing facility personnel, palliative care specialists, insurance and government professionals, and those interested in improving the quality of the dying experience for both the patient and family.

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Dec 17
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there’s still no cure for dying

By | Dying | 2 Comments

To close out this year, FEN member Linda Wilshusen has allowed us to post some thoughts she first wrote three years ago for her own blog – the everyday primate – but are as timely now as when written. The Good Death Society Blog will take off for three weeks and return with new posts on January 8, 2018.

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Originally posted at “the everyday primate” 

You’re probably rolling your eyes at this apparent not-joy-t0-the-world holiday season post.  But hang in here with me – this topic could fuel unusual & maybe even helpful family dinner conversations.  Still skeptical?  Well, just remind yourself that there’s nothing more important to religious holidays than life & death.

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Dec 10
2

End-of-Life Care: The issues we face

By | End-of-life care | 2 Comments

The American Psychological Association (APA) has prepared and published an “End-of-Life Care Fact Sheet,” making it available as an open source document. It tries to answer the question – What are older adults’ mental health needs near the end of life?

The document, prepared by Sharon Valente, RN, PhD, FAAN, in collaboration with the other members of the APA Ad Hoc Committee on End-of-Life Issues, addresses many issues of concern to FEN members and provides references for the information and opinions it offers.

While the APA does not take a position on assisted dying, such as the laws that allow a physician to provide a lethal prescription to a terminally ill patient, as can be done in Oregon, Washington, Vermont, California, Colorado, and the District of Columbia (and is permitted in Montana by court decision), it does recognize the many perspectives on the issue of hastened death or rational suicide that exist in the US population.

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Dec 03
2

Analyzing two advance directives for dementia and VSED from EOLW

By | Dementia | One Comment

As I have stated previously in these posts, I do not intend to allow myself to live far into the condition we term dementia, should that fate befall me. However, we never know what might happen to thwart our intentions, which is why I have chosen to use advance directives as creatively as possible to prevent being forced to live a life that I find intolerable and inhumane. This is why I welcome any efforts to create the circumstances that allow everyone to have the lives and deaths they want.

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