OK, I Want to Exit. What’s Next?
John Abraham explains the process to receive educational and training services from the Final Exit Network if you are considering a self-controlled death.
The six-months-to-live prognosis limitation in RTD laws makes FEN necessary
More jurisdictions are accepting physician-assisted death (PAD). What does this mean for Final Exit Network? Are we becoming less relevant, or more? FEN President Janis Landis addresses these questions.
Focus on aid in dying in Spain
Asunción Álvarez del Río, PhD, a FEN member in Mexico City, reports on the status of aid in dying in Spain.
Nursing homes and an increased incidence of suicide
Are patients in nursing homes more likely to die from suicide? A look at a recent report on the subject in the Annals of Long-Term Care.
Death from ALS — It May Not Be as Peaceful As You’d Like
Author and retired technology expert Harwell Thrasher shares his experiences caring for his wife Sharon after she was diagnosed with ALS.
Words matter
Words matter. Medical aid in dying (MAID or MAiD) is the term now widely accepted in law and medicine to describe the practice of a physician prescribing medication to a terminally ill, mentally competent, adult patient who may choose to ingest it to end suffering they find unbearable, and achieve a peaceful death. It is accurate language which should be used. Other terminology such as physician aid in dying may also be used, but increasingly there is a preference for the term medical aid in dying.
“Framing” the right-to-die for the United States
Recently, Derek Humphry wrote about the words we use to discuss end-of-life concerns in the US, focusing on the appropriateness of the term "suicide." He did so, in part, to stimulate a discussion about the words we use. Like Humphry, I have no personal problem with the use of the term suicide–it accurately describes death by our own hand–but I resist it for several reasons.
The financial cost of ignoring advance directives
The earlier five-part series looking at Thaddeus Pope's analysis of the risks faced by clinicians who do not follow the advance directives of their patients has been augmented by a case that was recently settled for $1 million. The settlement was reported on March 28, 2019, in the North Coast Journal, Humboldt County, California.
Pain management at the end of life
End-of-life pain can be complex and not all such pain is easily or satisfactorily controlled. FEN member Craig Phillips shares his experiences with pain control while working as a volunteer in a hospice.
“After Life”
In March, Netflix released a six episode series written, acted, and directed by British comedian Ricky Gervais–"After Life." The main character, Tony, has just lost his beloved wife, after 25 years of marriage, to cancer and is trying to get on with life or die in response to his profound, debilitating grief, which is expressed initially through nastiness toward others, without the normal inhibitions that control us.