End of Life Planning Toward a "Beautiful Death"

SeaBreeze

SeaBreeze

Endlessly Groovin'
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An article with some information about end of life planning...http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Elder...of-Life-Planning-Toward-A-Beautiful-Death.htm


A beautiful death is probably different for each person. The gentleman whom we focused on – Paul Sheier, a retired dentist from a suburb of Buffalo — was very clear about what he wanted.

He wanted to die at home. He had terminal lung cancer. He preferred to be kept comfortable, to forgo what he believed would be futile chemo, so he could spend his last months of life with his family and friends playing golf rather than at the hospital hooked up to an IV drip.
We also did a national survey along with this article, and we found that 86 percent of adults said they would like to spend their final days at home. Fifty percent preferred pain management and comfort care over other medical treatments.

Yet even among adults age 65-plus, only 47 percent had completed an advanced directive or living will, and overall only about 20 percent of adults had done that. So they haven’t really taken steps to assure what they want to happen will happen.
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Good article and I'll look at the video tomorrow when I'm not so tired SeaBreeze. It's so weird actually being of an age when this is the sort of thing to be thinking about actively (although the article did say to start earlier). I remember being 20 and this age wasn't even on the radar......and yet here we are!
 
It is weird, seem like only yesterday when I was in my twenties and thirties, now time is flying so fast it makes your head spin. :eek:
 

I've hoped for a massive heart attack to end my life suddenly rather than die from slow painful COPD death.
 
They talk about the effectiveness of palliative care but I'm familiar with too many instances where a loved one or an acquaintance has suffered a great deal for a long time despite receiving palliative care. Were I confronted by a painful lingering death I'd willingly opt of euthanasia.
 
I've worked with some hospice as part of the teams, been there as the only person for last breath, have had to be the one to rush and call a priest to come give last rites just hours before. It's not an easy thing to witness and some teams are better than others. But having a say in how the process goes can be a good experience than to be left hanging in the wind without answers or help from others to walk you through it all.

Best case scenario I go in my sleep, but, if not and I were terminal or become incapacitated to the degree I can't care for myself, I want a say and I don't want the inevitable to be prolonged for even a second longer than need be.
 
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