Articles and News
Healthcare Costs: End-of-Life And Palliative Care
By Mary Beth Morrisey and Bruce Jennings
This issue paper on end-of-life costs is authored by Mary Beth Morrissey, Esq., MPH, and Bruce Jennings, MA. Mary Beth Morrissey is affiliated with the Fordham University Ravazzin Center on Aging, West Harrison, NY, and Bruce Jennings with the Center on Humans and Nature, NY, NY. Mary Beth and Bruce are both board members of the Westchester End of Life Coalition.
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A Heartfelt Appeal for a Graceful Exit
By Jane E. Brody
February 5, 2008
After reading the Personal Health column on Nov. 27 on preventing geriatric suicide, Gloria C. Phares, a 93-year-old retired teacher in Missouri, wrote:
“I was healthy until 90, and then Boom! Atrial fibrillation; deaf, can’t enjoy music or hear a voice unless 10 inches from my ear; fell, fractured my thigh and am now a cripple; had a slight stroke the day after my beloved husband died after 61 years of marriage.
“I’ve lived a happy life, but from here on out it’s all downhill. Is there any point in my living any longer? I’m not living — just existing. I very much want to die, but our society doesn’t let me. Oh for a pill to ease myself out and end my pain, pain, pain.” …READ MORE…
Doctors’ Recognition of Approaching Death in Terminal Patients Seen Unreliable
By Will Boggs, MD
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Aug 17 – Physician estimates of survival in terminally ill cancer patients are quite imprecise, especially for patients near death, according to findings published in the August 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. …READ MORE…
Terminal Patients Prefer Less Costly In-Home End-of-Life Care
By David Douglas
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Aug 03 – In-home palliative care for terminally ill patients can improve patient satisfaction while reducing medical care costs, researchers report in the July issue of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society. The team says the findings provide “strong evidence for reforming end-of-life care.” …READ MORE…
Understanding Hospice – An Underutilized Option for Life’s Final Chapter
By Gail Gazelle, MD
New England Journal of Medicine, July 26, 2007
It was Mr. G.’s third exacerbation of congestive heart failure in the past 6 months. Eighty-three years old, he had New York Heart Association class IV heart failure, end-stage coronary artery disease, and insulin-dependent diabetes. Although he had never wanted to be put on a ventilator, this time his shortness of breath was so terrifying that he felt he had no choice. After having a good response to diuresis, he was successfully extubated and transferred out of the coronary care unit.
Two days later, a hospitalist suggested to Mr. G. and his wife that given his advanced disease, he should consider going home and receiving hospice care there. Sensing the couple’s fear, she reassured them that death was not imminent and that members of the hospice staff would work to ensure the best possible quality of life. Relieved, Mr. G. acknowledged that he would prefer to avoid rehospitalization. …READ MORE…
Schiavo case points to need for health-care proxies, living wills
By RICHARD LIEBSON
THE JOURNAL NEWS
Local lawyers and health advocates say the life-and-death decisions being debated in the Terri Schiavo case should serve as a reminder to people of the importance of drawing up living wills and health-care proxies.
“It’s definitely raising public awareness,” Peekskill lawyer Donald Singer said. He said he’s provided several clients with health-care proxies. …READ MORE…
Unanticipated Turns
By THE JOURNAL NEWS
THE JOURNAL NEWS
In what might seem a case of the tail wagging the dog, the Westchester End-of-Life Coalition is embarking upon a new initiative to get county residents to take responsibility for what happens at the end of their lives.
In tandem with the Sarah Lawrence College Health Advocacy Program, the coalition is drawing attention to New York’s underused Health Care Proxy Law, which allows people 18 and over to appoint someone they trust to make health-care decisions …READ MORE…