Wislawa Szymborska, by Janet Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images
We make such a big deal about death. We can’t seem to talk about it easily and openly with people we love, and we often can’t even bring ourselves to prepare for it – our own deaths… or t…
Australian intensive care physician, Peter Saul, recently presented a TED Talk about the increased chance of dying in intensive care in the 21st Century. He explains that one ten people will die in intensive care, but in the United States it is one in …
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The Atlantic Monthly’s March issue features a stirring book excerpt from one of the pioneers of the Hospice movement Dr. Ira Byock calling for a transformation of how our society and culture think about and care for people who are dying.
In his upcoming book “The Best Care Possible,” Byock points to a mainstream culture that utterly refuses to come to terms with the facts of mortality.
Continue ReadingPOLST CONFRONTS DEATH; COMMUNICATES DYING WISHES. The recent California Healthcare Foundation survey, “Final Chapter: Californians’ Attitudes and Experiences with Death and Dying reported that 70 percent of people say they would prefer to die at home…
Continue ReadingAt what point, as we age, do we become accepting of aches and pains –aging that is — and stop thinking about rushing to a physician all of the time? How do we decide whether or not to fix a problem if it has more to do with the later years …
Continue ReadingI missed this MUST-read op-ed from The Washington Post while I was abroad last week so I am urging all ChangingAging readers to read “Our unrealistic attitudes about death, through a doctor’s eyes” by Minneapolis physician Craig Bowron.
So many elements of this editorial have been echoed on ChangingAging that I don’t know where to begin praising Bowron’s critique of American attitudes and detachment from death and its implications on our approach to aging.
Continue ReadingYesterday saw the passing of legendary Pennsylvania State University football coach Joe Paterno just months after being fired in the wake of sexual assault charges against assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. Paterno’s abrupt decline and death after leaving Penn State in disgrace have many asking whether the scandal hastened his death. Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Michael Vitez posed the question to Dr. Bill Thomas:
Continue ReadingLast week I wrote about how doctor’s die. As I said, we see a lot more death than lay people and as a result have different attitudes towards end of life. Today, a friend shared a story with me that offered such striking insight into death and dying that I asked his permission to share the story in full with ChangingAging readers.
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