Portrait of a better approach to dying in the US (NY Times)

[lindisfarne]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/health/09sisters.html?hpw
... But the Sisters of St. Joseph, a congregation in this Rochester suburb, animate many factors that studies say contribute to successful aging and a gentle death — none of which require this special setting. These include a large social network, intellectual stimulation, continued engagement in life and spiritual beliefs, as well as health care guided by the less-is-more principles of palliative and hospice care — trends that are moving from the fringes to the mainstream.
...
Dr. McCann said that the sisters’ religious faith insulated them from existential suffering — the “Why me?” refrain commonly heard among those without a belief in an afterlife. Absent that anxiety and fear, Dr. McCann said, there is less pain, less depression, and thus the sisters require only one-third the amount of narcotics he uses to manage end-of-life symptoms among hospitalized patients.
...
Some days, Dr. McCann said, he arrives with his “head spinning,” from hospitals and intensive-care units where death can be tortured, impersonal and wastefully expensive, only to find himself in a “different world where it’s really possible to focus on what’s important for people” and, he adds, “what’s exportable, what we can learn from an ideal environment like this.”

...

“Every time I speak to a group about the need to improve the dying process, somebody raises their hand and says, ‘You’re talking about killing old people,’ ” Dr. Carstensen said. “But nobody would accuse Roman Catholic sisters of that. They could be a beacon in talking about this without it turning into that American black-and-white way of thinking: Either we have to throw everything we’ve got at keeping people alive or leave them on the sidewalk to die.”

[ThirdWorldJohn]

1. Hypnotism for the win. Since a price tag can be put on the services of the hypnotist and that is the

only way that the system will accept the serenity that hypnotism can produce - namely the affect that the Sisters of St. Joseph experience.

I am so jaded.

[patrice]

2. I agree generally, but there are still issues to be addressed and decisions to be made in each case.

One benchmark for families to educate themselves about and become aware of as early as possible is if their Elder is receiving morphine, how much morphine and exactly for what. Special attention should be given to this issue for Elders with dementia. I work in an excellent LTC home, but learned about this issue the hard way with my MIL in another not-so-good home.

[pinto]

3. Nice article on a holistic approach to health care and end of life issues.

Though set in a religious setting here, it is one familiar to secular hospice programs around the world.

“We don’t let anyone go alone on the last journey,” Sister Marie said.

:thumbsup:

Thanks for the post.