Latest news with #hospice
New York Times
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Living to Die Well
My patient, stoic and pensive, told me that he'd made it through his last year of work by dreaming of the European cruise he and his wife planned to take the week after he retired. 'I thought I'd paid my dues,' he whispered. 'I was just waiting for the best part of life to finally start.' He rarely took time off and had pushed through nausea and occasional abdominal pain that had worsened during his final months of work. Freedom, he'd thought, lay just beyond the newly visible finish line. But a diagnosis of stomach cancer, which had spread to his liver and lungs, had left him too breathless to walk, too nauseous to endure a boat ride, too weak to dress himself. Instead of living out his dreams, he was living out his death. I thought of him recently after watching 'Dying for Sex,' a television series in which a woman named Molly is diagnosed with incurable breast cancer. Realizing that she is dying, Molly decides to leave her husband and seeks sexual fulfillment before her death in hospice care. Loosely based on a true story, the show illustrates how mortality forces clarity about how we truly wish to live. But it also illuminates another fact: Many of us do not ask ourselves what it means to live fully and authentically until death is both certain and soon. We live alongside death. It speeds down highways recklessly and blooms clandestinely within our bodies. We have no idea when we will meet death, or how. Living with an awareness of this specific uncertainty can be terrifying, yet I've found that death also shimmers with a singular magnificence: the possibility of living freely. Popular culture would have us believe in cliché bucket lists, which call to mind outlandish activities that defy the physical limitations imposed by illness or the emotional limitations of common sense. Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson skydive in 'The Bucket List,' despite terminal lung cancer. Queen Latifah withdraws her life savings and jets to Europe after learning she has weeks to live in 'Last Holiday.' Greeting death with the fantasia of daredevil activities or adopting a newly carefree persona is a tempting salve for our fear of that last great unknown. But in my experience, considered reflection on mortality nudges people toward a more complicated version of the ordinary, not novel permutations of extremes. I often hear variations on similar wishes: A daughter wants a small wedding ceremony in the hospital so her dying parent can attend. A brother calls an estranged sister, asking her to visit so that he can say goodbye. I have heard uncommon goals too: wanting to take a long-postponed trip to the Alamo, to write a romance novel, to breed one last litter of puppies and inhale, one final time, the milky sweet of their young fur. These wishes are at their core the same desire, reconciling the differences between the life we have and the one we longed for. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Sky News
a day ago
- General
- Sky News
'Deeply dangerous' assisted dying bill should be scrapped, says leading care consultant
Why you can trust Sky News A leading British palliative care consultant has described the assisted dying bill as "not fit for purpose" and is urging MPs to stop the bill from progressing any further. Rejecting assurances from supporters of assisted dying who claim the proposed British version would be based on the scheme used in the American state of Oregon - widely regarded as the model with the most safeguards - Dr Amy Proffitt said "it's far from a safe system". "The majority, 80% of the people that have assisted death have government insurance with Medicaid or Medicare suggesting that the vulnerable in society are not worth it," she said. "Put that into our NHS and what does it say about us as a society... those with disability, those with learning disabilities, those with social deprivation?" Dr Proffitt added: "I think it's deeply dangerous for the bill that has been proposed and it needs to be scrapped and we go back and look again." She and other leading palliative care doctors have expressed concern about the erosion of end of life care if the bill passes. It is a fear expressed by Britain's hospice sector. Dr Ted Gruber, a retired Oregon doctor who has assisted numerous assisted deaths, says those fears have not been realised and the state's hospice sector has strengthened since the introduction of assisted dying in Oregon in 1994. He says he has never had any doubts about his role as a physician who assists a patient's death. "I've never been conflicted," he explains. "I've attended a number of them. "Each of the ones I've attended has been almost sacred if you will, it's hard to explain but with the family there, the family dog in the bed, with the music playing that they want. "Everyone's sad, everyone's crying, it's not a joyful moment but in a way it's kind of a sacred moment." Oregon's assisted dying laws have not seen the same number of changes to widen the cohort groups who would qualify for an assisted death in the way, for example, Canada has. So it has managed to steer clear of the "slippery slope" criticism levelled at other programmes. Dr Gruber also said the assisted death scheme in Oregon had enhanced the patient-physician relationship. "The role of the doctor who is attending the dying patient is one of listening and paying attention to what the needs of the dying patient are and it's eroded when the patient can't trust the doctor," he said. "When I've seen a patient who has tried to talk to a doctor about aid in dying and they're like 'oh, I won't do that, I'm opposed to it'... well that doesn't enhance a doctor-patient relationship, it will be enhanced when a doctor says let's talk about why you want to ask that." Oregon's assisted death model is the closest to what is being proposed in the UK. Both require it to apply only to adults who are terminally ill, mentally competent, and have six months to live or less, and to take the drugs themselves. But while Oregon cases are reviewed by two doctors, in the UK they would be reviewed by a panel including a psychiatrist, a social worker and a legal professional. In Oregon, the drugs are posted to the individual for them to take when ready, whereas in the UK, a healthcare professional would bring them on the day of the planned death. Marcy Lehman's father Ted was "her hero, the person I looked up to'. An Oregon doctor, he chose to have an assisted death at home in Portland surrounded by his family. Marcy was there by his side. And it was for her, her mother and ultimately her father, the right decision. "This was my hero, the person I looked up to, and now the roles were switched and I was taking care of him, and I had to be his hero," Marcy said. She explained that his stomach cancer "was starting to work up his system so he couldn't eat." "My dad was a strong person and stronger even up until his death," Marcy added. "He didn't want someone to have to go to the bathroom with him to help with that or to feed him that wasn't what he wanted - yeah, he was in pain, he could endure the pain, but it was really more the dignified way he wanted to leave this Earth." Ted's family are grateful that they live in a state where assisted death is allowed. It's a choice they would make again if they had to. Now the UK must soon decide if that same choice is made available over here. The Terminally Ill Adults (End Of Life) Bill was introduced to the House of Commons last October. Later next month, MPs will be asked to vote again in a ballot that will decide the fate of the proposed legislation.
BBC News
a day ago
- Health
- BBC News
Great Wall of China trek raises £85k for Dove House Hospice in Hull
A group of people who trekked along the Great Wall of China have raised more than £85,000 in support of a team took on the challenge to fundraise for Dove House Hospice, which is a charity that provides respite and end-of-life care for people in Hull and East hospice warned they were facing a funding shortfall in April due to rising Ruth Scott, from Hull, said she took part in the walk because the charity provided "incredible care" for vulnerable people and their families. Dove House costs about £11m a year to run, but the charity only receives about £1m in statutory funding. The rest of its funds are raised by the people signed up for the site's latest fundraising challenge and set off for China 17 May, walking a 31-mile (50km) route along the Great her return, Ms Scott said: "It's not an easy walk, incredibly steep in places, a lot of the wall is rubble."The views are just unbelievable. You can't comprehend."It's a privilege if I'm honest, to be able to go there."She said she had felt inspired by the charity's work throughout the challenge."They provide incredible care for people when they're really vulnerable," she said."They're in the last stages of their life, and they support people who are dying, and also the families."Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Castle to open gardens to help local hospice
A castle is opening its gardens to help a local hospice raise money. On 20 July and 3 August, Allington Castle, near Maidstone in Kent, is hosting events for Heart of Kent Hospice in Aylesford. Maisie Bass, event manager at the hospice, said: "By supporting events, including the Allington Castle gardens open days, we can help our hospice to continue providing free end of life care and support to those living with a terminal illness." The hospice says it costs £6.6m a year to deliver its services and it depends on donations to raise 80% of this. At the events, people will be able to explore the grounds and there will be a children's treasure trail. Allington Castle is a medieval 12th Century castle, set in 42 acres of woodland on the banks of the River Medway. Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Campaign to target new volunteers at hospice Hospice plan approved in health complex Man to sell his 4,000 books in aid of hospice Heart of Kent Hospice Allington Castle
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Allington Castle to open gardens to help Heart of Kent Hospice
A castle is opening its gardens to help a local hospice raise 20 July and 3 August, Allington Castle, near Maidstone in Kent, is hosting events for Heart of Kent Hospice in Bass, event manager at the hospice, said: "By supporting events, including the Allington Castle gardens open days, we can help our hospice to continue providing free end of life care and support to those living with a terminal illness."The hospice says it costs £6.6m a year to deliver its services and it depends on donations to raise 80% of this. At the events, people will be able to explore the grounds and there will be a children's treasure Castle is a medieval 12th Century castle, set in 42 acres of woodland on the banks of the River Medway.
