WASILLA, Alaska — As her husband lay moaning in pain from the cancer riddling his body, Patricia Martin searched frantically through his medical bag, looking for a syringe. She had already called the hospice twice, demanding liquid methadone to ease the agony of Dr. Robert Martin, 66. A family practice physician known to everyone as […]
We must take steps to gain control over how we die
FELICE J. FREYER’S article “Wish to die at home often goes unmet” (Page A1, Nov. 3), describing how many Massachusetts citizens end up dying in the hospital, points out the troubling disconnect between how people wish to live their last days and how they actually do. When surveyed, 70 percent of Americans, including doctors and […]
Hospice Chaplain Reflects On Life, Death And The ‘Strength Of The Human Soul’
As a hospice chaplain, it’s Kerry Egan’s job to help dying people accept their own mortality. Sometimes that means sitting with them as they express their regrets and fears. Other times, she listens as they recount their life stories and reflect on the experiences that brought them joy. “There’s no time to preach or teach,” […]
End-of-Life Care Needs an Overhaul
By the end of the first term of the next person elected President in 2016, there will be about 13 million more people over age 65 in the United States than when President Obama was last elected in 2012. In their lives,70 percent of people over 65 will require long-term care—the range of services, both […]
A Tender Hand In The Presence Of Death
Heather Meyerend is a hospice nurse who works in several neighborhoods in South Brooklyn—Sheepshead Bay, Mill Basin, Marine Park, Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge. She usually has between sixteen and twenty patients, and visits each at home once a week, sometimes more. Some patients die within days of her meeting them, but others she gets to know […]