Dying Decisions: Should Relatives Intervene?
Christian thinkers weigh in on whether family or friends should intervene if a terminally ill Christian decides against life-extending treatment.
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Browsing All Posts filed under »end of life«
Why Christians Should Support ‘Death Panels’
January 9, 2011
Last week, the Obama administration reversed rules set up by Medicare officials in November that would have reimbursed doctors when they had annual end-of-life planning discussions with their government-insured patients. The quick reversal, according to The New York Times, was likely the result of the president’s desire to limit public oppositionto the health care bill that passed… [Read more…]
Q&A: Relearning the Art of Dying Well
November 18, 2010
Note: This interview took place with the United Methodist Reporter. Rob Moll, an award-winning journalist and editor-at-large withChristianity Today, has written extensively on health-care issues and has served as a hospice volunteer. He is convinced that Christians have forgotten their tradition of “dying well.” Mr. Moll talked about his new book The Art of Dying: Living… [Read more…]
Hospice Care Shown to Extend Life
August 20, 2010
“We’re not ready for that,” is what I often here people say when someone mentions hospice for a terminally ill patient. It’s as if hospice is only good when you’re days away from death. As a volunteer, I’ve seen how wonderful hospice is, but it takes time for the staff at a hospice organization to… [Read more…]
Choose Death?
July 27, 2010
What we do with death, how we think about it, and how (or if) we prepare ourselves for it’s inevitability–all these actions spell out what we believe about life. If we do nothing at the death of someone we claim to have loved, it says more about the character of that love than any words… [Read more…]
The Rich Are Different Than You and Me
July 21, 2010
“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me,” wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald. The accompanying graph shows one way that they are different. The spend a ton more money at the end of life. Not that it gets them anywhere. The New York Times reports on a paper than… [Read more…]
Out of the Mouths of Babes
July 13, 2010
My wife’s grandmother recently passed away. In a conversation today about the upcoming funeral, our 5 year old daughter highlighted one of the beautiful aspects of Christian dying, in an exchange something like this.
So-called ‘Death Panels’ Are Back–Why This Is Good
July 12, 2010
Last summer, when the health care debate was in full swing and members of Congress were being hounded at their town hall meetings, it was often heard that the bill being debated would provide for “death panels” in which groups of experts might decide if someone should be allowed to die. The panels were actually… [Read more…]
Living Wills Not All They’re Cracked Up to Be
July 1, 2010
Just about every time there is a media event surrounding a legally-contested end of life scenario, we’re told to sign a living will. Fill out the Five Wishes, we’re told. But, of course, as I write in The Art of Dying, those documents aren’t all that helpful. Every end of life situation is unique, with… [Read more…]
The Caregiving Challenge
June 30, 2010
Women are at the forefront of one of the most fundamental transformations of the 21st century. For the first time in human history, the number of people older than 65 will be larger than those under age 5. Demographers say that the fastest growing age group is those older than 85. One study found that… [Read more…]
September 12, 2011
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