I loved this story from The Wichita Eagle about a son who reconciled with his dad. I had a strained relationship with my Dad that he was aware of, and a reverence for him that I had hidden from him. I knew a secret that not even he knew: He had created me, and not… [Read more…]
June 21, 2010
I’m late getting to reading my subscription to The Atlantic, so I’ve only just read this article from the April issue: Letting Go of My Father. It’s about the author’s descent as he suddenly discovered that his father was badly in need of assistance because of his Parkinson’s. Living in Phoenix, while the author lived… [Read more…]
June 17, 2010
Good or bad, right or wrong, caring for elderly family members usually falls to the women in a family. As a man, I can see why this would be, though I certainly think that men would do well to take up some more of the caregiving responsibility. It is important, even holy, work. And it’s… [Read more…]
June 16, 2010
A couple of times since I’ve been volunteering with hospice, I’ve said to people that they should consider hospice for an ailing loved one. Typically, the response is, “Well, I don’t think we’re there yet.” Doctors, as other volunteers told me just last night, often say the same thing. “We don’t want to give up… [Read more…]
June 13, 2010
More and more workers are fighting back against employers who are unsympathetic when they need time off to care for family members. “In the past 10 years, the number of such suits [against employers] has quadrupled and many have been successful,” according to the Center for WorkLife Law.
June 11, 2010
I’ve been asked a number of times since The Art of Dying was released how I could have ended up writing it. I look too young, people have said. Well, there are a number of quick responses to that. As a hospice volunteer, I’ve been around dying people a considerable amount, and I’ve learned a… [Read more…]
June 7, 2010
An excerpt from The Art of Dying, published in Christianity Today. Our church doesn’t have enough funerals,” associate pastor John Stoltzfus said in his annual All Saints’ Day sermon. In his suburban Mennonite congregation, members tend to leave the area after they retire. They move into denominational retirement communities, or they head south to warmer… [Read more…]
April 13, 2010
Emergency room doctor Boris Veysman had an essay today on NPR arguing against the ease with which some families give up on an elderly relative. He relates a story of a woman who could have lived for some time after he performed CPR. ” ‘I think there’s a good chance she is fixable in… [Read more…]
April 9, 2010
Today, I finally got to reading this article from The New York Times that strongly challenges the ideas presented in The Art of Dying. The challenge comes not from an argument but from a story of someone who decided to use every medical option to fight death until the very end. Dr. Pardi was a… [Read more…]
April 1, 2010
Two new studies show the importance of planning your end of life care. In the first, researchers in Australia followed hundreds of patients who were older than 80 and and had been admitted to the hospital. Almost half had received help with advanced care planning. Business Week reports that “Within six months, 56 of the… [Read more…]
June 24, 2010
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