Latest issue of Caring Right at Home

• Challenges to Independence in Senior Years: Home Care Can Help
• Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease Can Lead to Better Planning
• Sunglasses are More Than a Fashion Statement

Concerns About Costs and Misuse Rise With Hospice Care

Concerns About Costs and Misuse Rise With Hospice Care - NYTimes.com: Over the 28 years that Medicare has reimbursed providers for hospice services, it has been praised for giving critical medical and emotional support to dying patients and their families. When properly used — that is, at the very end of life — hospice care also has saved the government money. Providing dying patients with palliative care in their own homes, or in a hospice facility or nursing home, is far less expensive than continuing to order up futile medical treatments, studies have shown.

Indeed, advocates say more patients should be receiving hospice services earlier in the course of their illness. The median time spent in hospice care now is just 17 days. But as hospice has moved into the mainstream — it is now serving 1.1 million Medicare patients a year — concerns about excessive costs and misuse have mounted.

Mother's death puts Dr. Kevorkian in perspective

When the doctor gave her the bad news in her hospital room, he asked her if there was anything she wanted. Her immediate response was, "Dr. Kevorkian." At first, I thought it was her idea of a sick joke.

But it wouldn't be long before I knew she meant business. She was soon moved to a hospice care center, where the nursing staff managed to get her well enough to send her home, which turned out to be a cruel move. In a day's time, her condition worsened, and she ended up in a nursing home, where she ultimately died. Our family was told the whole dying process would take two or three weeks, and my mother wouldn't suffer. She would, the doctors said, be asleep most of the time.

The doctors were wrong on both counts. Although they did a fairly decent job of keeping her physical pain at bay, they couldn't do anything about her emotional pain. . . . Unlike dementia patients, my mother was totally lucid until the day before she passed away and knew exactly what was happening to her each step of the way. And during what seemed like every hour of every day, she would say to anyone who would listen, "Get me Dr. Kevorkian." Or, "Give me a poison pill." NWI Times


Editor: I don't know what kind of "hospice" program treats a woman as they did. The perspective of this article is skewed by a misunderstanding about hospice care. 

Oregon on the euthanasia slippery slope

Oregon on the euthanasia slippery slope - Eureka Street: "You don't have to be Catholic to think that doctors should do no harm, that patients are free to forego futile or burdensome treatment, and that palliative care be utilised to relieve pain. Suicide will occur from time to time, but why the need to enact laws conferring medical legitimation on it and increasing its likelihood?"

Journal of the Canadian Medical Association publishes article on medical rationing.

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition: Journal of the Canadian Medical Association publishes article on medical rationing.: "The circumstances surrounding Annie [Farlows’s] death have left [her parents] asking age-old questions that plague Canadian patient advocates, health care professionals, ethicists and policy makers in the face of growing health care resource scarcity: When is it appropriate to limit or withdraw potentially beneficial treatment? Who should make those decisions? How should decisions be made?

Annie's mother Barb stated: “I never took the position that my daughter had a right to any and all treatments, but the unilateral decisions we believe the doctors made should have been made transparently. We have a right to know and appeal the limits of the system, and be provided with whatever care is possible within its confines. Not only do I believe my daughter was denied a chance to prolong her life, the secrecy in which decisions seem to have been made also meant she was denied timely palliative care, and she suffered greatly at the end.”

As Tests to Predict Alzheimer’s Emerge, So May Debates Over the Right to Die

As Tests to Predict Alzheimer’s Emerge, So May Debates Over the Right to Die – TIME Healthland: Jack Kevorkian's fervid fascination with death made him a deeply unattractive human being. Yet he forced us to confront questions that, much as we might want to, we cannot ignore. Do some of us face fates worse than death, such that it can be rational and reasonable to request help in committing suicide? And should others of us help them to die?

Recent scientific advances make these questions relevant to millions more Americans. Tests are coming that promise to detect the beginning of Alzheimer's before symptoms of dementia have developed, when the individual is still lucid and competent.

A Rare Pair

Brothers Stefan and Tyler Delp have spent every second of their lives together. They go to the same schools, play the violin in tandem, and recently sang a duet, "Put Your Arms Around Someone," at their school's spring hop. But the boys have never seen each other's faces except for some sleight of hand with mirrors or computers. The boys, born 19 years ago, are a rare set of identical twins, joined at the head so one faces forward while the other is turned backward.

"Theirs is the most intimate, loving relationship two people can have," their mother said. "No one ever has to be as giving to another person as they are. They can't do enough for each other." "Inside, they are like everyone else," their father said. "They want love and acceptance. They want people to talk to them and not be afraid of them. I don't really expect people to totally understand. I just want them to accept the difference . . . see the beauty . . . feel the love."

Victim's family fights to change law regarding end-of-life decisions

Victim's family fights to change law regarding end-of-life decisions | Sandusky Register: Three days after a brutal attack left Maria Vera with severe brain damage, about two dozen of her relatives gathered in the hospital to say their goodbyes. They knew the once-vibrant 22-year-old would never recover, but they felt a sense of comfort knowing her organs could potentially save others.

But Maria's husband, Jeremy Gallant -- accused of attacking her -- was still considered her legal guardian and had the final say in whether to remove her from life support. Doing so would almost certainly mean Gallant would face murder charges.

Dutch doctors wary of euthanasia for dementia

Dutch doctors wary of euthanasia for dementia | Radio Netherlands Worldwide: Just 33 percent of Dutch doctors are willing to use euthanasia in cases of early dementia, a national survey conducted by three university hospitals shows. People with dementia are only able to give their consent to euthanasia in the early stages of the disease. In the later stages, patients are too disoriented to make informed decisions.

The number of people with dementia who have resorted to euthanasia has risen from three in 2006 to 21 in 2010. The overall number of cases of euthanasia has also risen: in 2006 the body responsible for the judicial review of euthanasia cases was informed of 1,900 cases, compared with 2,700 in 2010.

Could prenatal DNA testing open Pandora's box?

Print Story: Could prenatal DNA testing open Pandora's box? - Yahoo! News: Scanning fetal DNA from a blood test will be 'without question a major medical advance that promises to greatly improve current prenatal care,' says Jaime King, an associate professor at the UC Hastings College of Law in San Francisco who studies genetic testing. But bringing it into practice 'raises significant practical, legal, ethical and social challenges,' she says.

Related: Comfort or conflict? Earlier Down syndrome test

Euthanasia Study Raises 'Chilling' Concern That Patients Could be Killed to Harvest Better Organs

Euthanasia Study Raises 'Chilling' Concern That Patients Could be Killed to Harvest Better Organs - FoxNews.com: Doctors are harvesting lungs from patients in Belgium who’ve been euthanized because the organs are in much better condition compared to someone who has died in an accident, according to a study published in the journal Applied Cardiopulmonary Pathophysiology.

The authors of the study, "Initial Experience with Transplantation of Lungs Recovered From Donors," reported their experience with four recipients who received lungs between 2007 and 2009 from euthanized donors.

Dr. Kevorkian’s Victims

Dr. Kevorkian’s Victims - NYTimes.com: Fortunately, the revolution Kevorkian envisioned hasn’t yet succeeded. Despite decades of agitation, only three states allow some form of physician-assisted suicide. The Supreme Court, in a unanimous 1997 decision, declined to invent a constitutional right to die. There is no American equivalent of the kind of suicide clinics that have sprung up in Switzerland, providing painless poisons to a steady flow of people from around the globe.

Avoiding Arthritis–Related Depression and Anxiety

Avoiding Arthritis–Related Depression and Anxiety - Osteoarthritis Center - EverydayHealth.com: The word arthritis literally means “fire in the joints.” No doubt, day-to-day arthritis pain will inevitably take a toll on your spirit. Almost everyone with chronic pain has mood changes, and about 30 percent become depressed, according to the National Pain Foundation. Depression, in turn, can increase arthritis pain. Similarly, the anxiety that dealing with a chronic condition can cause may negatively affect your perception of pain.

Here’s a rundown of anxiety and depression symptoms and what experts advise as part of your arthritis treatment to keep symptoms at bay.

Poorer Communities Less Likely to Have Hospice Services

Poorer Communities Less Likely to Have Hospice Services : Eastern Group Publications: How available hospice care is in a county can be linked back to the area’s wealth, population size, race and age, according to a study published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom. It is the first study to look at how wealth impacts where hospice services are located. The more local the available service, the more likely patients and/or their families are to use them, researchers found.

Twin Cities program helps patients discuss end-of-life planning

Twin Cities program helps patients discuss end-of-life planning | Minnesota Public Radio News: An effort that pioneered in La Crosse, Wis., in the 1980s to get more people to prepare for the end of their lives has moved into the Twin Cities, serving as a model to create Minnesota's first large-scale program for end-of-life planning.

Richard Lamm Pushes Rationing (Again)

Richard Lamm Pushes Rationing (Again) » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: "I am repeatedly amused by those who decry Obamacare critics as alarmists for warning that it will lead to rationing–who then argue we need rationing. I have posted about a few of those examples before.

"I don’t know if Richard Lamm supports Obamacare, but he has wanted rationing for years. He has an article out in the Denver Post re-arguing that position. There isn’t much new, but there are a few points I think worth commenting upon."

Oregon's end-of-life care far from norm

Oregon's end-of-life care far from norm | OregonLive.com: During the last six months of life, an Oregon resident dying of cancer, diabetes or heart disease is likely to spend seven days in the hospital, and receive about two days of intensive care. In New Jersey, the same patient could expect to be hospitalized more than 16 days and receive more than 6 days of intensive care.

Medical care at the end of life continues to vary drastically across the U.S. As far as researchers can tell, extreme use of hospitals and specialists in some regions doesn't improve survival or quality of life. On the contrary, some studies have found that less hospital care at the end of life gives patients more satisfying experiences, and suggest that many people continue to receive aggressive medical interventions that they don't want or need.

Editor: So, is it about lower cost or better care?

Lack of training in respiratory care reduces end of life choice

Lack of training in respiratory care reduces end of life choice | News | Nursing Times: Nurses specialising in respiratory care appear less likely than other specialists to receive the training and skills needed to broach end of life discussions with their patients, latest NHS [UK] research has suggested.

US Rep. Giffords moves to husband's Texas home

US Rep. Giffords moves to husband's Texas home | abc11.com: Doctors, her astronaut husband Mark Kelly, and experts who have been observing Gabby Giffords' recovery emphasize that going home is a key milestone and could help stimulate her progress.

The power of physical therapy

The power of physical therapy: One student's story of brain injury and recovery | MLive.com: DJ Little dreams of being a paleontologist or an archaeologist someday. But first, he has set his sights on a goal close at hand: walking across the stage at his eighth-grade graduation ceremony.

In two years, Lawnwood trauma center has helped more than 2,000 patients

In two years, Lawnwood trauma center has helped more than 2,000 patients » TCPalm.com: Rainer Jenkins sings a duet with his father, Matt, during a worship service at Westside Baptist Church in Fort Pierce on Sunday. As the two sang, photos from Rainer's time in the hospital were displayed on a giant screen for members of the congregation to see. Rainer, 25, suffered a traumatic brain injury after a four-wheeler accident last year.

Traumatic brain injury under microscope at conference

Traumatic brain injury under microscope at Hopkins conference - Baltimore Sun: The daylong conference Saturday at Johns Hopkins Hospital was held to showcase advances on research into traumatic brain injury. One recurring theme was the devastating toll such injuries have taken on an estimated 200,000 American soldiers wounded by explosions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The PowerPoint-wielding medical specialists had much progress to share. But the extent to which these brain injuries remain a stubborn mystery was highlighted when a doctor who treats soldiers in Fort Drum, N.Y., stepped up to the microphone.

MEG Brain Scan Tracks Scars Of Traumatic Brain Injury

MEG Brain Scan Tracks Scars Of Traumatic Brain Injury | KPBS.org: Veterans suffering the invisible wounds of war cannot show proof of their injuries like someone with broken bones or missing limbs. New research in San Diego is finding ways to measure the physical evidence of a signature injury of the current wars: traumatic brain injury.

Brain injuries more common than you think

Health and Medical News and Information from Rowan Regional Medical Center and the Salisbury Post: Nestled down a road that seems dedicated to farms — Black Farms Road is lined with farms and trees — is Hinds’ Feet Farm, a small therapeutic farm designed to help sufferers of traumatic brain injuries.

There, adults who have suffered brain injuries — due to both external trauma and acquired brain injuries due to internal, medical issues such as stroke, tumors or encephalitis — gather to spend their days in various life skills therapies. There they have an oasis, a haven.

Change the law to allow assisted dying, but only in special circumstances

Change the law to allow assisted dying, but only in special circumstances - Herald Scotland | Comment | Herald Letters: Absolutely not to help or encourage disabled or elderly people, who are far from death to commit suicide. We seek a change in the law to allow mentally competent people who are clearly very near to death to have the choice to ask for and receive help to die sooner than they otherwise would.

We will have trouble!

http://www.joniandfriends.org/radio/2011/6/21/we-will-have-trouble/ As believers standing on the front lines, we will encounter much more than the average couch potato Christian. But remember what Jesus said in John chapter 16. He said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." That’s good news to anyone fighting to make their way in this world. So don’t be surprised at the fiery trials. Such difficulty while serving Christ is not necessarily suffering. It's leadership.

Editor: Sounds serious, but really is hilarious. Don't miss reading this!

Forced sterilisation comes back to haunt US state

Forced sterilisation comes back to haunt US state: More than 60 000 Americans were sterilised, many against their will, as part of a eugenics movement that finished in 1979, aimed at keeping the poor and mentally ill from having children. Now, decades on, one state -- North Carolina -- is considering compensation.

Editor: Isn't it interesting this was reported in a Zimbabwean news outlet?

Iran: 50% of first semester abortions are due to genetic disorders

tehran times : 50% of first semester abortions are due to genetic disorders: Head of the Medical Genetics Department of Iran dismisses the view that the rate of hereditary diseases have not increased in Iran, saying more than 50% of the first semester abortions are because of genetic abnormalities.

Editor: So, how many abortions are there, for this and any other reason?

Scientists discover new way to reverse genetic defects

BioNews - Scientists discover new way to reverse genetic defects: Professor Yitao Yu said: 'Our work is still really early with regard to clinical application. However, we believe it will eventually offer a potential therapeutic option for premature stop codon-caused diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy.'

'I took my son to die at Dignitas'

BBC News - 'I took my son to die at Dignitas': Mother-of-four Helen Cowie, from Cardonald, tells BBC Scotland's Call Kaye programme how she took her 33-year-old paralysed son, Robert, to the Swiss Dignitas clinic to die.

South Dakota Supreme Court upholds murder conviction in alleged assisted suicide case

South Dakota Supreme Court upholds murder conviction in alleged assisted suicide case :: The Republic: Robert Goulding was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole for the November 2008 shooting death of his friend, Allen Kissner. Kissner, 56, wanted to die because he was in chronic, terminal pain, was addicted to drugs and likely was returning to prison, Goulding said.

Keeping The Right To Die Alive

The Nation: Keeping The Right To Die Alive : NPR: On Thursday the US Conference of Catholic Bishops will release a new document that calls for the end of legal aid in dying. To Live Each Day with Dignity marks a nationwide effort by the Roman Catholic Church to influence how patients will be cared for at the end of their lives. Citing a Death with Dignity bill that passed in Washington in 2008, a ruling protecting the right to aid in dying by the Montana supreme court in 2009 and a spate of state initiatives, a June 1 press release states, 'The Church needs to respond in a timely and visible way to this renewed challenge, which will surely be pursued in a number of states in the years to come.'

Editor: This article is so ironically headlined. And it completely overlooks the bishops' exhortation to provide caring alternatives, such as Baptists for Life does with LIFT.

End-of-life care innovation spreads from Oregon to other states

End-of-life care innovation spreads from Oregon to other states | OregonLive.com: An end-of-life care innovation developed in Oregon is drawing more national attention and support, including a $597,765 grant. Oregon doctors developed the POLST form -- Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment -- in the 1990s to address shortcomings of other advance directives, such as living wills or notes in medical charts. Very ill or elderly people create those directives to outline treatment they want to have or avoid in a medical crisis.

But those forms can be hard to find in an emergency or too vague to be useful. In contrast, POLST forms are brightly colored for visibility and have check-boxes to record specific preferences for several treatments, including the use of antibiotics, oxygen, feeding tubes and intravenous hydration.

Woman investigated by FBI after sending 'suicide kit' letter

Woman investigated by FBI after sending 'suicide kit' letter | KATU.com - Portland News, Sports, Traffic Weather and Breaking News - Portland, Oregon | Local & Regional: The FBI is investigating a Milwaukee woman who wrote a letter of support to a California woman who sold a so-called suicide kit to a Eugene, Oregon, man who used it to kill himself.

No Such Thing As Assisted Suicide

Why There Is No Such Thing As Assisted Suicide | The Compassionate Choice: If you ask a friend, family member or doctor to help you commit suicide, you immediately change the definition of suicide from a solitary act with implications for you only as an individual to an act that involves other people and society. It is no longer suicide. Now it is a conspiracy to commit homicide. Once you involve others in killing any human being, it becomes homicide.

Heavy Complaints Over Airing of Assisted Suicide

BBC Receives Heavy Complaints Over Airing of Assisted Suicide | LifeNews.com: The BBC has received hundreds of complaints from views over a program it aired Monday night showing an assisted suicide of a person killing himself at a suicide tourism facility in Switzerland.

The program was hosted by Sir Terry Pratchett and it showed millionaire Peter Smedley taking a lethal cocktail of drugs that resulted in his death. Almost 900 people contacted the BBC to complain while just 82 supported the showing of the program.

Belgian transplant surgeons use lungs from euthanased patients

BioEdge: Belgian transplant surgeons use lungs from euthanased patients: A press release from a team at a hospital in Leuven announced yesterday that it had successfully transplanted lungs from four euthanased patients between 2007 and 2009. In an article in the journal Applied Cardiopulmonary Pathophysiology, the authors observe that the quality of the lungs from euthanased patients seems superior to those obtained from brain dead donors and donations after cardiac death.

“In contrast to these donors, euthanasia donors do not experience an agonal phase before circulatory arrest as seen in donors dying from hypoxemia or from cardiogenic or hypovolemic shock.” Apparently a number of patients who request euthanasia want to donate their organs. However, since many of them have cancer, the organs are not suitable.

Related: Organs harvested from euthanized patients make better transplants

Adult stem cell studies show promise

Adult stem cell studies show promise: While the wholesale use of adult stem cells may not be the hoped-for solution to many disabilities -- especially those of the central nervous system -- it has already proved itself in at least seven difficult nuts to crack. Those difficult 'nuts' are eyes, diabetes, heart, cerebral palsy, strokes, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis.

Father demands change in assisted suicide law after son's cancer death

Father demands change in assisted suicide law after son's cancer death - Telegraph: 'He had the most horrific time of it until he went into the hospice.' Mr Bray, who lives in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, said he would not want to see a Dignitas-style clinic in the UK. But he believes people with terminal illnesses in this country should be given the choice to end their life in a way they choose themselves.

Editor: Isn't the answer right there in the first sentence --hospice?

Assisted suicide show sparks euthanasia bias row

Assisted suicide show sparks euthanasia bias row - Scotsman.com: The BBC defended its decision to broadcast Choosing To Die on BBC2 after anti-euthanasia campaigners complained following an advance screening. Alistair Thompson, spokesman for the Care Not Killing pressure group, said: 'This is pro-assisted suicide propaganda loosely dressed up as a documentary.' Thompson accused the BBC of repeatedly giving voice to pro-euthanasia views but failing to offer a contrary view.

Assembly Panel Advances Bills To Assist With End-Of-Life Care Decisions

Assembly Panel Advances Bills To Assist With End-Of-Life Care Decisions | njtoday.net – Everything New Jersey: On Monday, an Assembly panel approved a package of bills intended to make end-of-life care decisions easier for New Jersey families. The first measure (A-3475), would require the state to create a form called the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) to enable New Jersey patients to indicate their preferences for health care. The POLST form would serve as a complementary measure to the use of an advance directive for health care, or in lieu of an advance directive if the patient has not executed such a document.

Oregon making it a felony to sell suicide kits

Oregon House approves bill making it a felony to sell so-called suicide kits - The Washington Post: The Oregon House voted Monday to make it illegal to knowingly sell a product intended to help another person commit suicide, a move that targets companies selling so-called suicide kits that can be bought on the Internet. The bill was introduced after a 29-year-old Eugene man took his own life with the help of a suicide kit he purchased online for $60. The measure would make it a felony to sell such devises in Oregon and would allow prosecutors to bring defendants into the state to face charges.

Who wrote this?

A full-term infant born with spina bifida, paraplegia, and hydrocephalus is transferred, once proper consent and authorization have been obtained, to an obitorium for research hitherto conducted in rats be researchers interested in the hepatic metabolism of prostaglandin. Test material is given to the anesthetized infant by stomach tube. Two hours later the abdominal cavity is opened, and the intact stomach, small intestine, and liver are removed separately for preservation and subsequent processing for chemical analysis. Meanwhile the infant's heart and lungs are removed for transplantation elsewhere.

Kevorkian, Jack. "The last fearsome taboo: Medical aspects of planned death." Medicine and Law, vol. 7, pp. 1-14

Ending one's life a right, doctor says

Ending one's life a right, doctor says – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs: Dr. Lawrence Egbert, the former medical director for the Final Exit Network, in his own words.

Editor: Rambling and inconsistent.

End-of-life care: How you can help stressed surrogates

amednews: End-of-life care: How you can help stressed surrogates :: June 13, 2011 ... American Medical News: Family members who make life-or-death decisions for loved ones are at high risk for anxiety and depression. Here's how to ease the strain.

Get to Know: Dare 2 Share

God created us to be with Him. (Genesis 1-2)
Our sins separate us from God. (Genesis 3)
Sins cannot be removed by good deeds. (Genesis 4 - Malachi 4)
Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew - Luke)
Everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life. (John)
Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever. (Acts - Revelation)

Sharing the gospel with someone else is like taking them on a journey with six stops along the way. The evangelist becomes a guide of sorts who brings their fellow sojourners to six stops along the way to pause and ponder the landscape of the story of the Bible, the gospel message. Dare2Share

Palin Emails: A Down Syndrome Baby Will "Expand Your World"

Palin Emails: A Down Syndrome Baby Will "Expand Your World" | LifeNews.com: The Palin's email to family and friends before Trig's birth: 'This new person in your life can help everyone put things in perspective and bind us together and get everyone focused on what really matters. The baby will expand your world and let you see and feel things you haven’t experienced yet. He’ll show you what “true, brave victory” really means as those who love him will think less about self and focus less on what the world tells you is “normal” or “perfect.” You will grow and be blessed with greater understanding that will be born along with Trig.'

The Atlantic archive: Whose Right to Die?

This helpful article in The Atlantic about "euthanasia myths" dates from 1997:

Myth No. 1: It is primarily advances in biomedical technology--especially life-sustaining technology--that have created unprecedented public interest in physician-assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia... [But really] Patients who are being kept alive by technology and want to end their lives already have a recognized constitutional right to stop any and all medical interventions, from respirators to antibiotics. They do not need physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia.

Myth No. 2: Legalizing physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia is widely endorsed... [But really] The most accurate characterization of the survey data is that a significant majority of Americans oppose physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia except in the limited case of a terminally ill patient with uncontrollable pain.

Myth No. 3: It is terminally ill patients with uncontrollable pain who are most likely to be interested in physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia... [But really] No study has ever shown that pain plays a major role in motivating patient requests for physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia.

Myth No. 4: The experience with euthanasia in the Netherlands shows that permitting physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia will not eventually get out of hand... [But really] The Netherlands studies fail to demonstrate that permitting physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia will not lead to the nonvoluntary euthanasia of children, the demented, the mentally ill, the old, and others.

Who was the author? Obama healthcare adviser Dr Ezechiel Emanuel, a man who was unfairly dubbed "Doctor Death" during the "death panel" controversy in 2009. BioEdge

Tens of Millions Face Death in Agony

Global: Tens of Millions Face Death in Agony | Human Rights Watch: A report titled 'Global State of Pain Treatment: Access to Palliative Care as a Human Right' by Human Rights Watch details the failure of many governments to take even basic steps to ensure that people with severe pain due to cancer, HIV, and other serious illnesses have access to palliative care. As a result, millions of patients live and die in great agony that could easily be prevented.

Bail a Buddy Out of the Blues

Bail a Buddy Out of the Blues - EverydayHealth.com: Beyond conventional treatments for depression like antidepressants and therapy, it’s important to have a solid support system in place. In fact, research shows that friends and family members act as a buffer against major depressive episodes.

Down syndrome? To her parents, she's just another kid

John Reilly: Down syndrome? To her parents, she's just another kid - Fall River, MA - The Herald News: Six years ago, no one could have predicted the impact that one little chromosome could make.

Belgian Doctors Boast of Harvesting Organs After Euthanasia

Belgian Doctors Boast of Harvesting Organs After Euthanasia » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: Wesley J. Smith can think of few things that would undermine universal human equality than for society to think that killing despairing people with serious illnesses or disabilities could be a splendid means of incresasing the supply of transplant organs.

Fear Not the Disabled

Fear Not the Disabled | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction: We all benefit when people with disabilities are valued in our churches.

Older UK cancer patients more likely to die due to NHS 'age bias'

Older cancer patients more likely to die due to NHS 'age bias' | World news | The Guardian: Older people in the UK are more likely to die of cancer because they receive less investigation of and treatment for their disease due to 'age bias' by the National Health Service, a major new report warns. They suffer delays in having their case referred to a specialist, are less likely to undergo radical surgery and have worse outcomes than younger patients.

Report shows more than 1 billion people with disabilities face substantial barriers in their daily lives

WHO | New world report shows more than 1 billion people with disabilities face substantial barriers in their daily lives: The first-ever World report on disability provides the first global estimates of persons with disabilities in 40 years and an overview of the status of disability in the world. New research shows that almost one-fifth of the estimated global total of persons living with disabilities, or between 110-190 million, encounter significant difficulties.

Right to Life of Michigan on assisted suicide and euthanasia

Right to Life of Michigan: Painful and undignified deaths happen every day. Tragically, such deaths are essentially unnecessary. Our response to the ignorance, fear, and desperation associated with illness should be education, hope, and life-affirming support. We fail if our solution to suffering is to kill those who suffer.

Are Executed Prisoners’ Organs Still Being Harvested in China?

Are Executed Prisoners’ Organs Still Being Harvested in China? - Global Spin - TIME.com: Transplant tourism is one of those dangerous businesses that proliferate in many developing-world countries. The intersection of rich foreigner frantic for a kidney, cornea or liver and poor local desperate to make money has spawned an illicit organ-trafficking industry, from India to Brazil. China, which is the subject of a new article in the respected medical journal The Lancet, is no exception.

Family members most likely to abuse elderly

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition: Family members most likely to abuse elderly: Lifeline, the Australian suicide prevention, crisis intervention and mental health support group has launched a research study into the scourge of elder abuse.

Boy's Death Highlights Crisis in Homes for Disabled

Boy's Death Highlights Crisis in Homes for Disabled - NYTimes.com: Oswald D. Heck Developmental Center is one of nine large institutions in New York that house the developmentally disabled, those with cerebral palsy, autism, Down syndrome and other conditions. These institutions spend two and a half times as much money, per resident, as the thousands of smaller group homes that care for far more of the 135,000 developmentally disabled New Yorkers receiving services.

But the institutions are hardly a model: Those who run them have tolerated physical and psychological abuse, knowingly hired unqualified workers, ignored complaints by whistle-blowers and failed to credibly investigate cases of abuse and neglect, according to a review by The New York Times of thousands of state records and court documents, along with interviews of current and former employees.

Caregiving in Early Alzheimer's Disease

Caregiving in Early Alzheimer's Disease: There are a number of measures that can be taken to help a loved one cope better with the challenges presented by early Alzheimer’s disease.

Stem cell revolution that could win the war on Alzheimer's

Healthy adults will be able to boost their chances of surviving cancer and diseases such as Alzheimer’s by freezing stem cells taken from their blood for the first time. A British company has been granted a licence to extract the cells, so that anyone can now pay to store them in the hope that they will one day help to cure fatal conditions. Until now, it has only been possible to bank stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood and embryos left over from fertility treatment. Daily Mail

'He drinks a liquid, falls into a deep sleep and dies' on national television

The BBC will next week air a controversial documentary where a motor neurone disease sufferer takes his own life. Sitting on a sofa with his wife at his side, viewers will see Peter drink a liquid, fall into a deep sleep and then die. The five-minute sequence, filmed at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, is part of a forthcoming BBC2 program fronted by Sir Terry Pratchett. The corporation has defended its decision to film Peter's last moments as part of its exploration into the realities of assisted death. Daily Mail

Specialists call for more focus on hospice

Specialists call for more focus on hospice | Detroit Free Press | freep.com: Jack Kevorkian gets widespread credit as a lightning rod who forced a nation to discuss needed improvements in end-of-life care. But specialists say that the nation's best-known suicide doctor did not provide a dignified death to those who sought him out and didn't do enough to refer people to hospice organizations that could have alleviated their suffering. 'I believe he could have taken his empathy, sympathy and compassion and led people to resources that could have ended in a more dignified death,' said Laura Wagner, chief hospice officer for Great Lakes Caring.

Jack Kevorkian's Death Reminds How Disabled Need Better Options

Jack Kevorkian's Death Reminds How Disabled Need Better Options | LifeNews.com: While some euthanasia advocates have sought to distance themselves from his bizarre positions and tactics, his tragic legacy illustrates the dangers to the most vulnerable when compassionate, humane responses to depression or disability are replaced with death as an acceptable final solution.

Adapting Your Home to Your Arthritis

Adapting Your Home to Your Arthritis - Arthritis Center - Everyday Health: No matter what type of arthritis you or your loved one faces, you can streamline the design of your home to ease joint pain and other arthritis symptoms. Here's what you need to know as you go room by room.

The Controversial Life of Dr. Jack Kevorkian

The Controversial Life of Dr. Jack Kevorkian - EverydayHealth.com: The medical pathologist-turned-assisted suicide advocate sparked a decades-long — and still ongoing — national debate about a terminally ill patient's right to die. Here's a rundown on his life.

More on the MSM's coverage of Kevorkian's death: Media Obituaries on Jack Kevorkian Use Revisionist History

SarahCare support group

This month's support group at SarahCare will be held on Thursday June 16, 2011, from 6:30-8:30 pm. Christiana Getz will discuss "Knowing the 10 Signs of Alzheimer's." Light refreshments provided. (Make note of the time change; meetings typically start at 7, but not this time.)

SarahCare Adult Day Center
Metro Health Village
2024 Health Drive, Suite B
Wyoming, MI 49519
Phone: 616.530.6700

Hugh Grant: Assisted suicide campaigner a ‘tremendous force for good’

Actor Hugh Grant: assisted suicide campaigner a ‘tremendous force for good’ | LifeSiteNews.com: Hugh Grant has applauded the efforts of well-known British assisted suicide campaigner, Dr. Ann McPherson, who died last week. “She was a tremendous force for good,” the British actor told The Independent. Grant supports her campaign group, called Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying, founded last year to work for change in Britain’s suicide law.

Meet the new Dr. Death

Jack Kevorkian is dead. It was inevitable somebody would attempt to claim his title. Meet Dr. Lawrence Egbert, 83, who may have already surpassed Kevorkian's record. From a cluttered Baltimore apartment office, he says he has helped direct the deaths of nearly 300 people across the country. An Arizona jury acquitted him last month following a three-week trial in the death of a Phoenix woman. 

Jana Van Voorhis was descending into madness, relatives say. Born into a wealthy family, she had a bubbly personality. But she'd also battled mental illness since her teens and was increasingly complaining of aches and pains. Following the death of her mother, she began telling doctors that bugs were eating her kidneys and feet, and feared exposure to radiation and rat poisoning.

On April 12, 2007, she contacted the Final Exit Network and faxed paperwork to Egbert, who dispatched two regional exit guides to travel to Van Voorhis' Phoenix, AZ, home, where she reaffirmed her desire to "hasten her death." 

Final Exit's preferred method involves piping helium into an oxygen-eliminating hood placed over the individual's head. Largely for legal reasons, however, network members do not provide the materials and are hands-off in the actual suicide. Instead, Van Voorhis' guides arranged pillows. They advised her to activate a minimal amount of helium from a tank, purchased at a party store, so the hood would not fly off. About eight minutes after Van Voorhis eased on the tank, she fell asleep. She began breathing irregularly. Four minutes later, she was dead.

Her guides then moved some of the pillows, so her death would appear natural, and removed the helium tanks and the hood, and placed them in separate trash bins in an industrial park. Her body was not found until several days later. JWR

Four arrests after patient abuse caught on film

BBC News - Four arrests after patient abuse caught on film: Police in Bristol have arrested four people after secret filming by BBC Panorama found a pattern of serious abuse at a residential hospital. Winterbourne View treats people with learning disabilities and autism. Andrew McDonnell, who works with adults with mental disabilities, labelled some of the examples seen on film 'torture.'

Giving comfort to hurting people

“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15). We tend to do better at rejoicing. Because we don’t like to feel pain, we tend to ignore others’ pain. But they need us to become the arms of Christ to them If we’re not there for them, who will be? Eternal Perspectives Ministries, page 5

Editor: Don't miss the list of helpful books and resources for grieving people that accompanies this article.

Running Free: Breaking Out from Locked-in Syndrome

Running Free: Breaking Out from Locked-in Syndrome: Amazon.co.uk: Kate Allatt, Alison Stokes: Books: Can you imagine being trapped in your own body? Able to see and hear everything going on around you but unable to move or speak - the blink of an eye your only way to communicate?

Super-fit young mother-of-three Kate Allatt's life was torn apart when she became locked in her own body after suffering a massive stroke caused by a blood clot to her brainstem. Left totally paralysed and unable to speak, her chances of survival were 50/50 and doctors said she would never walk or talk again. She wanted to die. But her family and best friends willed her to live and with their love and support she channelled her sense of fun and fighting spirit into making a miracle recovery that amazed medical experts.

Using a letter chart Kate blinked the words "I will walk again." Soon she was moving her thumb and communicating with the world via Facebook. Eight months later she said goodbye to nurses and walked out of hospital to return home and start training for her first run.

Related: UK woman with "locked-in" syndrome makes medical history by composing music with power of thought

Jack Kevorkian, aka 'Dr. Death,' dies at 83

Jack Kevorkian, aka 'Dr. Death,' dies at 83 - US news - Life - msnbc.com: This article, which begins by calling him "the audacious Michigan pathologist" is so much better than Barbara Walter's gushing eulogy. "Dr. Life"? Puh-leeze!

Related: Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network Comments on the Death of Jack Kevorkian

Kevorkian: A dark mirror on society

What is Kevorkian’s legacy? He assisted the suicides of 130 or so people and lethally injected at least two by his own admission (his first and his last); as a consequence of the latter, he served nearly ten years in prison for murder. But I think his more important place in contemporary history was as a dark mirror that reflected how powerful the avoidance of suffering has become as a driving force in society, and indeed, how that excuse seems to justify nearly any excess. . . .

Kevorkian was disturbingly prophetic. He called for the creation of euthanasia clinics where people could go who didn’t want to live anymore. They now exist in Switzerland and were recentlyoverwhelmingly supported by the voters of Zurich in an initiative intended to stop what is called “suicide tourism.” Belgian doctors have now explicitly tied euthanasia and organ harvesting. . . .

Time will tell whether Kevorkian will be remembered merely as a kook who captured the temporary zeitgeist of the times, or whether he was a harbinger of a society that, in the words of Canadian journalist Andrew Coyne, “believes in nothing [and] can offer no argument even against death." Wesley J. Smith

My life's never been tougher... nor sweeter says a writer whose sudden disability improved his life

My life's never been tougher... nor sweeter says a writer whose sudden disability improved his life | Mail Online: That’s where my wife found me, fallen from the Bridge Of Doom, up-ended among the toddlers, being pelted with balls and rendered helpless as much by my own laughter as by my disabilities. Even more hilariously, my wife thought it was a much better idea to take pictures and send them to our friends’ phones than to come to my aid.

The Rise of the Red Market

The Rise of the Red Market - By Scott Carney | Foreign Policy: On the night of Jan. 11, Turkish police officers burst into a villa in Istanbul's Asian quarter and arrested a 53-year-old transplant surgeon named Yusuf Sonmez. Interpol had been looking for Sonmez since 2008, when a Turkish man collapsed in the airport in Pristina, Kosovo, and reported that his kidney had been stolen. The incident led to an investigation by European Union prosecutors, who uncovered an international organ-stealing and smuggling ring of alarming scope.

'Dr Death' is dead

Oakland County | Assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian dies | The Detroit News: Jack Kevorkian, a former Oakland County pathologist who stirred public debate about physician-assisted suicide and admitted helping 130 people end their lives, has died. He had been hospitalized with kidney and respiratory problems for several weeks and was 83. Michigan's most famous felon pathologist was dubbed 'Dr. Death' in the heyday of his assisted-suicide crusade.

Editor: Consider the words of the Preacher --

It is better to go to a house of mourning
Than to go to a house of feasting,
Because that is the end of every man,
And the living takes it to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter,
when a face is sad a heart may be happy.
The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning,
While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.
--Ecclesiastes 7:2-4

Kevorkian's mind dwelt on death, but did not "take it to heart." He did not fear God or remember his Creator (Eccl. 11:9, 12:13-14).

Pioneering stem cell trial gives hope to MS sufferers

Pioneering stem cell trial gives hope to MS sufferers - Herald Scotland | News | Health: Pioneering research into bone marrow stem cell therapy that could help multiple sclerosis sufferers is to take place later this year. The trial on 80 MS patients will test whether bone marrow stem cells, which can repair tissue and organ damage, can be used to treat the disease. Scotland has one of the highest rates of MS in the world; around 10,500 people north of the Border have the condition.

Terminally ill 'should write down how they want to die'

Terminally ill 'should write down how they want to die' - Telegraph: A legally binding record of their wishes will then be kept, potentially on the new NHS (UK) database, so staff other than the family GP could be able to tell how to treat a dying patient.

Girl with Down's Syndrome crowned prom queen after rivals campaigned for her

The battle to be crowned prom queen is notoriously fierce. But for the students at Fair Grove High School, Missouri, there was only ever going to be one winner - Maisie Garoutte. The 19-year-old, who has Down's Syndrome, is so popular her fellow competitors decided to give up their own prom dreams to campaign on her behalf. Daily Mail

Editor: Kudos to the kids at Fair Grove!

Mexico Bans Discrimination Against the Disabled

Mexico Bans Discrimination Against the Disabled - Fox News Latino: Mexican President Felipe Calderón signed into law a measure to extend anti-discrimination protections to people with disabilities. The state will no longer adopt a 'paternalistic' attitude toward the disabled, the president said.

In a ceremony at the official residence of Los Pinos, Calderón said that for the first time 'the ban on treating the disabled in a discriminatory way has been raised to the status of law.' The law aims to acknowledge human dignity, 'eradicate prejudice and lack of understanding' and provide equal opportunities for this sector.

Doctor-Assisted Suicide Is Moral Issue Dividing Americans Most

Doctor-Assisted Suicide Is Moral Issue Dividing Americans Most: Doctor-assisted suicide emerges as the most controversial cultural issue in Gallup's 2011 Values and Beliefs poll, with Americans divided 45% vs. 48% over whether it is morally acceptable or morally wrong. Having a baby out of wedlock and abortion also closely divide Americans.

Triumphs of nationalized health care: 'No patient will wait longer than 18 weeks'

'No patient will wait longer than 18 weeks' - The Scotsman: Patients in Scotland will not wait longer than 18 weeks for treatment after being referred by their GP, pledged the health secretary. 85 per cent of patients are already being seen within this target. But the battle to bring down waiting times still lags behind the NHS in England, where the 18-week target was introduced much earlier and where almost 90 per cent of patients are treated within that time. Commentary