Prepare for the Financial Impact of Alzheimer's

Prepare for the Financial Impact of Alzheimer's: Even in the early stages of dementia, financial skills can be diminished. These steps can help protect you or a loved one -- and a retirement nest egg.

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Assisted Suicide Judicial Fiat Sought in New Mexico

Assisted Suicide Judicial Fiat Sought in New Mexico » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: If New Mexico wants to legalize assisted suicide, it is free to so do. But it hasn’t, and so a lawsuit will be filed to impose it by judicial fiat, a tactical move that has failed previously in Connecticut, Florida, Alaska, and California, in front of the US Supreme Court, and muddied the waters in Montana.

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Latest edition of Caring Right at Home

• High-Tech Solutions and In-Home Care: A Winning Combination
• Is It Time to Spring Clean Your Mind?
• What Every Baby Boomer Should Know About Medicare
• Online Buzz: Understanding Delirium vs. Dementia

Book review (+ free offer!): Miracle for Jen

Miracle for Jen, by Linda Barrick with John Perry (Tyndale House) is the account of the fateful accident and subsequent recovery of a young woman who is extraordinary. You could sum it up by saying, "Jen Barrick was a teenager when her life turned upside down through a horrible brain injury." Or you could say, "Jen Barrick was a teenager when God answered her prayers."

It all depends on your perspective, and Jen prefers the latter. Her story must be read to be believed, but ultimately it's not hard to believe.



How could multiple skull fractures resulting in damage to every part of her brain be an answer to prayer? It is if your prayer was for greater intimacy with God and impact for Him.

It's impossible to say how the injury affected her relationship with God, but her mother Linda and other observers documented how, upon coming out of her coma, Jen clearly and cogently expressed herself in prayer and praise to God, as though He was in the room with her. And that ability continues to this day.

Communication with family and friends came less smoothly. In fact, Jen struggled to vocalize her thoughts as severe memory loss hampered her recovery for several months. Yet Bible verses and hymn lyrics would flow effortlessly from her mouth, some that her mother didn't know she had memorized prior to the accident.

While Jen delighted in this new-found freedom, Linda grieved over her daughter's lost capacities. Would she ever go back to school? Would she return to cheerleading or singing in the choir? Would she graduate and have a normal life? Making those old hopes and plans reality seemed impossible. God could heal her, but would He? Would the old Jen return?

Linda began to accept a new reality when she read Jen's prayer journals. What started as an attempt to reconnect with the "old" Jen became a means of embracing the new one. Four months before the crash, she had written,

God, I want You to be my everything. Continue to grow my faith and allow me to know You like never before!

Four days before:

We all want the testimony, but we'd rather skip the test that give us one.

Jen has had quite a testimony since her accident, sharing with groups small and large the miracle of knowing God. This book does not candy-coat the daily struggles along the way, or pretend that one answered prayer alleviates all doubts. Linda writes:

To help me survive the long, hard days I began telling myself over and over that this life on earth is only a dot on the timeline of history, leading to God's eternity where we will experience unparalleled joy. Off and on I'd repeat that truth out loud, so Jen nicknamed me Polka Dot, evidence of one of her first short-term memory triumphs. Every time she called me Polka Dot, it reminded all of us that this difficult and challenging life is a moment in time anticipating life in heaven, with no pain or sorrow, just ahead.

Tucking Jen in bed at night became a family ritual. . . . I often prayed, "Lord, please connect a new pathway in Jen's brain tonight." 

When it was Jen's turn to pray, she was always full of thanksgiving and praise. One night, she astounded us all when she prayed, "Lord, did I meet all of Your expectations today? Did I fulfill all that You had for me to do?"

Wow! It had never crossed my mind to pray a prayer like that. I'd been so busy begging God for healing and help that I had forgotten that this life is not about me or my family's comfort; it is about God and His plan. Jen had a completely different perspective from the rest of us. She knew that God had left her on this earth for a reason. He had things for her to do!

I also appreciate that this book highlights the ministry of caregivers -- their necessity and vital importance. Because Jen wasn't the only one injured in the accident -- both Linda and Jen's dad Andy were severely injured as well -- friends and family members had to step in to provide round-the-clock assistance. Members of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA (yes, that one), were not only relied upon for meals and visits, but for long-term personal care.

Win a copy!
This book would make a great gift for caregivers and is an all-around inspiring memoir for church library shelves. In fact, be the first to email me your name and address and I'll send you a certificate for a free copy!

TyndaleHouse Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

Quebec assembly committee calls for assisted suicide

Quebec assembly committee calls for assisted suicide | LifeSiteNews.com: The National Assembly committee in Quebec released a report today calling on the provincial government to legalize euthanasia according to a Netherlands/Belgium model, effectively ignoring existing federal laws that protect human life.

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Obamacare rationing panels an ‘immediate danger to seniors’: former AMA president

Obamacare rationing panels an ‘immediate danger to seniors’: former AMA president | LifeSiteNews.com: Former AMA President Donald Palmisano wrote in a Daily Caller column Monday that the Independent Payment Advisory Boards (IPAB), tasked with keeping Medicare expenses under control, would have little oversight as they deal with the disproportionate cost burden from seniors with greater medical needs. “The 15 officials who will make up the board will not only be empowered to make what is expected to be billions of dollars’ worth of cuts to Medicare every year, but will be required to do so when spending exceeds targeted rates.”

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Oregon Report Shows More Assisted Suicides, More Secrecy

Oregon Report Shows More Assisted Suicides, More Secrecy | NRL News Today: Assisted suicide proponents argue that getting the government to sanction medically induced death results in patient autonomy. Of course, they may be the only people nowadays who believe that increased government involvement results in increased individual autonomy.

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Latimer Truths Rarely Told

Latimer Truths Rarely Told » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: In an era of selective journalism and a view that suffering justifies eliminating the sufferer, we shouldn’t allow the whitewashers to carry the day. Read Mark Pickup's blog post about Tracy Latimer, “Can We Finally Get It Straight After 19 Years?”

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Ten years after Belgian euthanasia law, opposition simmers

Ten years after Belgian euthanasia law, opposition simmers - UPI.com: Against all odds, one 16-year-old Belgian teenager is still alive. Tikvah Roosemont was born with about half a brain. Doctors predicted she would likely die before birth, during birth or shortly after. They advised her parents to abort her in the seventh month of gestation. Lionel Roosemont, a professional guide to battlefield sites from World War I, said he and his wife wanted to give his daughter a chance to live and refused to abort her. Today Tikvah is not deaf, lame, blind or dead.

Ten years after euthanasia was legalized in Belgium, Roosemont is speaking out against the practice. He warns that some Belgians want to widen the scope of euthanasia -- the death of an adult caused by medical means at his or her own request. Now, Roosemont said, people are discussing the possibility of legalizing abortion until the day before birth, the infanticide of handicapped babies or euthanasia of minors without parental consent.

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When ICU beds are scarce, doctors' goals change

When ICU beds are scarce, doctors' goals change | Reuters: When hospitals are short on beds in the intensive care unit, doctors are more likely to switch from life-saving care to end-of-life care, a new Canadian study shows. But it's not clear whether that means patients die any sooner, researchers report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

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China to phase out prisoner organ donations over next 5 years

China to phase out prisoner organ donations over next 5 years; says other organs are healthier - The Washington Post: China will abolish the transplanting of organs from executed prisoners within five years and try to spur more citizens to donate, a top health official says. Rights groups call transplants from condemned prisoners a form of abuse and allege that the government, which executes far more people than any other nation, pressures them to donate organs. The government, however, says prisoners volunteer, and that the change is being made because prisoners are less healthy than the general population.

Editor: But the reason given was not concern over ethical violations. "The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu as saying Thursday that prisoner organ donations are not ideal because condemned inmates have high rates of fungal and bacterial infections."

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To go gently into that good night: When quality of death can enhance quality of life

Globe and Mail: Andrée Hoffman lay on a gurney, the outline of her body visible under a floral comforter. Her daughter Basia Hoffman, in her 50s, was a few feet away, playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the piano, hours after her 90-year-old mother's death. No one was in a hurry to go to the funeral home.

When the time finally came, those who loved Ms. Hoffman gathered around her body for a procession through the halls of Toronto's Kensington Hospice to the front door. In her final days, the staff had given her oxygen to ease her breathlessness, narcotics to help with pain and baths to keep her clean. They even cooked breakfast for her family – the scent of pancakes and eggs lingered in the air, a smell of home.

“You almost feel guilty,” said Basia's sister, Tatiana Hoffman, 56, “because they make it so beautiful and wonderful. But I feel so much relief she is out of pain.”

Multiple Sclerosis Management and Your Diet

Multiple Sclerosis Management and Your Diet - Multiple Sclerosis Center - EverydayHealth.com: For people living with multiple sclerosis, diet is just one component of managing symptoms and disease progression. But what constitutes a healthy MS diet?

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Parisian pro-lifers unite in massive ‘flashmob’ against euthanasia

Parisian pro-lifers don clown garb and unite in massive ‘flashmob’ against euthanasia | LifeSiteNews.com: A pro-life event made the national news on French television Saturday evening when “Alliance Vita” organized a giant flashmob against euthanasia on the “Parvis des droits de l’homme” (“Human Rights Square”) at the Trocadéro in Paris. Seven hundred people, young and old, holding red hearts with the slogan “Caring, not killing,” filled the esplanade facing the Eiffel Tower and danced to the sounds of Paul McCartney’s Live and Let Die.

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Stand Up for Religious Freedom

Rally Locations and Info « Stand Up for Religious Freedom:  The Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom is being held Friday, March 23 at noon, local time, outside federal buildings, Congressional offices and historic sites across the country. The theme for the Rally is “Stand Up for Religious Freedom—Stop the HHS Mandate!” Find a location near you!

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Elderly “Not Safe” in Scottish Hospitals

Elderly “Not Safe” in Scottish Hospitals, Shorter Waits for Grave Than Long Term Care in Ontario | NRL News Today: The UK’s health system continues its implosion. We have already seen the stories exposing the poor care the elderly receive in England. And now, the Scottish Nurses Association has charged that the elderly aren’t safe in Scottish hospitals.

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Tell Me The Story One More Time

Tell Me The Story One More Time | Challies Dot Com: Jeff feared Charlotte would die before he returned to the hospital, and he prayed God would grant her sufficient stamina to hold on. He need not have worried. When he entered her room, panting from his swift jog from the parking garage, Charlotte called him over to her bed. She took his hand, looked into his eyes, and said, “Pastor, tell me the story one more time.”

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Texas hospital starving patient against family wishes

Texas hospital starving patient against family wishes | Spero News: Texas Right to Life denounced the decision by physicians to allegedly eliminate hydration and feeding of a patient under their care in a Texas hospital. According to the group, the hospital has refused to allow the patient and his family to take him to a nearby hospice for care.

Update: Patient dies after hospital denies treatment

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Assisted Suicide Dies in Vermont Senate

Assisted Suicide Dies in Vermont Senate | NRL News Today: Unless something drastic happens, Vermont’s assisted suicide bill has been killed in committee. Interestingly, the Lieutenant Governor, who would break a tie vote in the Vermont Senate, pushed legalizing doctor-prescribed death when in that legislative body, has since changed his mind–and for a reason that I think receives far too little play in "death with dignity”-infatuated media.

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Responding to Backers of Abortions on Babies With Disabilities

Responding to Backers of Abortions on Babies With Disabilities | LifeNews.com: "With my disabled child, I have to be mindful of two realities. One, that his brain is terribly broken; his life is often a battle between life and death, and he is partially blind, nonverbal and prone to life-threatening seizures. The other reality is that he has a spirit, and he is whole and alive on the inside. Over the years, all of us in his extended family have had glimpses into his “secret life,” the place where his thoughts and his words are. Inside a broken body is a complete soul. He feels, he loves, he dreams. I cannot deny who he is on the inside, even if that reality is almost entirely veiled from me. He’s created in the image of God and his life has value, even if that life is painfully brief."

Related: Rick Santorum, Meet My Son

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36 Purposes of God in Our Suffering

36 Purposes of God in Our Suffering | Counseling One Another: Take some time to meditate on the wisdom of God as He works out His perfect will through our suffering. No wonder James, the brother of our Lord, commanded us to “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials” (James 1:2)!

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Share this video on World Down Syndrome Day -- March 21!

Reinventing the wheelchair

Patheos: Watch even just the first few minutes of this incredibly hopeful video.

Dutch activist found guilty of assisting a suicide

BioEdge: Dutch activist found guilty of assisting a suicide: In the latest instalment of a long-running case, the former head of the Dutch Voluntary Life Foundation (Stichting Vrijwillig Leven) has been found guilty of assisting in a suicide. Although euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal in the Netherlands, there are some conditions and Gerard Schellekens, now 75, breached them when he counselled and then helped an 80-year-old woman to die in 2007.

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What people talk about before they die

My Faith: What people talk about before they die – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs: People talk to the chaplain about their families because that is how we talk about God. That is how we talk about the meaning of our lives. That is how we talk about the big spiritual questions of human existence. We don't live our lives in our heads, in theology and theories. We live our lives in our families.

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What You Lose When You Sign That Organ-Donor Card

What You Lose When You Sign That Organ-Donor Card - WSJ.com: What are you giving up when you check the donor box on your license? Your organs, of course—but much more. You're also giving up your right to informed consent. Doctors don't have to tell you or your relatives what they will do to your body during an organ harvest operation because you'll be dead, with no legal rights.

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Should Dehydration Be the Default Decision for PVS?

Should Dehydration Be the Default Decision for PVS? | The Center for Bioethics and Culture: What about the people who unexpectedly wake up? Constable says most of these weren’t truly PVS — even though some had been so diagnosed. (In fact, studies show that PVS is misdiagnosed about 40% of the time.)

But that doesn’t matter because [she says] “the new life gained” by the “miracle patient” is “far less likely to resemble what he lost than to be some state of middle consciousness;” a life “quite possibly, worse than non-existence.” Moreover, the potential benefit of living to be a miracle patient “is not sufficient to trump the public interest in allocating resources to patients more likely to benefit.” Original article

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2 doctors to challenge NM 'right to die' law

2 doctors to challenge NM 'right to die' law | KOB.com: Two physicians are set to challenge a decades-old New Mexico law that prohibits doctors from helping terminally ill patients die. They are seeking to be allowed to prescribe medication to terminally ill patients who want to end their lives.

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'Ashley treatment' on the rise

'Ashley treatment' on the rise amid concerns from disability rights groups | Society | guardian.co.uk: A controversial procedure to limit the growth of severely disabled children to keep them forever small – which ignited a fiery debate about the limits of medical intervention when it was first revealed five years ago – has begun to spread among families in America, Europe and beyond.

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Champion of Death With Dignity Act dies at age 83

Champion of Death With Dignity Act dies at age 83 | Fox News: A doctor who championed for Oregon's Death With Dignity Act has died, assisted by the law he fought so hard for a decade earlier. Portland physician Dr. Peter Goodwin died Sunday at 83 in his home after using lethal chemicals obtained under the Oregon law, surrounded by his family.

Goodwin was diagnosed in 2006 with a rare brain disorder, corticobasal ganglionic degeneration, that progressively robbed him of his movement. Years earlier, campaigning for an Oregon assisted suicide law, he talked publicly about what he would do if he received a terminal diagnosis.

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