Tag: End of Life
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The lady in red
Mary Liz OvercashGalveston, Texas, United States The long-term care facility was tucked in the back of a strip mall, behind restaurants and sporting goods stores, as if someone had hidden it away. As I wandered through the halls looking for my patient’s room, I didn’t see a single other person. I knocked softly on the…
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Plato’s and Bacon’s views on the role of medical care for chronic diseases
(Abstracted from the essay on Francis Bacon by Lord Macaulay) “To Plato, the science of medicine appeared to be of very disputable advantages. He did not indeed object to quick cures for acute disorders, or for injuries produced by accidents. But the art which resists the slow sap of a chronic disease had no share…
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Fear of being buried alive
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Cremation eliminates all danger of being buried alive.”– “Short reasons for cremation,” an Australian pamphlet, c. 1900 It has been said that one of our most common fears is being buried alive.1 Someone is mistakenly thought dead, placed in a coffin, and buried. We will not discuss other forms of alive burials,…
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The sophia and phronesis of modern medicine
Meaghan O’ConnorDurham, North Carolina, United States My first clinical experience was working as a hospice aide my sophomore year of college. During that experience I watched my first patient suffer—physically and spiritually—and eventually die. Not bound by the time constraints of more formal medical settings, I was able to walk with my patient through her…
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Reclamation
Natalie PerlovPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Like many people, my first experience with death was losing a grandparent. I remember my parents organizing my late grandfather’s affairs, noting our religious practice of having as few people as possible touch the body before the burial. Our culture emphasizes community and togetherness in life, yet my grandfather died…
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A time to live and a time to die
Amera HassanMinneapolis, Minnesota “Well to be honest, doc, I don’t quite care whether I do live or die.” He said it so nonchalantly and he was smiling too, a crow-footed wrinkle on either side of his eyes. When this patient was first admitted to the floor, he was in an undignified state, with flies wafting…
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Saying goodbye
Anthony PapagiannisThessaloniki, Greece Her head is bald, her face pale. Only a couple of weeks have passed since her latest cycle of chemotherapy, which imposed its ravages but offered no benefit. The disease is marching relentlessly ahead, the survival horizon drawing closer each day. She is alive only with the help of strong medications that…
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Please don’t die in the hospital
Alexandra DeFeliceFalls Church, Virginia, United States I don’t like the way people die in the hospital. I don’t like the color schemes, the paleness that seeps into every empty wall, every window shade, every floor tile; every cafeteria counter, every elevator sign, every parking lot stripe—the paleness, the sterile acceptance, that appears, eventually, in every…
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Allowing my death—a delusory end-of-life decision
Wolfgang LedererInnsbruck, Austria Together with the gift of life, I have received its finiteness, its perishability. As death is inescapable, when might I allow my life to end? Certainly, my life expectancy has to be longer than average, and I demand good physical and mental health right down to the last minute. Furthermore, my life…