Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: End of Life

  • Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be

    Liam FarrellCrossmaglen, Ireland The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is upon us again. Like Garrison Keillor, my great sin is nostalgia (my lesser sins include lust, envy, and sloth; but they hardly count, every Tom, Dick, and Harry has them), and so autumn is my favorite time of year. I can stroll contentedly through…

  • Ice cream or Mozart?

    Leon MorgensternLos Angeles, California, United States How would I answer a question if the quality of my life depended on the answer? A recent article about end-of-life decisions1 discussed how a worried daughter had sprung the following questions as her father was about to undergo a very risky operation: how much pain he would tolerate…

  • Going boldly into the night: A reflection on “death with dignity”

    Lenore M. MontanaroNorth Kingstown, Rhode Island Doctors should minimize one’s suffering at death and uphold the patient’s right to bodily integrity and self-determination. If someone with decisional capacity is diagnosed with a terminal illness such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (“Lou Gehrig’s disease”), Alzheimer’s Disease, or Multiple Sclerosis, to list a few, especially if the diseases…

  • The myth of the white coat

    Lauren B. SmithAnn Arbor, Michigan, United States Nana, my grandmother, sat expectantly at the edge of the examining table. Our family huddled near her in the forced intimacy of the clinic room, and I was warm in my white coat. As a pathologist, I rarely wore it since I do not see patients, but I…

  • Latricia

    Kristin Adams FornerOhio, USA We were running. The stampede of our wooden clogs beat the linoleum that lined the hallway from the operating rooms to the intensive care units. The metal contents of our pockets clanged each time our feet hit the ground. Latricia’s monitors relentlessly announced the status of her dying organs, and within…

  • The spiritual dimension of facilitating advance directives planning: The congregational setting as a vital resource

    Kathleen BlanchfieldRomeoville, Illinois Introduction As a registered nurse, chaplaincy intern, and faith community nurse, I have been privileged to assist in advance directives planning and implementation in the congregational setting. A blessing of working as a faith community nurse is the ability to engage others in the subject of advance care planning in a protected environment…

  • Kiran

    Katherine ArnupOttawa, Canada “We have a new man in Room 7,” the hospice co-ordinator explained in our morning briefing. “He’s 76, Indian, and very private. And he doesn’t like appellations.” “Appellations?” “You know, like ‘sweetie’, or ‘dear’. He doesn’t really like that sort of thing,” the coordinator explained. “Who would do that?” I asked, incredulous.…

  • And a time to die

    Katherine ArnupOttawa, Canada “You’re going to be an expert at this by the time you’re done with me,” my sister joked, shortly before her death from cancer at 51. “Maybe,” I protested, “but I don’t want to learn it from you.” Four years later, I began volunteering at a hospice near my home. By the…

  • A good death

    John Henning SchumannChicago, Illinois, United States In America, too many people die in the hospital. Yet if you ask most people, they would rather die at home surrounded by their loved ones, drifting off to sleep painlessly. Why, then, do so many who prefer this type of death instead die medically, in the hospital undergoing…

  • Rethinking the knowledge of terminal illness: Is it a quality of life issue?

    James B. RickertBloomington, Indiana, United States I found myself sitting again with an oncologist waiting to hear the results of treatment. I felt calmer this time because my friend, who was being evaluated for recurrent ovarian cancer, had requested that I come, but I still had a pit in my stomach. We had driven down…