End of Life

The Reproductive Justice Movement: A Model for a More Inclusive Movement to Improve End-of-Life Options

By NWHN Staff | Feb 10, 2020 | Comments Off on The Reproductive Justice Movement: A Model for a More Inclusive Movement to Improve End-of-Life Options

Applying lessons from the RJ movement to the right-to-die movement might mean understanding that “choice” at the end of life includes not only the choice to hasten death but also the choice to live and die according to one’s values and with better medical, social, financial, and environmental supports for the ill or frail elderly and their caregivers.

Rx for Change: The ABCs of Hospice and Palliative Care

By Charlea T. Massion, MD, and Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD | Jan 7, 2019 | Comments Off on Rx for Change: The ABCs of Hospice and Palliative Care

An 83-year- old woman dies on a ventilator in the ICU. She’s been hospitalized for five of the last six months of her life.

A 57-year-old woman with recurrent metastatic breast cancer develops cancer-related fluid inside her chest cavity. She has aggressive surgery to prevent the fluid from reaccumulating. She dies in the hospital two days later.

Our Bodies, Our Lives, Our Right to Decide? How Women’s Health Advocates Might Shape End-of-Life Policies

By NWHN Staff | Mar 15, 2017 | Comments Off on Our Bodies, Our Lives, Our Right to Decide? How Women’s Health Advocates Might Shape End-of-Life Policies

Advances in health care have made it possible to increase the quantity, if not always the quality, of many people’s lives. There is a growing right-to-die movement in the United States. I have been working on exploring whether, and how, veterans of the women’s health movement might engage with and shape the right-to-die movement.

Rx for Change: Death Panel? That Would Be You!

By Charlea T. Massion, MD, and Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD | Jan 10, 2017 | Comments Off on Rx for Change: Death Panel? That Would Be You!

Medical aid in dying is a safe and trusted practice. Laws such as EOLOA are an important component of end-of-life care, and these carefully crafted processes can have positive results.

Rx for Change – Dying in America: Better than Ever?

By Charlea T. Massion, MD, and Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD | Jan 27, 2015 | Comments Off on Rx for Change – Dying in America: Better than Ever?

Happy New Year — how recently have you thought about dying? Do you already have an Advance Directive and designated health care proxy? If so, good work! If not, this column can help you complete one in 2015.

Proactive Caregiving: Legal, Financial and Emotional Supports for Family Caregivers

By NWHN Staff | Jan 27, 2015 | Comments Off on Proactive Caregiving: Legal, Financial and Emotional Supports for Family Caregivers

Two years ago, my partner’s 77-year-old mother was experiencing weakness in her limbs and unexplained falls. Soon afterward, she was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Her husband, 72 at the time, was resourceful and compassionate as his wife progressively lost the ability to walk, speak clearly and, ultimately, eat.

Be Your Own Death Panel

By Charlea T. Massion, MD, and Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD | May 22, 2010 | Comments Off on Be Your Own Death Panel

During last summer’s town hall meetings on health care reform, the specter of “death panels” was repeatedly raised in acrimonious misrepresentations of the reform bill.