Word: paines
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...trying to get rid of them. "All people want to die with dignity, but the definition is different," says Dr. Annette Dula, who wrote a book on ethics in African-American medical care. "In the black population, people want aggressive, continuing treatment even if it means food tubes, pain, antibiotics and losing their savings. It's a sign of respect...
...things the U.S. could do to improve how most of us die. First, insurance companies could reimburse more kinds of palliative care, which is cheaper than attempting a cure. "Insurance will routinely cover expensive chemo with a 5% chance of success but may not cover opioids for pain relief," says Foley, the pain specialist. "We are talking about a redistribution of money that we already spend." When Dr. Shaiova was caring for Cummins, she spent an hour with him one day explaining what hospice could do for him. "How do I describe to Medicare how I treated him that...
Cities can adopt some of the changes under way in Missoula, Mont., where a project called the Quality of Life's End is educating local doctors, lawyers, clergy members and students about what it means to die well. For example, both of Missoula's hospitals now treat pain as a fifth vital sign, ensuring that medical staff will take it seriously. Recently the project contacted Missoula's lawyers to begin teaching them to write better advance directives. And project volunteer Gary Stein incorporates end-of-life issues into the high school psychology course he teaches...
...listened to him because he was a physician. We doctors somehow feel that the 'M.D.' protects us. It hit us that doctors die too," says Dr. Lauren Shaiova, who treated Frimmer for pain and arranged to have him speak at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. Frimmer was his own best end-of-life student. He filled out an advance directive, updated his will, organized his finances, assigned power of attorney, sold off some of his photographic equipment--and allowed his wife Debbie to do something he'd previously resisted: "I don't like animals, but when...
...into his chest, which made breathing as laborious as "trying to blow up a balloon in a bowl of Jell-O," he said. Unable to get comfortable, he slept sitting up, just an hour or so at a stretch. He was reluctant to use enough medication to quell the pain. "On a good day, I would guess the pain is life affirming. It lets him know he's still here," said Dara...