More Help in Developing End-of-Life Plans
February 28, 2013
US News and World Report has just published an article on developing your end-of-life plans.
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Talking About Hospice
February 27, 2013
60% of people say that making sure their family is not burdened by tough decisions is “extremely important.”
56% have not communicated their end-of-life wishes.
One conversation can make all the difference.
Visit The Conservation Project to learn how to start talking.
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How to Have “The Talk” Between Elderly Parents and Their Adult Children
July 26, 2011
Sheri Samotin, founder of LifeBridge Solutions, has suggestions for how to get elderly parents and their adult children to have “the talk.” The most direct is simply to talk about your plans, and theirs, for aging and what documents are in place to support that. If that’s too direct, then ask parents for input and suggestions about your own plans. That should allow you to ask them about their plans. Talk about your friends’ experiences with their parents, and seek your own parents’ advice. Elderly parents who have their plans made can just share them with their children, or tell the children where to find the documents that direct what they want done. Samotin says, “The earlier you take on the task of talking with your family about these matters, the less likely that they will become the elephant in the room every time you get together.” (Naples News, 7/19, www.naplesnews.com/news/2011/jul/19/navigating-lifes-transitions-having-talk-no-one-wa/)
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Help with Alabama Disaster Relief
May 10, 2011
Through May 15, Hospice Foundation of America will match all individual or corporate contributions up to $100 made to HFA for the Alabama Hospice Organization disaster relief effort. Contact them at www.hospicefoundation.org/donate. The National Hospice Foundation is also making funds available to the Alabama Hospice Organization. See www.nationalhospicefoundation.org/i4a/forms/form.cfm?id=60&pageid=436&showTitle=0 to make donations.
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Older People Who Lose Spouses From Natural Causes Recover More Quickly Than Previously Believed
February 22, 2011
Contrary to the popular belief that “the second year [of widowhood] is harder than the first,” the work of George Bonanno shows that “most older people who lose spouses from natural causes recover much more quickly than we have come to expect. In fact, for many, acute grief tends to lift well within six months after the loss.” Bonanno, a clinical psychologist at Teachers College, Columbia, first published his work in 2004, and was met with disbelief and the criticism that he had omitted the worst cases from his samples. The New York Times article concludes, “But he has since replicated the results in other data sets of bereaved individuals and gradually, his trajectories have become the standard among clinical researchers who measure how people respond to loss compared with the statistical norms. Perhaps we will begin to update our own popular notions about grief as well.” (The New York Times, 2/14, www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/opinion/15Konigsberg.html)
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American Society of Clinical Oncology Urging More Candor with Cancer Patients and their Families
February 8, 2011
The American Society of Clinical Oncology is taking the lead in urging cancer specialists to talk to their patients about end-of life planning. They are also encouraging practitioners to focus on palliative care and symptom relief much sooner. The Society has developed a booklet for families with information on options for care, along with guidelines on starting the conservation about end-of-life wishes (online at http://www.cancer.net). This summer, the Society plans on publishing a detailed guideline for practitioners. (The Sacramento Bee, 2/7 http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/07/3384159/more-candor-urged-in-care-of-dying.html)
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FDA will cap the amount of acetaminophen in painkillers
January 18, 2011
The FDA will cap the amount of acetaminophen in painkillers at 325 milligrams per capsule. Acetaminophen, found in “Tylenol, Nyquil and thousands of other medicines used to treat headaches, muscle aches and sore throats,” is also found in prescription medicines. It is dangerous when taken in high doses, such as when patients combine two or more pain relievers. The FDA deputy director for new drugs said, “The risk of liver injury primarily occurs when patients take multiple products containing acetaminophen at one time and exceed the current maximum dose of 4,000 milligrams within twenty-four hour period.” (AP Financial Wire, 1/13; The New York Times, 1/14 www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/health/policy/14fda.html)
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Palliative Care is the future of care, says Sheehy
January 18, 2011
Gail Sheehy says that the term “end-of-life planning” has “become a political weapon, deliberately used to frighten people into believing their government is out to deny them life-extending treatment when bureaucrats decide they’re too old and sick to deserve it.” So she suggests we plan for the “In-Between Stage — the years between optimum health and hospice.” Sheehy writes, “Palliative care, in my view, is the future of care for those of us entering the In-Between Stage. Its aim is to treat symptoms and relieve suffering, and it can be offered when we are first diagnosed with a serious illness. It’s not the same as hospice, which is available only in the last six months of life.” (USA Today, 1/11, www.usatoday.com/yourlife/parenting-family/caregiving/2011-01-11-passages11_ST_N.htm
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Baby boomers encouraged to have healthcare proxies and living wills.
January 18, 2011
Casey Dowd, Fox Business News writer, encourages baby boomers to have healthcare proxies and living wills. He says the boomers “can-do” attitude has gotten them through this far, and will get them through the end of life. “Will panels ultimately decide whether we live or die? Will we have to be reminded by our doctors every year that death is around the corner? Can we trust our kids not to the pull the plug at the first sign of a sniffle? Who knows. But we’re the boomers, and we made our mark on the world by how we lived. Let’s prove we also know how to go out in style.” (Fox Business, 1/14, www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/01/14/baby-boomer-death-right-die-death-panel-robery-quinlan-baby-boomer-retire/
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Medical expenditures for cancer are expected to increase 27% by 2020
January 18, 2011
A National Institute of Health analysis has found that medical expenditures for cancer are expected to increase 27% by 2020 – to at least $158 billion. The highest costs are expected to be with “breast cancer ($16.5 billion), followed by colorectal cancer ($14 billion), lymphoma ($12 billion), lung cancer ($12 billion) and prostate cancer ($12 billion).” According to the article, the new projections are higher than prior ones “largely because the researchers used the most recent data available — including Medicare claims data through 2006, which include payments for newer, more expensive, targeted therapies.” Additionally, costs were analyzed by phase of care, “which revealed the higher costs of care associated with the first year of treatment and last year of life.” More information is available at costprojections.cancer.gov. (NIH News, 1/12, www.nih.gov/news/health/jan2011/nci-12.htm)
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