In thinking of what forum to post this Washington Post article, I thought about my feelings which were primarily coping Anger and fear, so here's a link to the full article but as usual I excerpted the basic message [I read every page of the Washington Post so you don't have to ;)]
[quote]David Goodman, who led the analysis, said the findings indicate that too many cancer patients are dying in the hospital and too few are getting adequate palliative and hospice care. Surveys have shown that 80 percent of patients would prefer to die at home, he noted. That suggests that many doctors are treating cancers too aggressively and often are not honoring their patients' wishes.

"The care that patients receive has less to do with what they want and more to do with the hospitals they happen to seek care from," Goodman said during a briefing.[/quote]
Hospice instead of hospital

This is what get's me...actually really pisses me off. Our society treats our pets more humanely then our people. When a pet gets sick or hurt and is living a life in pain without hope of recovery, we euthenize them. Only WA and OR have "Death with Dignity" laws for the terminally ill.

I held the hand of a friend of mine who is terminally ill with cancer and in tremendous amounts of pain...but worse she hates that she's a burden and seeing the emotional toll that is put on her family. She wants to end her life...she wants out of the suffering.

I've said it many times, if I'm ever in the same position I'm gonna be vaping a whole lot of "medical marijuana" and checking out when the pain gets more then I care to live with. Thank you WA State!

Eric

After reading your poignant post to Paula on her imminent loss of Jim, I thought of this article as well as this post of yours.
I only left an excerpt on Paula's thread, but wanted to share this complete New Yorker article with you
Letting Go

Great article, Charm. Thank you for posting the link.

Anita

I was thinking of you and Clark getting his PET scan today and hope that this article is not relevant to any of us for many more years. It will be nice to have Clark's NED status confirmed. Since it will be such a long day for you both, I hope Thanksgiving is relaxing and happy.
Charm