Fred Hansen
Winter '07
Men's Group, First Unitarian Church, Pittsburgh
These notes are for the April, 2007, meeting
What kept you?
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the Better End Fred Hansen Winter '07 Men's Group, First Unitarian Church, Pittsburgh These notes are for the April, 2007, meeting |
What kept you? |
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Although never easy, dying has
been getting harder. Yes, it's harder to die because doctors can now
diagnose and cure many more ills. But death is also harder on the
patient because now we die from the
debilitating, life-sucking long-term diseases.* Our men's group discussion will focus on: What
medical and legal steps should be taken to ease the physical pains and
emotional disruptions from death?
This web site offers some background:
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 "An
intensive-care patient is aided by several of the many life support
systems available. PHOTO RESEARCHERS"
These tools helped save this man's life. The same tools can needlessly prolong a painful life. |
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*The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
provides funding for health care issues. A task force they sponsored
put the problem this way:
While opinion polls reveal that most Americans would prefer to die at home, free from pain and with their loved ones, the reality is vastly different. Americans often die alone in hospitals or nursing homes, in pain and attached to life support machines they may not want. |
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