end of life

The Uniform Law Commission is an aggregation of 350 state-appointed commissioners who provide “states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law.” In 1980, it drafted the medico-legal criteria for death, which were adopted by most states. In July, the Commission failed to reach a consensus on how to update a 43-year-old legal standard.
Thinking about – let alone making plans for – end-of-life provokes anxiety. When we cannot speak on our behalf, our surrogates and loved ones must be called upon to do so. A new study reports that the surrogate’s role on our behalf may be lost in the translation between thought and deed.
A third of patients started on dialysis die within a year. Does that make the care futile?
Hospice provides comfort during the last months of life. But many patients requiring dialysis cannot, or do not, take advantage of this care. We need to do less harm.
Whether one is sick or well, the end of life tends to have its own unique story and reaction. There can be sudden deaths of less surprise to us than the final act of an unrelenting terminal disease. But why are we almost always a bit surprised to learn of someone's death?
At the end of life, how do you balance comfort and autonomy? An already-complicated emotional question is made even more difficult when your loved one is severely demented. Families and physicians face this dilemma every day.