Stanford and University of California alumni Sandra Lim reads from The Wilderness on April 7, 2015, at Prairie Lights. As an alumna from the International Writing Program Lim was making her return back to Iowa City after 11 years. In The Wilderness Lim reads a collection of poems about love, spring and one poem that caught my attention was about the individual struggle of one's body within one’s mind. The poems are open to many interpretations but that is the way that I chose to interpret that poetry in particular. The interesting thing about Lim’s poem is how describes the body parts in some of her poems. It is very vague. It almost makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable but at the same time, I really like her style. The way she describes…
Physician-assisted suicide raises many ethical and moral issues. For patients who advocate for PAS, they acknowledged that the act promotes human dignity, autonomy, and is a humanizing act to end their suffering. PAS is an act of healing for the terminal sick to help end their daily struggles and many see it as a dignified choice. It is evident from patients’ voice and Dr. Byock testimonials strikes the heart of the senseless need to keep the terminal ill alive. Along with the inevitable deaths comes costly medical expenses that can better serve to improve the country and the communities’ welfare.…
It’s in our sick and dying bed that we are sadly given no other task but to evaluate all our years of living. The body no longer full of vigor nor fight, the heart heavy form sorrows past; the footsteps of death nocking at the door serve as an earnest call to evaluate and make peace with all we did in life. Suddenly, its time to review the many chronicles that compose our life story. As I look back on my life I am overwhelmed with grief. I grieve not for missed opportunities, God knows I seized every opportune moment. I grieve for the misjudgment of my ambitious endeavors, which will be forever erroneously highlighted and remain an eternal blemish upon my legacy.…
Death causes the Bundren family to deal with change. Each character selects a unique way to cope with the family’s loss. By coping, the characters satisfy personal motives while simultaneously moving on with their lives. Coping mechanisms differ in the character’s emotional connection or “closeness” with death. Ranging from a strong emotional relationship to complete separation and dissociation, the “close” spectrum charts a character’s effectiveness in coping with death. As Faulkner addresses the idea of closeness he tests the constraints of emotional connection. Can the emotional connection become too “close,” enough to drive someone to the brink of insanity? As I lay Dying offers insight and response…
A terminal illness can have a devastating effect, not only on the patient, but the family as well. Caring for the patient does not just involve physically caring for the patient, but rather involves the holistic care, which is “all nursing practice that has healing the whole person as its goal” (American Holistic Nurses’ Association, 1998). The nurse becomes the therapeutic partner, which involves the care of the mind, body, and spirit, and is at the forefront of this care. It involves the patient and the care of the family during this difficult time.…
1.1 Caring for patients at the end of life is a challenging task that requires not only the consideration of the patient as a whole but also an understanding of the family, social, legal, economic, and institutional circumstances that surround patient care.…
Instead of embracing this act of death, we should respond to suffering with compassion and solidarity. (Anderson, Screen 1) Many of the patients seeking to end their lives in this way usually suffer from depression or other mental illnesses, but also from loneliness. Instead of us giving them pills to kill them, the doctors should provide the suitable medical care they need. As for the patients in physical pain, pain management drugs can be administered to improve their quality of life. The terminally ill patients are provided with hospice care and fellowship to accompany them on their last days of life. Doctors should help their patients die a dignified death of natural causes, not assist in killing them. (Anderson, Screen 1) Physicians take the oath to always heal and care, never to kill intentionally. Palliative care focuses on the patient’s quality of life and improving it by alleviating pain and other distressing symptoms of a serious illness. At any age or stage in illness, palliative care is available to help improve the patient’s life as a whole. It does not matter if the illness is curable, chronic, or even life-threatening, medicine can improve your symptoms dramatically, helping you live with your…
It is a necessity that nurses recognize their own feelings regarding death and dying and have a strong ethical framework in order to support the end-of-life wishes of their patients (Butts & Rich, 2013). Even if one is resolute in their own moral standing, cases such as Mr. T.’s may be emotionally exhausting.…
The end of one’s life, for many people, is not easy. It can be extremely painful. Some doctors, who have treated people who were terminally ill and dying, say that sometimes it can be gruesome. At times to the point that,…
Despite advanced medical technology that has successfully saved and prolonged the lives of patients, it is just a means of prolonging suffering for the terminally ill. While medicine aims to alleviate any pain a patient endures, the only assistance medical technology provides terminal patients is continual agony. Therefore, individuals like Kathy Myers reach out to doctors in hopes of receiving medication. After a decade…
The Percent of public who support euthanasia for the terminally ill or on life support is approximately 86 percent. Despite this, euthanasia or assisted suicide is only legal in four states in the US: Montana, Vermont, Washington, and New Mexico. Because of the illegality of euthanasia in most places, it is a wide spread crime in most cases outside these states, although, these terminally ill patients are suffering terribly without cure. An example of someone who committed this “crime” is nurse and activist, Barbara Huttman, a nurse from the San Francisco region, a patients’ rights writer, and proponent of legislature for terminally ill patients. The following article, “A Crime of Compassion” is a narrative written by Huttman and which appeared in Newsweek as a heart-wrenching story of Huttman’s struggle with a terminally ill patient in horrid suffering who’s right to die with dignity can’t be exercised. Huttman accomplishes her purpose to enact support for death for those terminally ill patients suffering by using extremely emotional moments, incredibly graphic moments, showing us the emotional bonds with the patient and his family as the story develops, along with the use of a multitude of literary devices.…
1. Imagine yourself lying in bed in constant pain, not even physically able to stand up or roll yourself over. Now imagine living through that agonizing pain every day for months. That is the sad reality of many terminally ill patients around the US, as well as the world.…
Throughout the course, it has become increasingly clearer how healthcare professionals play in to the role of end-of-life care for patients. Although I have not chosen a path in hospice or palliative care, it has become evident that end-of-life cares will be part of my nursing career regardless. As a nursing professional, it is important to remain a patient advocate throughout the end-of-life care process by ensuring ethical decision-making, continuing effective communication, and providing best practice and advice for pain and symptom management.…
The patient chosen for this essay is a sixty year old man. This patient was one of the palliative care patients that the team of district nurses I was allocated to work with in my community placement care for. The patient has terminal liver cancer. The patient lives with his wife whom is his main carer. The district nurses had to visit him every day of the week. The patient had a syringe driver on situ which needed to be filled with a new dose of medication every 24 hours. Also the extension set needed to be changed to the other side of the patient’s body when the side it was on became sore. The main care needs for the patient were to palliate physical symptoms and maintain independence for as long and as comfortably as possible.…
“Pain looms large in the thoughts of most people at the very mention of cancer, and looms even larger in the arguments of those who would have others adopt euthanasia. However, at least a third of all patients dying…