Tag: MAID

EOLPodcast

Ep. 558 Filling the Gaps in End-of-Life Education, Support, and Community with Suzanne B. O’Brien RN

kwyattmd

Learn about the need for more education around death, dying, and grief to help us create more compassionate communities that are better prepared for the end of life.

About the guest:

My return guest Suzanne O’Brien is the founder and CEO of Doulagivers Institute and a pioneer in the global Death Doula movement. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her contribution to end-of-life care around the world and the author of the book The Good Death: A Guide for Supporting Your Loved Ones Through the End of Life. She discusses why this moment is right for expanding community education and awareness about end-of-life issues and how learning about death can help us fully live. In addition she describes her upcoming free webinar on “Death Doula Secrets” to mentor doulas on Suzanne’s framework for successful death doula business development. Learn more at her website:

doulagivers.com

Register for Death Doula Secrets Webinar:

August 5th August 13th

Get the book here.

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

In this episode:

  • The evolution of end-of-life care and education over the past 15 years
  • How COVID 19 awakened many people to the reality of mortality and exposed gaps in care
  • Families are still largely overwhelmed and uneducated about providing care for their loved ones at end of life
  • How political and healthcare decision-makers remain poorly informed about end of life issues
  • Suzanne’s experience of community death care while traveling in Zimbabwe many years ago and how it informed her current work
  • Why broader cultural change around death and dying requires mass education in our communities
  • We need to help people with their fear of death through education if we want to see more change
  • Options for the management of suffering at the end of life, including terminal sedation, are not fully understood by most people
  • Death is the greatest teacher about how to live
  • The importance of gratitude and presence for bringing meaning to life

Links mentioned in this episode:

Resources:

Related episodes:

Other links:

Transcript:

Suzanne O’Brien InterviewDownload
EOLPodcast

Ep. 549 The “Dying Team”: Community-Supported Deathcare with Anna Byrne

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Learn about a compassionate, community-based approach to caring for someone at the end of life, including the use of medical assistance in dying.

Portrait of a woman with long hair smiling, holding a book titled 'The Last Caravan' next to text about the 'Dying Team' focusing on community-supported healthcare.

My special guest Anna Byrne is and end-of-life educator, speaker, and author who holds degrees in Gerontology, Psychology, Education, and Theology with a thesis on Medical Assistance in Dying. She is the author of the memoir Seven Year Summer and The Last Caravan: The Power of Community at the End of Life, which we discuss today. She shares her experience supporting a friend through the last months of her life, including using MAID and also planning her funeral and burial. She has also co-founded Community-Supported Dying in the qathet region in British Columbia. Learn more at her website:

annambyrne.com

Get the book here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How Anna first became acquainted with Mary Morgan and eventually ended up supporting her in her dying process
  • How Mary approached her dying as an activist just as she had lived her life
  • The “dying team” Mary created to help her at the end of her life
  • How COVID complicated the plan for Mary’s last days
  • The Ring Theory for creating a support network
  • How her team used Lotsa Helping Hands to organize tasks and helpers
  • The Blessing Way ritual and how the team applied it to Mary’s care
  • The “messiness” of community, especially around the end of life
  • Anticipatory grief as the date of death approached
  • How they helped Mary plan and carry out her funeral and burial

Links mentioned in this episode:

AnnaByrneInterviewDownload
EOLPodcast

Ep. 548 Choice at the End of Life: A Bioethics Conversation on MAID with Jeffrey Kahn PhD in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics

kwyattmd

Learn about facts and misconceptions around medical aid in dying and the ethical tensions that exist in medicine and society.

Image of Jeffrey Kahn, a bioethics expert, alongside text promoting a podcast episode titled 'Choice at the End of Life' discussing medical assistance in dying (MAID).

My guest Professor Jeffrey Kahn is a bioethicist, researcher, author, and Director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. The institute’s award-winning podcast, playing god? explores ethics dilemmas that arise in medicine, science, law, and health policy. Today we discuss with Dr. Kahn the most recent episode of playing god?: I Need you to Help Me Die – an exploration of Medical Aid in Dying through first-person storytelling and expert analysis. This episode includes a clip from I Need You to Help Me Die and listeners are invited to listen to the full episode at the following link:

https://playing-god.transistor.fm/s2/1

Watch on YouTube

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This episode includes:

  • Why the Berman Institute chose to address medical aid in dying in their latest episode
  • The story of journalist Esmé Deprez and her father’s choice to use MAID
  • Why medical aid in dying is not the same as suicide
  • The difference between medically-assisted dying and euthanasia
  • The protections built into MAID laws that can also become obstacles
  • Ethical dilemma’s for healthcare providers
  • Why improved access to MAID is needed in states where it is legal

Links mentioned in this episode:

Jeffrey Kahn InterviewDownload
EOLPodcast

Ep. 433 Medical Aid in Dying: A Physician’s Perspective with Dr. Bob Uslander

kwyattmd

Learn about a unique medical practice that focuses on end-of-life issues for patients including medical aid in dying.

My guest Dr. Bob Uslander is an emergency medicine physician whose career evolved toward caring for the elderly and those facing the end of their lives. He created a novel approach to end-of-life care called Empowered Endings with his wife Elizabeth, a spiritual counselor and medical social worker, to ensure that patients and their loved ones have their decisions, goals and dignity honored at the end of life. Dr. Bob shares his experiences and thoughts around providing support for patients who choose to use Medical Aid in Dying. Learn more at his website:

www.empoweredendings.com

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How Dr. Bob got interested in working with patients at the end of life
  • The significant gaps that currently exist in palliative and end-of-life care for patients
  • Why his practice focuses on holistic care for both patients and their families
  • How Empowered Endings works along with hospice and fills in the gaps when hospice cannot provide care
  • The need for physicians to support patients who choose to use MAID
  • Why MAID providers should have some special training in this area in order to properly support patients and their families
  • What it’s like as a physician to provide medical support for patients choosing MAID
  • Advice for other physicians who may be considering supporting MAID

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu and to those who’ve bought me a coffee! Also many thanks to all of you who joined the $10 for 10 Years Campaign! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

EOLPodcast

Ep. 417 Dignity Day: A Guidebook for Medical Aid in Dying with Gabrielle Elise Jimenez

kwyattmd

Learn about a helpful guidebook to provide information and dispel fear around medical aid in dying.

My guest Gabrielle Elise Jimenez is a hospice nurse, an end-of-life doula, and a conscious dying educator. She is the author of 6 books and the host of The Hospice Heart Facebook group, which now has 140,000 members. We discuss her latest book Dignity Day, an informational guide for people who are considering or want to learn more about medical aid in dying, based on Gabby’s experiences with patients who have chosen this option in her home state of California. Learn more about Gabby’s work and join her Facebook group at the following links:

www.thehospiceheart.net

fb.com/thehospiceheart.net

Get the book here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • Why Gabby chose “Dignity Day” as a title for the book
  • The general requirements for using MAID in states where it is legal
  • What patients and their families should expect when they consult medical providers about MAID
  • How a hospice nurse or end-of-life doula can support a patient going through this process
  • The preparations needed before the medication is ingested
  • What it looks like when a person dies using MAID and how to prepare patients and loved ones for that
  • How to talk to loved ones who don’t support a patient’s decision to use MAID

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my newest donors Lorene Reyes, David Easton, Ed Modell, and thanks to Joan Roellchen-Pfohl for upping your pledge! Also many thanks to Dan and Judy Dickinson for buying some coffees and to all of you who joined the $10 for 10 Years Campaign! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.