Earlier this week, Dr. Scott Morris, founder of the Church Health Center, wrote a column for the Health and Fitness section about dying with dignity. So we asked Morris? fellow Faith in Memphis panelists to address the same topic: When it is clear someone we know is nearing death, how do we help them (as clergy, family, friends) die with dignity? Here are several excerpts. Read all the complete responses at faithinmemphis.com.
Dr. Rick Donlon
Christ Community Health Services
The chief obstacles to dying with dignity are love of money and fear of death. An insider?s secret: doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and medical technology/device producers all make lots of money providing products or services to dying Americans. What creates such an irresistible market for health care services? Our collective fear of death. Patients and families will embrace any measure, regardless of cost or real benefit, hoping somehow to delay the inevitable. Dying with dignity cannot happen unless the fear of death is honestly faced.
Elaine Sanford
HER Faith Ministries
In the summer of 2008, we found out that my sister was losing her battle with breast cancer. We all made an effort to talk less and to allow her to share with us whatever feelings, concerns or fears she might be experiencing. We agreed we would not transfer our feelings to her. At first, she expressed concerns that no door be closed to her room and that she never be left alone. We assured her that we would never leave her side throughout her transition. We asked whether she wanted us to read the Bible and sing to her. She did. Since none of us were singers, you might imagine this was a real highlight for her. She loved to laugh.
Micah Greenstein
Temple Israel
I have learned from being with people as they die that what they fear most is not death itself. They fear two primary things: being in pain and being alone. Death is a haven to the weary and a relief to the sorely afflicted. A St. Jude child in my congregation who died peacefully taught me that by taking care of these two things ? alleviating pain and surrounding that precious soul with love ? he was able to leave this world with dignity and in peace. Faith teaches that whenever the time comes for our bodies to let go, God holds on.
Dr. Bashar Shala
Memphis Islamic Center
This week I was about to start a routine procedure on a clinically stable patient who happened to be a physician. After he shook my hand, he told me: ?I don?t want life support!? I am yet to meet a physician who wants prolonged life support for himself. Life support has an important role in medical care; however, it should not be part of ?end-of-life? care. It only prolongs the inevitable. Sometimes it is responsible for prolonged suffering by the patient and the family. It has contributed to a national crisis of health care.
Source: http://kwindur.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/the-faith-in-memphis-panel-dying-with-dignity-2/
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