Final Gifts
by Maggie Callanan
& Patricia Kelley

CHOICES

Living with Cancer
Dying with dignity
by Molly Sower Sugarman
20 page booklet
FREE download from PSA Rising
choicesbrochure.pdf Second Edition
(2.16Mb)

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Hospice, End of Life Care

Patients need better idea of when they will die, doctors say Doctors who refer terminally ill patients to hospice care are overoptimistic, say University of Chicago researchers Elizabeth Lamont and Nicholas Christakis. Doctors expect patients entering hospice to live 5 times longer than they actually do. Death seems sudden and people miss chances to say goodbye.

Three good articles from hospicenet.org

A Dying Person's Guide To Dying by Roger C. Bone, M.D.

What Does Someone Dying Need? by Rex Winsbury

Helping Yourself Live When You Are Dying Dr. Alan D. Wolfelt

Aging with Dignity agingwithdignity.org

Their "Five Wishes document helps you express how you want to be treated if you are seriously ill and unable to speak for yourself.  It is unique among all other living will and health agent forms because it looks to all of a person's needs: medical, personal, emotional and spiritual .  Five Wishes also encourages discussing your wishes with your family and physician."

Compassion and Choices
a public membership organization

Has a phone counselling service - 800-247-7421
and and End of Life Consultatation Program
"Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit organization, improves care and expands choice at the end of life. We support, educate and advocate. "provides national leadership for client service, legal advocacy and public education to improve pain and symptom management, increase patient empowerment and self-determination and expand end-of-life choices to include aid-in-dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults."

"We work toward improved care and expanded options at life's end, with goals of comprehensive, effective comfort care for every dying person, and legal and humane aid-in-dying if suffering is unbearable and cannot be relieved."

Facing a Terminal Illness compassionandchoices.org

Living Wills and Advanced Directives compassionandchoices.org

ETHICAL WILLS

"What is an ethical will? Ethical wills are a way to share your values, blessings, life's lessons, hopes and dreams for the future, love, and forgiveness with your family, friends, and community." ethicalwill.com

HOSPICE ORGANIZATIONS & Resources

DyingWell.org Dr. Ira Byock , long time palliative care physician and advocate for improved end-of-life care, and a past president of the American Academy of  Hospice and Palliative Medicine, provides written resources,  as well as organizations, web sites and books to empower persons with life threatening illness and their families to live fully.

Hospice Foundation of America "On this page you can learn about hospice care, how to select a hospice and how to locate a hospice near you."

National Hospice Organization (USA)

Growth House International gateway to resources for life-threatening illness and end of life issues.

Caring Connections -- (caringinfo.org) -- a project of National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
caringinfo.org BROCHURES

Alliance for Care at the End of Life

The Palliative Care Policy Center (PCPC)
offers expert support to hospitals, nursing homes, health systems, hospices, and other organizations that serve individuals nearing the end of life.