BY SUSAN M. MATHEWS, PhD, RN, MSBE There are more than 250,000 people in the U.S. at the end stages of heart failure. Of those about 15 percent are in critical need of a heart transplant. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) tightly regulates organ transplant programs and can halt reimbursement if they […]
BY DANIEL GAITAN | daniel@lifemattersmeia.org A growing movement is bringing peace and love to dying hospice patients across the globe. Threshold Choir boasts more than 240 groups with about 2,700 volunteers across North America, Europe and Asia. The nonprofit offers free beside vigils for men and women nearing death. “We’re death– and tear-phobic in our […]
BY SUSAN M. MATHEWS, PhD, RN, MSBE Have you ever found yourself singing along to all of the lyrics of a song you knew in high school but can’t remember what someone told you last week? Well, there may be a scientific basis for this amazing recall. A research team from the Boston University Alzheimer’s […]
Is physician-assisted dying/suicide just the first step onto the slippery slope of normalizing suicide?
An overwhelming 80% of Americans want to die at home but the reality is that 60% die in the hospital and another 20% die in a nursing home.