a doctor recommends transition to hospice.

I wish more people spoke with their elderly family members about what they would want as they approach end of life. I don’t think most people understand that allowing death to occur naturally is not the same as suicide. There is almost always something we can do to technically keep you alive.

We can pump food directly into your stomach when you can’t eat

We can put you on a ventilator when you can’t breath

We can start dialysis when your kidneys shut down

We can put you on ECMO when your heart can’t pump


While on one hand it is great that we have such great technology to preserve life, unfortunately it means that people now need to specify just how far they are willing to go and under what circumstances to stay alive