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Welcome to the SevenPonds.com blog – a community-driven extension of SevenPonds.com! I hope you find comfort and community in the resources and stories featured here. I’m always happy to hear from readers and can be reached at suzette@sevenponds.com.
FEATURED
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Buddhism and the Eastern Middle Ground: In Buddhist tradition, our death falls into a plane of existence that continues even after our final breath -
10 Facts About Hospice Care You May Not Know" />
10 Facts About Hospice Care You May Not Know: NHPCO stresses that hospice is about living fully, not preparing for death. -
Man of Many Faces" />
Man of Many Faces: A niece says goodbye to her favorite gay uncle, in whom she confided about her own sexuality
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Tag Archives: Aid in Dying
In the News: Will Vermont Be the First Legislature to Approve an Aid-in-Dying Bill?
This week they debate a bill similar to Oregon and Washington state ballot initiative laws
Before the Vermont legislature is set to adjourn Saturday, the Senate is still uncertain whether it will pass aid-in-dying legislation, modeled after Oregon’s and Washington state’s Death with Dignity laws approved via ballot initiatives (rather than in legislation). Vermont’s Governor Peter Shumlin … Continue reading
What is the Nature of Sound Healing? An Interview with Silvia Nakkach, Part 2
How sound and music can aid at the end of life
This is the second of our two-part interview with Silvia Nakkach, an innovative, award winning composer, multi-instrumentalist, voice culturist and author. Her specialties include music to aid in the healing process. Founding director of the Vox Mundi Project, an organization … Continue reading
Film Review: “Kevorkian” (2010)
A fascinating portrait of a controversial man and his fight for what he believed in
These days Dr. Jack Kevorkian, sadly enough, is not generally associated with a courageous, eccentric, and by many accounts visionary doctor, but rather with his unfortunate moniker: “Dr. Death.” Yet perhaps such a handle is fitting. It is by his … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged 60 Minutes, Aid in Dying, Assisted Suicide, Controversy, Jack Kevorkian
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Literary Review: “Undertaker Please Drive Slow” by Jo Ann Beard
Delving into the grey area between fact and fiction for a compelling true story
In December 1997, Cheri Tremble made the decision to engage in assisted dying, with the help of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Several years later Jo Ann Beard wrote about it. Cheri, who recovered from breast cancer only to lose feeling in … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged Aid in Dying, Cancer, Cancerous State, cheri tremble, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, Jo Ann Beard
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An Interview with Doctor C
How doctors can make a killing keeping end-of-life patients "alive"
This is a repost from April 2010. This is an interview with an oncologist at a leading cancer treatment center in Tucson, Arizona. We will call him Doctor C. Aurora: What question do you most often receive as an oncologist? … Continue reading
Posted in Professional Advice
Tagged Aid in Dying, end-of-life, Hospice Care, Oncology
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Remembering Her Life
Caring for my mother-in-law in her final days
This is the story of Candace, as told by Katie Ryan. I didn’t know my mother-in-law very well before she moved in with us. It wasn’t my choice, actually; my husband just knew we were the only ones who could … Continue reading
Posted in Opening our Hearts
Tagged Aid in Dying, Cancer, Caregiving, Cremation, Death, end-of-life, Health, Hospice, Losing a Parent, Loss of a Loved One, Mother-in-law, Parkinson's disease, past life
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The Ongoing Aid-in-Dying Debate
A Panel of Experts In Hawaii Have Concluded that Physician-Assisted Dying is Legal
Hawaii may be on its way to becoming the fourth state that legalizes physician-assisted dying. A ten-person panel of experts on Hawaii law, medicine, elder care, legislation, and end-of-life issues convened in Honolulu, in a conference aptly titled, Is Physician-Assisted … Continue reading
Physician-Assisted Aid-in-Dying: A New Front in the Culture Wars?
The End-of-Life Debate Heats Up
A new front in the so-called culture wars may well be forming. All the factors are there: a vast disparity of opinions reinforced by geographic and cultural segregation, passionately-defended religious mores pitted against the social and economic motives of those … Continue reading
The Detroit Triangle of Death Changes
How cryonics, aid-in-dying, and the state of the funeral trade came to be known
The passing of Jack Kevorkian on Friday was particularly profound for me; not only because I hold a special place in my heart for the issue he championed, aid-in-dying — but also because Kevorkian resided in Michigan, near my hometown. … Continue reading
Posted in Sharing Suzette
Tagged Aid in Dying, Cryonics, Funeral Homes, Funeral Industry, Funeral Trade, Kevorkian, Robert Ettinger, Thomas Lynch
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Today: Dr. Jack Kevorkian, Pioneer for Physician-Assisted Suicide, Dies at 83
While “Dr. Death” has passed on, his aid-in-dying legacy continues
“Dying is not a crime” —Dr. Kevorkian As the topic of aid-in-dying heats up across the nation like never before, it seems fitting that Jack Kevorkian departs us — the man who first sparked the public debate on (so-called) “physician-assisted … Continue reading
Posted in Just Passed
Tagged Aid in Dying, Biography, Kevorkian, physician assisted suicide
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What is Aid in Dying? An Interview with Carole van Aelstyn
Compassion & Choices talks to SevenPonds about advance directives, aid in dying, and beginning the conversation...
Compassion & Choices is an end-of-life education and advocacy organization dedicated to assisting the terminally ill and enhancing end-of-life options, including aid in dying. Carole van Aelstyn is the Client Support Coordinator for Northern California. She has been a nurse … Continue reading
Film Review: How to Die With Pathos
HBO’s How to Die in Oregon is a Heart-Wrenching Experience
Peter Richardson’s documentary How to Die in Oregon, which premiered last night on HBO, is not easy viewing. Throughout its 108 minutes people die, discuss their death beforehand, say last goodbyes to their children, and slog through the last stages … Continue reading
What are Home Funerals? An Interview with Ann-Ellice Parker
The inspiring woman behind "Seasons of Change" home funeral services
Ann-Ellice Parker is the wonderfully insightful “death midwife” who runs Seasons of Change home funeral and end-of-life practice in Berkeley, CA. Join SevenPonds for an extra in-depth interview about death and dying, home funerals, aid in dying, and more… Aurora: … Continue reading
Posted in Professional Advice
Tagged Aid in Dying, Dying at Home, Dying Compassionately, Home Funeral, Hospice, Organ Donation, Palliative Care, Suicide
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What is NODA? An Interview with Carleen McCornack
The Program Coordinator of No One Dies Alone enlightens and uplifts, sharing her experience with death and dying
No One Dies Alone is a wonderfully compassionate, volunteer-driven service pioneered through the Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, OR. Carleen McCormack is the Program Coordinator. She can be reached at 541.222.2263 or cmccornack@peacehealth.org. Aurora: What is the history of No … Continue reading
Posted in Professional Advice
Tagged Aid in Dying, Caregiving, Palliative Care, Spirituality and Belief, Volunteer Services
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The Legal Progress of Aid in Dying
Does an Election in Vermont Suggest a Changing Political Reality?
There are a handful of issues in American politics that consistently enflame passions, aggravate divisions, and defy solutions. Debates over the death penalty, abortion, and Second Amendment protection call into question our basic understanding of life and its relation to … Continue reading
An Interview with Doctor C
How doctors can make a killing keeping end-of-life patients "alive"
This is an interview with an oncologist at a leading cancer treatment center in Tucson, Arizona. We will call him Doctor C. Aurora: What question do you most often receive as an oncologist? Dr. C: “How do you stand it?” … Continue reading
Posted in Professional Advice
Tagged Advance Care Directives, Aid in Dying, Cancer, Hospice, Palliative Care
4 Comments
The Afterlife Euthanasia Device
by Dunne & Raby
The Afterlife Battery project, organized by designers Auger Loizeau in 2009, asked 15 selected participants what they would do with an afterlife battery, charged by either themselves or a loved one. One of our favorite interpretations was by design duo … Continue reading
Six Ways to Give Your Loved One the Best Death Possible
“The weariest and most loathed worldly life that age, ache, penury and imprisonment can lay on nature, is a paradise to what we fear of death.” — Claudio in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure Years ago, when my mother cared for … Continue reading
Posted in Sharing Suzette
Tagged Aid in Dying, Caregiving, Dying at Home, Dying Compassionately, Easing Pain, Palliative Care
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