A GOOD DEATH

I have helped care for two people who died of terminal cancer. Both people wanted to die at home. One was able to die at home and one died in the hospital.

The difference was that home care was available to the person who died at home. There is NO WAY the team of caretakers who took care of my friend who died at home could have done it without the help of home health care provided by Kaiser. We could not bathe her when she could no longer stand up. Kaiser sent someone to bathe her three times a week. The home health people trained us in how to care for her, and provided the drugs that kept her from having too much pain.

You do not have to die in a hospital connected to tubes. It is actually less expensive to provide home health care than hospital care.

NO ONE involved in health care decisions is going to allow you to die at home, unless, when you were clearly able to understand the decision you were making, you made the decision to die at home. ALL HEALTH CARE PEOPLE will err on the side of caution. Without a Health Care Directive, YOU WILL die in the hospital connected to tubes and they will revive you as often as necessary to keep you alive until they can no longer keep you alive.

IT IS YOUR CHOICE HOW YOU DIE. But you MUST make that choice while you are well enough to choose.

A California Health Care Directive, sometimes called a Power of Attorney for Health Care, is available at www.LawandLaws.com Click on forms. This form does not require a notarized signature, but I recommend a notarized signature. Do NOT have the witnesses be people who are named in the form.

Congress has been trying to help with this by offering counseling regarding end of life decisions. It was never intended to make your decision for you. It is a way to choose to HAVE A GOOD DEATH.