Ep. 439 Medical Aid in Dying: A Chaplain’s Perspective with Rev. Dr. Terri Daniel  
 
This episode aired on 1/22/24 on Dr. Karen Wyatt's
END OF LIFE UNIVERSITY podcast.

This episode includes:
 
. The history of medical aid in dying in Oregon
. How EOLCOR (End-of-Life Choices Oregon) assists people who want to utilize medical aid in dying
. The wide variations in hospice policies around medical aid in dying
. Dilemmas around communicating with family members who don’t support MAID
. How MAID differs from suicide and why we need to understand that difference
. A beautiful end-of-life ritual Terri created for a person utilizing MAID
. Why some chaplains feel conflicted about supporting medical aid in dying
. Religious objections to MAID
. The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy about MAID in some hospices
. Dementia directive for advance care planning

Recent Articles:
Ep. 438 How to Choose the Best Hospice for Your Loved One with Barbara Karnes RN
Ep. 437 Holding Space for Birth and Death with Amy Wright Glenn
BONUS: Casting Call for Docuseries on Grief with Kim Clevenger
Ep. 436 Highlights of 2023: The Best of the Best with Karen Wyatt MD
Ep. 435 Home Funerals as an Option After Death with Jerrigrace Lyons

TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER AND STAY INFORMED ABOUT UPCOMING WORKSHOPS, EVENTS AND PODCAST EPISODES, CLICK HERE. 

Dr. Deborah Aronson is a Philadelphia veterinarian who has a unqiue background for her work in end-of-life care for animals and grief support for the people that love them.  At one point in her career, after she'd had a private veterinary practice for several years, she trained as chaplain in a human hospital to develop her spiritual care skills. Observing the suffering of dying patients on life support created a stark contrast with the compassion we show to our pets when they face life-threatening illness or injury.

Deborah Aronson VMD, cVMA, has been working in small animal primary care since graduating from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in 2001. In 2008 she launched Final Blessings, a housecall euthanasia service specific to cats. She obtained certification in veterinary medical acupuncture in 2014, and then launched Main Line Veterinary Integrative Practice LLC, offering in-home palliative and end of life care for all small animals.

Deborah  has followed her passion in providing spiritual care by volunteering as a NOMV Lifeboat peer supporter and advocate, as well as intensive interfaith chaplaincy training in clinical pastoral education (CPE). 

TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER AND STAY INFORMED ABOUT UPCOMING WORKSHOPS, EVENTS AND PODCAST EPISODES, CLICK HERE. 

CONTENT WARNING!

This conversation addresses bodily death and disposition, and contains graphic descriptions of what happens to a body during death, mortuary care, decomposition, cremation and more. If these topics are uncomfortable for you, listen with caution (or skip this episode). 

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Dr. Wyatt and Dr. Daniel talk with Michaelene Dowers, an Indiana-based funeral director who is licensed in seven states and teaches  courses in funeral services for death care professionals who seek guidance in culturally or socially sensitive decedent care.

With nearly a decade of experience as a funeral director in Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, California, Indiana, Oregon, and Idaho, Michaelene is experienced at navigating the many variations in funeral service law and protocol found throughout the United States. 

She holds a  B.A. in religious studies from Grand Canyon University, an M.A. in emergency/crisis management from American Military University, and an M.A. in thanatology (study of death and dying, grief, loss and bereavement) from Marian University that will have conferred in Summer of 2023. Michaelene currently serves as an adjunct professor in the funeral service degree programs at Mid-America College of Funeral Service and at Arapahoe Community College in Denver, as well being a visiting lecturer in funeral service at other colleges nationwide.

LINKS OF INTEREST... 

Tales from the Lawn Crypt podcast: https://www.instagram.com/talesfromthelawncrypt/

Tales from the Lawn Crypt Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/talesfromthelawncrypt

Funeral Service Education:
https://www.instagram.com/quietus_bee

Contact Michaelene:
[email protected] 

Dr. Korie Leigh is a child life specialist and grief counselor whose new book What Does Grief Feel LIke is for chidren who are grieving, and includes a guide for parents and caregivers on how to support a child's journey through loss and grief.   

In this episode Dr. Leigh addresses an array of topics, incuding pet death, preparing children for attending funerals, the best (and the worst) language to use when talking to children  about death, and the importance of death education in early childhood.

The book can be purchased in all the usual places, but we recommend purchasing it from www.bookshop.org, which helps to support local bookstores.    
 

About Dr. Leigh

With training as a child life specialist and grief counselor, Dr. Korie Leigh has spent over 16 years specializing in working with children and families experiencing grief and loss. As an associate professor and program director, she teaches graduate courses on child development, death, dying, and bereavement.  Dr. Leigh obtained her Ph.D. in transpersonal psychology, where she wrote her dissertation on the lived experiences of bereaved parents. She also holds an M.A. in public health and grief counseling and a B.A. in child development. She speaks and presents at national and regional conferences on issues of grief, loss, and coping. Dr. Leigh lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

 Rev. Caffie Risher is a Christian pastor and grief counselor who is deeply aware  of the presence of toxic theology in scripture and in the teachings of the church. She infuses her ministry for the bereaved with clear, critical thinking and a non-dogmatic approach to spirituality in the process of grief and mourning.  

Caffie has early recollections of walking dirt roads in the south with her grandmother  Jessie Mae where they would take care of relatives and community members when there was a death in the family or if someone was sick and needed help.  Both her mother, Earlene Williams Risher, and grandmother taught her Christ-care, compassion, and pastoral concern for others at an early age.

 For Caffie, it is life’s experiences, her own mortality, death of loved ones, personal loss, grief, educational experiences, and certifications that have all shaped and equipped her for this journey to minister hope and healing to those who are hurting. 

In 2002 she  was appointed to the position of “Minority Scholar” teaching public speaking and introduction to business courses at Passaic County Community College.  Eighteen years later she holds the position of a tenured Assistant Professor and Academic Coordinator of Public Speaking in the Fine and Performing Arts Department.  She teaches Public Speaking, Business Communication, Business Writing, and Death and Dying courses.  She also serves as chair of the Distinguished Lecturer Series and faculty advisor to the Power in Christ Christian Club who won the Emerging Club Award for excellent campus involvement and exceptional leadership.

Prior to this, she held a post at New York Theological Seminary where she taught for several years in the Certificate of Ministry program.   

For more on this topic, read this article:
Does the Hebrew Bible Sanctify Mass Murder… and Disregard the Resulting Trauma?

In the field of death and bereavement studies, Dr. Ken Doka is one of today's premiere thought leaders and researchers  (his publications and credits are too numerous to list, but you can find them all HERE). To name just a few,  he's written and/or co-authored numerous books that are used as required texts in college courses on psychology and grief, including:

. Dying & Death: Life & Living
. When We Die: Extraordinary Experiences at Life’s End
. Living with Grief since COVID-19
. Intimacy and Sexuality during Illness and Loss
.  Aging America: Coping with loss, dying, and death in later life
. Transforming Loss: Finding Potential for Growth
. When Grief Is Complicated,  
. The Longest Loss: Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia
. Helping Adolescents Cope with Loss

... and many more.

In addition to these books, he has published over 100 articles and book chapters.  Dr. Doka is editor of both Omega: The Journal of Death and Dying and Journeys: A Newsletter to Help in Bereavement. He has an ongoing blog for Psychology Today entitled Good Mourning.

We are delighted to welcome him as a presenter  in our upcoming
SYMPOSIUM ON DEATH AND BEREAVEMENT STUDIES.

We are very excited to presesnt this interview with Robert A. Neimeyer, Ph.D., who is among the leading researchers in the field of death and bereavement. His work is legendary, and when you listen to this podcast, you'll find him to be extremely compassionate, articulate and wise. 

Dr. Neimeyer is a professor in the department of psychology, University of Memphis, and also serves as director of the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition, which offers training and certification in grief therapy.  Since completing his doctoral training  in 1982, he has published 30 books, including a series of volumes on Techniques of Grief Therapy and Grief and the Expressive Arts, the latter with Barbara Thompson, and serves as Editor of the journal Death Studies.

He has published more than  500 articles and book chapters, and is currently working to advance a more adequate theory of grieving as a meaning-making process, both in his published work and through his frequent professional workshops for national and international audiences. 

Neimeyer served as president of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), and chair of the International Work Group for Death, Dying, & Bereavement. In recognition of his  contributions, he has been granted the Eminent Faculty Award by the University of Memphis, made a fellow of the clinical psychology division of the American Psychological Association, and given Lifetime Achievement Awards by both the Association for Death Education and Counseling and the International Network on Personal Meaning.

Related Links of Interest:
The Portland Institute for Loss and Transistion
Robert Neimeyer website
Robert Neimeyer's books
Symposium on Death and Bereavement Studies
Marian University Thanatology Program
 

Hello friends!

In preparation for a training program I'm designing for a local hospice, I've decided to record this commentary on the "stage theory" of grief so that this information can be easily accessible to students.  It's a short episode, and it's loaded with important information for anybody who works professionally with bereavement, or for any bereaved person who wants to better understand the mourning process. 

Here are some of the supportive materials I mentioned in the podcast. Perhaps the most important -- and most relevant to this conversation -- is the first one, Stroebe & Schut's discussion about the stages of grief:

. Bereaved Persons Misguided Through the Stages of Grief
. Therese Rando’s “Six Rs of Mourning”
. William Worden’s “Tasks of Mourning.” 

When a child is terminally ill, parents agonize over how to tell the child about their prognosis, and how to decide when to stop treatment when a cure is no longer possible. Their anguish is fueled by a range of ethical, emotional and spiritual dilemmas, and there is never an easy or an obvious answer.

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Steinhorn, an academic pediatrician who practices intensive care and hospice medicine for children.  He led the Judith Nan Joy Integrative Medicine Research Initiative at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago from 2002-2010 and founded palliative care programs at major children’s hospitals.  He is currently developing children’s hospice programs in Washington, DC and San Diego, California.  Dr. Steinhorn has additional training in energy medicine, yoga, meditation, and shamanism, studying with teachers from the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, the Four Winds Society, and Dr. Carl Greer, and has brought shamanic healing approaches to his critical care practice in children’s hospitals across the country.   

LINKS:

To learn more about Dr. Steinhorn's work, click HERE.

Watch Dr. Steinhorn and his collaborator Jana Din demonstrate their transpersonal medicine approach  in this nationally broadcast television segment titled "Shamans in the ICU." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBQ7QKmHwAY

Since the beginning of human thought, we've pondered the great metaphysical question,  "What happens when we die?" But now, thanks to modern medical technology, a new question has emerged that has practical, down-to-earth implications...  "What happens when we don't die?"

In today's episode, Dr. Karen Wyatt and Dr. Terri Daniel explore an aspect of end-of-life care that is not often discussed, and may even be a bit difficult to listen to.  Because today we're talking about about the horrors of life extension,  and we give some powerful examples of what happens when we're kept alive far past the point when the body is ready to die a natural death.  It's an uncomfortable topic, because it addresses scenarios and outcomes that could  potentially apply to any of us.   

RELATED LINKS: 

. Oregon Death with Dignity Q&A
. Dementia Provision for Advance Directives
. End-of-Life University podcast
. The Conference on Death, Grief and Belief


RELATED STATISTICS:

. The population of Americans  65 and older is projected to grow from 58 million in 2021 to 88 million by 2050

 
 . In 1901, only 50 percent of white females survived to the age of 60 years, and only about 5 percent of those survived to the age of 90.  By contrast, in In 2004, about 90 percent of white females survived to the age of 60, and more than 25 percent   survived to the age of 90.[2]

. While older adults comprise just 12% of the population, they make up approximately 18% of suicides. men ages 85 and older having the highest rate of any group in the country  [3]

[1] https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf
[2]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK51841/#:~:text=Only%204.5%20percent%20(about%201.5,million)%20live%20in%20the%20community.
[3] https://www.ncoa.org/article/suicide-and-older-adults-what-you-should-know