This week – more about Medical Aid in Dying. The advocacy organization called End of Life Options Colorado and Dr Barbara Morris are all about education and access, for patients, families and physicians. If someone gets a sudden and terrible diagnosis, how can families quickly learn more? When is someone like Dr Barbara Morris called in? What role does End of Life Options Colorado play? The bottom line: if appropriate, Dr Morris can help get things done, and listening to these two weeks of BLBD will help you be informed.

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Everyone I meet has questions about Medical Aid in Dying. What is it? Where is it legal? Who chooses this and why? What are the requirements for eligibility? Join me and Dr Barbara Morris to learn more, bust some myths, and come away with a better understanding of what this end of life option is and what it isn’t. Time to get curious!

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This week, I’m again joined by Janet Booth, MA, RN and Trish Rux, RN to talk about their book Dying Matters: 8 Conversations That Can Change Your Life. In this episode, we explore the second half of the book, looking at what’s “behind the paperwork.” As Jan says, “The paperwork might lay down the law, but what’s the spirit behind that law?” Given that most Americans have not completed their advance directives – and that many medical decisions are made in moments of crisis – and that even when paperwork is in place, these decisions are rarely black and white but unfold in gray areas… I think you might want to listen to this episode!

For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠
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What if you found a book that would truly lay the groundwork for why conversations about the end of life matter so much? What if this book could jumpstart conversations with family, friends, and your community? What if it even had a Discussion Guide in the back, filled with ideas? This episode with Janet Booth, MA, RN and Trish Rux, RN explores the first four chapters of their new book Dying Matters: 8 Conversations That Can Change Your Life. This one is my new favorite to recommend!

For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠
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One of my most listened-to episodes, with Hospice Nurse Julie. Tune in to hear Julie, in her characteristic practical and charismatic way, describe what really happens when we die.

Key to know: we rarely die like we do in the movies. Instead, the body shuts down gradually. In this classic BLBD episode, this experienced hospice nurse walks us through what that process actually looks like. My hope is that it encourages you to say what you want to say now — today — because as someone nears the end, you can’t count on long conversations or even a moment when they are lucid to say what truly matters.

For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠
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Beverly Thorn knows dementia firsthand, and her book Before I Lose My Own Mind: Navigating Life as a Dementia Caregiver is an empowering, realistic guide for caregivers, friends, spouses, and anyone who will be touched by dementia. And guess what, folks? That’s pretty much all of us.

Estimates that focus specifically on Alzheimer’s dementia (the most prevalent form of dementia) put the number at about 7.2 million Americans age 65+ in 2025 – meaning that around 1 in 9 seniors has Alzheimer’s dementia. Beverly shares with us her experience and her hard-won wisdom. I highly recommend this discussion and this book!

For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠
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How do we talk about aging in a way that actually helps us live better? In this episode of Best Life Best Death, we zoom out. Way out. Jacob Kendall and I look at aging not just as a personal experience, but as a cultural story and a national issue. What happens when we’re willing to widen the lens? Can thinking about the Big Picture get us talking more at our kitchen tables, as well as finding ways to create change in our political and medical systems? Let’s keep participating in larger cultural conversations about how we treat aging, illness, and the end of life.

For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠
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What is grief, really? And how do we actually work with it? In this conversation, Krista St-Germain offers a clear and humane definition: Grief is the natural human response to a perceived loss. From there, we explore how the goal isn’t to “get to the end” of grief; the goal is to integrate the loss into your life. We talk about the “dual process model” of grief, and how healing isn’t linear, but rather an oscillation between engaging with loss and stepping away from it. Another powerful part of healing is allowing the brain to update what is true now, instead of continually predicting from the past. And in a grief-illiterate culture, it’s important to say this clearly and Krista emphasizes this point: you cannot do grief wrong.

For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠
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Krista St-Germain knows the experience of grief, deeply. As a widow and coach, she is an expert at discussing this complex feeling. In this episode, we have a conversation about her life, her husband’s death, what it means to feel feelings, and the spiral of post-traumatic growth. She notes,“Every return to familiar emotions is an opportunity to meet them from a new level of capacity.” What does this invite you to consider in your own life? And how might it change the way you accompany friends and family through their toughest seasons?

For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠
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Rosanne Corcoran knows caregiving from the inside. When her mother moved in with vascular dementia, Rosanne became her primary caregiver for years, navigating the daily realities, emotional toll, and quiet endurance that so often go unseen. Today, she channels that lived experience into advocacy as a support-circle leader and podcast host with Daughterhood, a community built to reduce isolation and provide support to caregivers. With an estimated 63 million caregivers in the U.S., and 44% of them providing high levels of care, this conversation matters more than most of us realize.

As Rosanne puts it: “Caregivers at the core are isolated, overwhelmed, carrying guilt, and living with grief, and almost no one recognizes any of that.” If you are a caregiver – or know someone who is – listen in, share this episode, and help make the invisible labor of caregiving visible.

For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠
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