BLOG: Log of Website Additions

• WEBLINKS: Religious & Spiritual:

• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Statement on "End of Life Decisions" (11/09/1992):

• "With this message, the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, upon the recommendation of the Division for Church in Society, addresses some timely aspects of end-of-life situations and encourages further deliberation on the topic throughout this church. This message does not deal with the full scope of these complex matters. It draws upon a relevant social statement, "Death and Dying," of a predecessor church body as basis for the guidance it offers."

• WEBLINKS: Death & Dying/Hospice:

• "Divorced parents contest life-sustaining feeding tube for brain-damaged adult daughter", posted by the Catholic News Agency (02/08/08).

• Excerpt: In a case recalling the conflict over Terri Schiavo, two divorced parents in Delaware are fighting over whether to continue life-sustaining nutrition for their brain-damaged adult daughter, the News Journal reports. Lauren Richardson, 23, has been in a so-called persistent vegetative state since overdosing on heroin in August 2006. Pregnant at the time, she was kept alive at a hospital with feeding tubes and a breathing machine until she gave birth in February 2007 to a healthy baby girl. Her parents Randy Richardson and Edith Towers are currently disputing whether her feeding tube should be removed.Towers, who says her daughter did not wish to live in such a state and wants the feeding tube removed, was awarded guardianship of Lauren in January. Her father Randy Richardson disagrees, "She's committed no crime and doesn't deserve to have this death imposed on her," he told the News Journal. He is appealing the ruling awarding guardianship to Towers, his ex-wife. The appeal will take three months. Lauren lacked any living will or advance directive recording her wishes in writing. * * *

• WEBLINKS: Medical Professionals:

• "Families chafe at physicians' power to give up life support" -- Courts left to decide who holds patient's fate, by Andria Simmons,published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (02/08/08).
• Excerpt: From a legal standpoint, being brain-dead is the same as being dead.Before a patient can be declared brain-dead, two doctors must evaluate the patient on two occasions. Dr. Michael Hartman, a neurologist at Emory Eastside Medical Center, routinely removes patients from machines that support organ function after he declares brain death. Hartman said the physicians have to make the tough decisions when families can't. "If you let them take control, they will never let go," Hartman said. "I realize this lack of control families must feel when we go in, but it's part of the job." Hawkins' lawyer, Crongeyer, says that stance is "kind of a scary [thing]." * * *

• WEBLINKS: Death & Dying / Hospice:

• Music Therapy Increasingly a Part of End-of-Life Care, (01/26/08):

• With a guitar and melodies ranging from gospel to country, Jennifer Trippe offers soothing sounds to a small audience far from the lights of a stage. She uses music to comfort terminally ill patients with Wiregrass Hospice in Dothan, one of about 250 music therapists across the country whose practice is devoted to the end-of-life experience. She says it helps if a patient is depressed. They even start singing along sometimes. * * *

• WEBLINKS: Medical Professionals:

• Scientific American,"When to let go? Medicine's top dilemma", by Tom Heneghan (07/16/07).
• Excerpt: "End-of-life issues top the list of ethical dilemmas hospitals face as medical progress enables doctors to extend an endangered life to the hard-to-determine point where they may actually only be dragging out death.* * * These patients used to just die naturally, but now it might be doctors, hospital ethics committees or courts that decide if and when to let them. The more science discovers, especially about the brain, the harder it can get to make that decision. * * *

• WEBLINKS: Religious & Spiritual:

• Daily Press:"Physical death does not mean the end of life" (07/07/07).
  
• Excerpt: "Recently, The Rev. Joy Gatling and I gave comfort and counsel to a young man whose fiancé had been brutally murdered in her apartment. The suddenness of this tragedy happening to someone he dearly loved had emotionally crushed him. The thought of not ever seeing her again was what grieved him the most. He was comforted when we explained why he would see his beloved again.* * *"

• WEBLINKS: Personal Stories:

• "Student's will aids in life or death decision", by Devin Culclasure, posted July 5, 2007, in the Independent Florida Alligator Online.

• Excerpt: The friends and family of Henry Crane, a UF chemistry senior, said he was always ready to help people. Now, even on life support, he's still helping.Crane, 21, was cycling on Archer Road near Shands at UF when a car struck him at about 9 a.m. Tuesday. * * * As of Wednesday evening, Shands medical staff was arranging recipients for Crane's organs. Crane's family members said he would be taken off life support early this morning. After the crisis over Terri Schiavo, Crane decided to create a living will at the age of 19. It was a comfort, Crane's mother said, because the family could follow his wishes exactly.

• WEBLINKS: Bereavement & Coping:

• Deits, Robert, Life After Loss: A Practical Guide to Renewing Your Life After Experiencing Major Loss:
• Published by Da Capo Press (2004), 256 pages.
  
• Synopsis: "Loss can be overwhelming, and recovery sometimes seems terribly daunting, if not impossible. * * * [T]he only way past grief is through it. In this newly revised edition of Life after Loss, Deits offers sound guidance for navigating the uncertain terrain of grief. With practical and compassionate advice, personal stories, and helpful exercises, Life after Loss is not just about understanding grief -- it's about doing something about it."