It is unfortunate that Sarah Palin’s irresponsible dismissal of end-of-life counseling as ‘death panels’ has created more sound than light on how to deal with terminal illness. She has taken advantage of people’s fear of death while preventing substantive discussion on how to make the dying process more comfortable, less painful and less full of fear.
My wife Emily’s grandmother, Betty Jean Seal, died last week, in her own bed, surrounded by family who prayed and sang for her in her final hours. It was as she wished. Having received helpful advice and support from a variety of sources, Betty Jean was able to decide the surroundings in which she would die. She wanted to be close to family, friends and community, rather than isolated on a hospital ward. She wanted to be in the house that she had lovingly dusted, swept and vacuumed for decades.
We must take advantage of this time of opportunity in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, where illiteracy stands at 48% and unemployment is at 50%.
We have been hearing about health care all over the place recently: from screaming town hall meetings to vigils to facebook. I was reminded of something--strike that--someone, that has been left out of the debate: the global poor. I certainly agree that we need health care reform in the US so that more people are covered with better coverage.
As a matter of fact, for the last few days my facebook status has been: " Stephen Donahoe thinks that no one should die because they can not afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree please post this as your status for the rest of the day....let's get up to speed with the rest of the civilized world and take care of each other!"
Then a friend brought to my attention that the global poor are left out of this conversation.
In answer to What we are Doing about Global Warming from the last post---Please take a few seconds right now to sign this petition! There are already over 50,000 people that have signed the petition from ONE asking the Senate to make sure that a portion of the money from the climate bill goes toward helping the poorest people in the world deal with the effects of climate change. Add you voice too!
