Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 20, 1993 TAG: 9306220351
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: D-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
I empathize with her for having experienced her husband's pain-filled days and subsequent death. However, I'm troubled by the fact that she "had nothing to help [her] help him die." She is apparently unaware of the alternative that is out there for the asking - hospice. It is through lack of information and articles that the public remains unaware.
Mrs. Norman-Culp's objective may have been to show support for Dr. Kevorkian's assisted suicide, to lash out at those medical professionals who discharged her husband without having arranged for proper support, or to purge her own feelings and work through her grief. These motives are legitimate, and she has every right to a voice.
Each one of us has the right to more options for health care in the terminal phase of illness. But please don't think the only choice is between suicide or lonesome, terrifying agony. Hospice lies between these extremes.
Hospice is a team of professionals whose primary goal is to prevent or at the very least minimize "merciless days." It provides emotional, spiritual and physical support to those suffering from a terminal illness. Through the direction of a physician, hospice uses sophisticated methods to control pain and symptoms that enable the patient to live as fully and comfortably as possible. It offers help and support to the patient and family on a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week basis.
A well-organized community health-care system with hospice to offer would have made hospice known to the doctors in Mrs. Norman-Culp's area. It is the responsibility of the physician to order hospice care, so that the patient and family do not find themselves alone and ill-equipped to manage their own lives and deaths. SUSAN W. HOGG Executive Director Rockbridge Area Hospice LEXINGTON
by CNB