MADISON — SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital-Madison, in partnership with Home Health United, is hosting a free, community screening of the documentary Being Mortal on Wednesday, Nov. 16, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Sr. Mary Jean Ryan Conference Center.
After the screening, audience members can participate in a guided conversation on how to identify and communicate wishes about end-of-life goals and preferences.
MADISON — The 40 Days for Life campaign, a peaceful, non-denominational initiative that focuses on 40 days of prayer and fasting, peaceful vigils at abortion facilities, and grassroots educational outreach, kicks off on September 28.
“We know 40 Days for Life has made a difference in Madison. Our volunteers have made extraordinary sacrifices to expose the abortion industry and to protect children and their mothers from abortion,” said Gwen Finnegan, who is coordinating the local campaign this year.
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| John Bohn, M.D. |
Medical care decisions can be difficult, emotional, and often very confusing. And adding more forms to fill out can make it seem overwhelming. This is especially true for serious medical decisions involving end-of-life issues or other situations that may call for life- sustaining treatments.
In recent years, a new form has been heavily promoted as a “tool” to deal with such matters in hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics across the country. It is called the POLST form. POLST stands for “Physician’s Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment.”
But should you have a POLST form on file? Promotors see it as a tool to effectively translate patient wishes about life-sustaining treatment into medical orders that is easily accessed from their medical record.
MADISON — Wisconsin’s Catholic bishops have released the third edition of their pastoral letter on end-of-life health care decision-making and advance care planning, Now and at the Hour of Our Death.
The letter voices the bishops’ concern and compassion for those facing critical health care decisions, and shares a moral and ethical framework for making such decisions.
“The conference issued the first edition of this pastoral statement in 2002. That edition and the second one issued in 2006 have proven to be our most frequently requested document,” explained Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) Executive Director John Huebscher.
“In the seven years since the second edition, we have seen even greater interest in the moral questions surrounding death and dying. The bishops are resolved to keep responding to that interest. Reissuing the document is an effective way to do that.”
In modern times, dying is more and more often portrayed as a cold, clinical reality to be kept at arm’s length, relegated to the closed doors of a hospital, almost hermetically sealed from the rest of our lives.
When it comes to the event itself, we diligently work to avoid confronting it, addressing it, or acknowledging it. Because of this cultural backdrop, patients receiving a diagnosis of a terminal illness can be tempted to indulge in unrealistic expectations about what lies ahead, clinging to unreasonable treatment options and hoping for highly improbable outcomes.
