The Official Milepoint Kiva Lounge Thread

Great find Milchap. Those are exactly what I'm referring to.

My pleasure.....

você é bem-vindo

I have a unique opportunity to brief a group of movers and shakers in my province of Manitoba.
The topic is "End of Life Care"
The theme is .....just as quality of life is very important.....so should the quality of death be important !
I can imagine the startled faces when I begin my briefing.....
Promoting a good death is not exactly a household topic.


Disclosure: I am very involved in palliative care and hospice....

Best of luck; that's a tough topic with strong feelings on both sides.

[quote="milchap, post: 1326570, member: 444"
I can imagine the startled faces when I begin my briefing.....
Promoting a good death is not exactly a household topic.
[/quote]

Good for you. This is a very important topic. If you touch on the comfort that proper estate planning plays in this topic please pitch leaving a small sum to Kiva and the Milchap Grandchildren's Education Fund. Best of luck.

The importance of estate planning seems to be a topic almost always ignored until it becomes too late. Especially for people who have complex lives, as many of us do, this is one thing that can help ensure a more dignified and comfortable demise. The alternative is often a free-for-all among greedy potential beneficiaries, many of whom suddenly become greedy as the end of live draws near.

Estate planning! Yes!
Give to Kiva, yes! Give also to those causes that have helped you become a person who had an estate to give.
Good idea, tondoleo. Thanks for mentioning it.

Good for you. This is a very important topic. If you touch on the comfort that proper estate planning plays in this topic please pitch leaving a small sum to Kiva and the Milchap Grandchildren's Education Fund. Best of luck.[/quote]
Pitching the Milchap fund would be a conflict of interest.......

Not enough attention is paid to this event which is going to happen to us all sooner or later. As a society it almost seems taboo to talk about death, people just brush over it as if by not talking about it, it won't happen to them. I've seen so many cases where people demand treatment and are given treatment which is likely painful and not at all in their best interests. I think at some stage we all have to decide do we want quality or quantity when it comes to our end of life. My dad died at 58 of pancreatic cancer, he decided to stop treatment after 3 sessions of chemo and I don't think he ever regretted his choice. The palilative care people were brilliant.

Part of the response to death may be for some of us to rule out ahead of time the use of "heroic measures", those extreme technological steps to prolong life no matter how marginally and expensively.

The use of advanced directives aka living will is a great tool to help family make very tough decisions when the patient is not competent to make them.

Very true. Proper estate planning will reduce stress levels of everyone involved. Not just the person needing the health care at the moment.

My father and mother both had living wills. My spouse and I do. We also, all of us, have willed our bodies for medical use. Once we've no use for them, our bodies can help teach people to be good physicians to help the living. That is a Good Thing IMO.

We need to find a better term for "estate planning", or get everyone to understand that

1. It is not just for the wealthy
2. It does not have to be expensive
3. It does not have to be complicated

I suspect that if someone socialized a new term, it would be easier to get society to adopt than to get them to understand the above three points.

I am impressed with the high level of conversation in this thread.
Not only do we have a passion for alleviating poverty....but a passion for life and a good death.

Estate planning is a handover of the baton in the race of life.

I think the greatest benefit of having wills and trusts in place is it alleviates family members from having to make any decisions at the time when they are most vulnerable. I've decided that I will not have a funeral, no need to waste the money. I want to be cremated in the cheapest form possible and have my ashes scattered. I don't think funerals should be a sad event unless is a young person. For those of us who have had the good fortune to live a decent amount of years, our passing should be about our accomplishments, whether that be professional, personal or just being a good person.

It's because of the related travel ... it's a journey from life to death, and we want to be sure that we are in F on that ultimate trip

GenevaFlyer

And we all hope we'll be upgraded on the trip...even though Elites may not have special priority. There seems to be a lot pf certainty in some circles about that although there is a notable lack of proof...

As usual you are correct. People complicate these matters out of fear. I suggest to all who are in the process of or have already created their Death Preparedness Plan please discuss things with whomever your health surrogate/power of attorney people are going to be. They need to be prepared and know what responsibility they are going to have in order to effectively carry out your requests.

It is heart wrenching to watch people ill prepared to carry out someone's requests and get bulldozed by doctors and social workers into continuing treatment.

Baton or Safe Deposit Box key?

I need to document this somewhere and ensure Peach reads it.

My Nan had amazing palliative care. We were surprised at how good the staff and facilities were.

This morning I went to work and resigned effective immediately. I feel fantastic!

Woo Hoo! Was this planned, or had you finally had enough?

It was coming. It was just a matter of when. Last night I typed a letter. Showed it to MrMissB then slept on the decision. Woke up knowing it was the right decision.