Choosing Death at the End Of Life

   So I asked someone what should I right about, I had a writers block. He said "Choosing Death at the end Of Life". The first words out of my mouth was wow that's a heavy topic. I see the fight many elderly and sick people give when they are at the end of their life. I'm a home health aid with a Medical Assisting degree. I have seen a few people die. I have not been in the room when they are actively dieing. Death can take a long time, the body goes through many steps before the end. I have seen many of the steps. My job is to keep the patient comfortable. Hospice can be their and they provide the patient with pain relievers and the medication they may need. Most of the care I give is personal, I keep the patient clean and comfortable. If they are still eating then I cook for them, I will also feed them. I provide emotional support as well. I talk with them keep them calm. I will also do house work so the family is not trying to all the work as well. I'm their to make the family comfortable as well.


Some of the questions I get from the family, are how long does dieing take, are they in pain, and few others. Most questions I have to refer them to their Doctor or Hospice. I cant give some of the answers. I'm not a Doctor so I have boundaries. I do have my own ideas on the death process but I keep them to myself. Its not my job to give the family my opinion.

I feel the dieing process takes a long painful time. I don't want to die this way. I hope for a painless in my sleep death. But we don't have that choice. People have the right to choose certain things at their death such as if they want to be resuscitated in the event they stop breathing, this is called a DNR with out one a medical provider has to start CPR. I do think that when someone is dieing and they should have the right to end it how they want to. Fast and painless is what most want. It can take months before its over and most are dehydrated and have not eatin in a week or more. I don't want to die starving. That's not painless in my books. A patient can loose a lot of weight, they loose control of their bowels and bladder. I don't want to die messing in my pants I want to go, clean and painless with a last meal and comfortable. This may sound crude but if you have not seen the death process its hard to judge.