Resources
You may wish to consider these resources.
These forms are free to download, print,
complete, and place appropriately.
End of Life Washington State
End of Life Washington State has all the forms you will need, an easy-to-navigate web site, and all their forms are free to download.
End of life choices: https://endoflifewa.org/end-life-choices/
Death With Dignity Act: https://endoflifewa.org/death-with-dignity-patients/
Planning: https://endoflifewa.org/tools-for-planning
End of life news: https://endoflifewa.org/news
End of life choices: https://endoflifewa.org/end-life-choices
End of life Tools for Planning: https://endoflifewa.org/tools-for-planning
End of life request client service support: https://endoflifewa.org/request-support
Death with Dignity
If you live in California, Oregon, or Washington you have the option for Death With Dignity. Some health providers are restrained from offering Death With Dignity due to their religion, or the religion that owns the hospital or nursing home. There are doctors who will prescribe the medications in South Central Washington.
American Bar Association
The states and Washington DC have their own laws and many have their own forms. Be sure to check for the state in which you live. And if you live in two states, it is strongly advised that you complete the forms for each state. This site is a wealth of information—The Conversation Project, Consumer’s Tool Kit for Health Care Advance Directives, The Stanford Letter Project, CaringInfo, Go Wish Game, MyDirectives, Advance Care Planning Decisions, Compassion and Choices, Thinking Ahead: My Way, My Choice, My Life at the End, Five Wishes, Guides for Health Care Agents.
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/law_aging/resources/health_care_decision_making/Advanceplanningresources.
The Conversation Project
Two short videos (the third is in Spanish) to help you start the conversation. Produced by National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD)—April 16
https://theconversationproject.org/nhdd
Advance Directive for Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking (VSED Directive)
Two references for Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking (VSED) directives. The first is VSED Resources Northwest and looks pretty complete.
https://vsedresources.com
Death in the Book Group
An online book group. The book for April 2024 is Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. It’s a marvelous book. https://kcls.bibliocommons.com/events/659b3160eb28943d007f7bfd
Tri-Cities Chaplaincy Hospice Care, Grief Care, and Cork’s Place
Provides Hospice Services for Benton and Franklin Counties, also Grief Support Groups lead by a Grief Counselor. If you are interested in Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD), I couldn’t find anything on the website about it, so be sure to inquire.
https://tccbestlife.org/about-chaplaincy
Heartlinks Hospice
The last time I checked, they no longer listed their support for MAiD; however, I asked and they said they no longer have a doctor on staff to write the prescriptions, but they will still support a client who chooses to take advantage with the Death with Dignity. Their service area is Yakima County and the Tri-Cities.
https://heartlinkshospice.org
Lanier Law Firm, Redefining Legal Care – Mesothelioma
I was contacted by a person from Lanier Law Firm asking if I would consider adding them to my resources list. With pleasure. I don’t know a lot about Mesothelioma, but do know it’s a hard way to die, and it was what killed the actor, Steve McQueen. You’ve probably seen their ads on television. https://www.lanierlawfirm.com
Willed Body Programs
There are two willed body programs in Washington State—the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle and Washington State University College of Medicine in Spokane. Willed bodies are used in teaching anatomy, etc. The UW accepts bodies from anywhere in the state and will cover transportation, and eventual cremation, with the ashes being placed in an unmarked grave (columbarium?) in their plot at Evergreen-Washelli in Seattle when finished with the study. WSU will transport, free of charge for bodies in a more localized area and charge the estate for transportation from farther away. I don’t know how much they charge.
Many/most/all states that have a Medical School probably have a willed body program. If you are interested in leaving your body to such a program, search for your state’s medical school/willed body program.
Solutions in Home Care
The people at Solutions believe that every senior deserves access to kind, well-trained private caregivers in their own home. They will take care of everything from medication management to cooking meals, whatever your elderly family member needs. They are a local company, started by Heather Michael in 1994. Be sure to check out their website and call to talk to them. They will answer your questions.
Solutions in Home Care
509 253 5140
7401 W Hood Pl Ste 204
Kennewick WA 99336
Some Books for the (Morbidly?) Curious:
- How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter by Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland, MD
- Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
- Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
- On Death and Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
- no death, no fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life by Thich Nhat Hanh
- Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death by Yoel Hoffmann
- Duck, Death and the Tulip by Wolf Erlbruch
- The Day I Die: the Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America by Anita Hannig
- Death Wins a Goldfish: Reflections from a Grim Reaper’s Yearlong Sabbatical by Brian Rea
- Dying Well—Peace and Possibilities at the End of Life by Ira Byock, MD
- Passage by Connie Willis (Novel)
- Death Interrupted: How Modern Medicine is Complicating the Way We Die by Blair Bigham, MD
“Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t.”
Richard Bach, Illusions