Making end of life decisions

My grandmother died in a hospice, and a year later, my aunt died at home but with housecalls from the local hospice. I've been volunteering for the past two years with hospices in Las Vegas and Portland. It's my way of giving back for what others did to help my family members die with dignity.

I heard a great segment on Fresh Air tonight. Terry Gross interviewed my favorite medical writer, Dr. Atul Gawande. The topic was a different model for end of life medical care: specifically, a focus on helping people experience what they want with the time they have left rather than simply keeping them alive, and how hospice care fits into such an approach.

Here are links to the program, Gawande's New Yorker article, "Letting Go," and a 2009 post on this topic which references another Fresh Air segment.