Allowing a Patient to Die – Yes or No?
Helping a Patient Die – Death With Dignity
What’s a ‘Good Death’? (With links to three interviews on National Public
Radio)
Of particular interest is Religion and the Doctor, where Jim talks about
Swedenborg, Raymond Moody’s Life After Life, Helen Keller, and Dr. Eben
Alexander’s Proof of Heaven.
“My education along these lines,” he writes, “was when I attended Bryn
Athyn College for two years. I was immersed in studies of Plato, Aristotle and
others right up through the Age of Enlightenment, including Swedenborg. The
emphasis was that there are two capabilities that make us uniquely human:
freedom and rationality. We were charged to apply learning wisely to life –
heady stuff for a 20-year-old.
“So does any of this carry over to medical practice? Since we are all in
some sense spiritual beings as well as natural beings, it seems logical for a
physician to deal with the whole person, particularly around the time of crisis
or death. I’m not one who thinks a chosen few have the ‘inside path’ or die
easier than atheists. I had some confirmed non-believers in my care who died
comfortably believing ‘that was that.’ They appeared to be good people who
had led good lives.
“But others want to talk, are afraid, or have regrets. All hospitals now have
chaplains. Many ministers, rabbis, imams and priests make frequent hospital
and nursing home visits. Doctors, of course, need to respect all beliefs and
understand boundaries. Although I loved having philosophical and religious
discussion with patients, I always tried to approach it from their interest and
comfort zone.”
Spiritual beliefs, he writes, can and should be “an important part of the
conversation