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"Blog Brings Death Debate"
Options should be at the very least be discussed.
"(But) all of the options need to be there and available," he said. "Different people would seek out different options."
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The Former Coroner of Lake County, IL talking about life and death in the purview of a County Coroner.
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2007
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July
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- Death sensor
- Anti-smoking ads have opposite effect on teens
- 1 soda=cardiac risk, how about 42 ouncer?
- Distracted Driving Kills
- You won't see this on CSI either
- Blog Brings Death Debate
- It takes more than law enforcement
- "...and decrease the excess population."?
- Narcissism run amuck can kill
- Autopsy drug overdose deaths
- "Other" Deputy job requirements
- activist coroner's office
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July
(12)
2 comments:
Dear Dr. Keller,
I just read an article in today's Daily Herald about the elder murder suicide couple. It has touched a nerve with me since I am the daughter of aging parents and we are all going through elder care issues. My parents have been married 57 years and for nearly all of that it has been a good marriage. Last year neighbors told me that my parents were no longer love birds - that they fight continually , and this year the same neighbor told me that she had seen my mom hitting my dad.Because of this,my sister and I moved our parents to this area from another state- my mom was very resistant and has been for the last year we have been suggesting this move. Dad finally realized he needed help. The shock to my sister and me was that when my mom was evaluated at a local hospital here, she was already severe with her dementia, which means that my dad was really hiding just how much he was doing for my mom. The diagnosis has meant 24 hour care for my mom and dad is not living in the same place since he seems to trigger spells of agitation in her. The staff at the Assisted living home (Sunrise) has gently suggested to us to not visit for a short period of time so as to allow Mom to adjust to a new routine. It is depressing my dad so badly, he is at a loss with his time since he now realizes he spent all his day caring for my mom. And she has been mean, beligerent, hateful to all of us, accusing us of all kinds of awful things that aren't true, so I can only imagine how she was before we moved her here. The doctors at the local hospital, where my mom was in the geriatric psychiatric ward(and I didn't even know there was a specialty ward for this) said this was all quite common and that we should try to not let it hurt us. It is hurting my Dad tremendously and I can see how, if they had been left in their place out of state,that my dad could have reached a breaking point on many levels and could possibly have been a couple we read about in the papers, only it would not have been a shooting since they don't own guns; perhaps it would have been a car accident, or an overdose of medications (this could be a legitimate accident, too, from what I have seen about how my parents have been taking their medication or not taking it properly thereby ruling suicide OUT) I don't know where I stand on this issue, but I can certainly see both sides of it now. I hope you keep speaking out on this issue and trying to educate the public since, with the baby boomer generation coming of ELDER age, I believe there will be more and more occurances of the sort that made the papers.
FWIW, I highly recommend the online course "Assisting Elderly Parents" at www.ed2go.com
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