D.C.’s assisted suicide law leaves much to the imagination

[T]he lack of transparency in this report of the first full year of the D.C. assisted suicide program, as well as the lack of participation, call into question both its efficacy and its necessity. Any such program is susceptible to exploitation of vulnerable individuals, erroneous estimates of the end of life and the potential for abuse by those who perceive that an early death is always cost-effective compared to the hefty price tag that often accompanies continuing care. For these reasons and others, the D.C. Council should reconsider its obligations and its assisted suicide program. Palliative care benefits all of those patients dying in the district, not just a paltry but privileged few.

DC's Assisted Death Law has inadequate documentation

Remembering a Mom of Ten Children -- from the StoryCorps Legacy Project

"I knew that one day she wouldn't be there to wave at me. So I took her picture."

The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders: A Tokyo Restaurant Where All the Servers Are People Living with Dementia

"All of our servers are people living with dementia. They may, or may not, get your order right."



The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders

The Evening Thread: A Woman at the End of Life

The Evening Thread - a stop-motion film from iris moore on Vimeo.

Living While Dying: Trailer

"Living While Dying" trailer from Emily von W. Gilbert on Vimeo.

The Unexpected Comfort of Livestreaming Funerals

There were friends who couldn’t travel and family members who lived too far away to make it in time for the service, which, by Jewish tradition, had to happen as soon as possible. But their chapel had a solution: It livestreamed the funeral, and uploaded a recording of the service to its website shortly after, with a hyperlink prominently displayed in the obituary...The videos are not solely for the benefit of remote viewers. Levy and her family found that it proved most useful to those that attended. “One of the things that we were told was: You're not going to remember anything,” she says. “[Everyone is] saying all these wonderful things, they're telling these stories and you can't process it,” the grief and shock is just too much.

In the months since her mother’s January 7 funeral, Levy says she and other family members have watched and rewatched the recording online. “One of the only things that every day reminds you of how great she was in such an awful time is people's memories and you sharing those memories with each other.”

Now Even Funerals are Livestreamed -- and Families are Grateful

Alternate Endings: New HBO Documentary on EOL

Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America offers a fascinating look at the varied ways Americans are choosing to both find meaning and celebrate life as it comes to an end. With attitudes about death and end-of-life choices rapidly changing, 2018 saw the first time more Americans chose cremation over more expensive, traditional burials, disrupting the $16 billion a year funeral industry. As the baby boomer generation approaches death, more and more are rethinking the way end of life is recognized and are deciding to take control of what will happen when they die.

Trailer