A Fitting Final Gift From Jimmy Carter [View all]

[malaise]

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/28/opinion/jimmy-carter-hospice.html

When former President Jimmy Carter entered hospice care in February, many assumed that his death would be imminent, a matter of weeks at most. But six months later, he is still spending time with family and friends, still enjoying moments with his wife of nearly eight decades. Life continues, albeit under a shadow.

As he now approaches what has been reported to be his “final chapter,” Mr. Carter’s decision to enter hospice and to continue publicizing that choice is a fitting final gift of candor from a former president to an American public that has long been uncomfortable with our own mortality.

Here in the hospital where I work as a critical-care doctor, the very word “hospice” so often conjures the idea of death and defeat. Just a few days ago, I found myself in a conference room with a man whose wife was dying. She was in her 50s, with cancer that had infiltrated her chest and abdomen. Her time was short, a matter of months at most, and she was in pain and scared, and wanted to be at home. So I suggested to the husband that we consider hospice. I said the word gently, but even so, my patient’s husband flinched. No. His wife wanted to do everything, to fight, to not give up. It wasn’t time for hospice. Not yet.

That is why hospice services are so often engaged late, in the days immediately before death, if at all. Half of patients in hospice are enrolled for only 18 days or less. One-tenth are in hospice for only one or two days before they die. It is easy to understand how this happens. After all, to choose this path is to acknowledge that we will all end, a reality that few of us are willing to face until there is no choice left.

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My hope - he’s still enjoying ice cream on October 1 - his birthday.