Ron Panzer is co-founder of the Pro-life Healthcare Alliance (PHA), a program of Human Life Alliance, seeking to renew reverence for life and God within healthcare and society. The PHA is an international alliance of pro-life organizations, individuals and providers who are working together to create safe healthcare settings that respect life and care for the individual as God intends that we care, a pro-life support network for the public, and to restore the culture of life.
Ron is also founder and President of Hospice Patients Alliance ("HPA"), a charitable nonprofit patient advocacy organization fighting to preserve the original mission of hospice and health care as envisioned by Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Dame Cicely Saunders: to care for those facing death, relieve their symptoms and allow for a natural death in its own timing.
Ron and HPA are at the frontline in exposing the pervasive infiltration into hospice and healthcare by the culture of death with its bioethically-based policies that are hastening many tens of thousands into death before their time. HPA affirms the sanctity of life and respect for the individual patient's needs while also opposing any policy or practice that sacrifices the basic dictum of medicine to "do no harm."
Ron Panzer is a nurse who has exposed violations of the standards of care within hospice and other niches of healthcare. He has served as a consultant on hospice for thousands all over the USA and has been interviewed by journalists for newspapers, radio and TV. More information is found at: http://www.hospicepatients.org/hospic1.html
Contact: patientadvocates AT hospicepatients.org
Website: www.hospicepatients.org and http://www.prolifehealthcare.org
Website:http://www.hospicepatients.org
Though the prophets have shared what has been shown to them, one need not be a visionary to see the signs of the times. Many have forgotten or never understood the depth of depravity that arises when war, plague, and famine swallow the nations. Such devastating realities do not always occur in other, far off nations. What is coming will affect everyone in the world as the world is re-made by those who have the power to do so.
Date posted: 2024-01-20
The reality facing us today is that if we don't choose to and insist on living as free human beings, it is certain that we will die!
Date posted: 2022-01-19
These puppet masters are utilitarians. They are the secular humanists who believe they know best how the world should be managed and that the world should be managed by them. They have nothing but disdain for any ideas supporting the individual's rights, the sanctity of life, reverence for God, and human freedom. We are facing an entirely new face of an evil that is as old as time itself, and the source is the ultimate puppet master of evil.
Date posted: 2021-11-25
"As the days and years flow by, confrontations filled with intolerance, hatred, and violence have increased throughout the nation. When any Christians who hold values almost universally accepted just 10 years ago question the dramatic changes in our society and laws, they have been labeled as racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, or xenophobic, but no Muslims are ever condemned if they object to pornography, homosexuality, or transgenderism, or have racist attitudes toward non-Arabs, or openly hate non-Muslims. Those who push these ideologies do not value truth, they value victory in their quest for power.
Date posted: 2020-06-22
Once admitted to a facility, it is the facility administrators and staff who control much of what happens to the patient! They can make someone die and cover it up if they wish to do so. They can lie about what treatments are available or would be helpful. They can deny beneficial care and they can force a patient into 'tainted hospice' where 'death protocols' are implemented, if they want to cover up malpractice or reduce the average cost per patient at their facility, or simply open up a bed for someone who has waited 'too long' on a waiting list. Their callousness is often astounding.
Date posted: 2020-06-22
As the days and years flow by, confrontations filled with intolerance, hatred, and violence have increased throughout the nation. When any Christians who hold values almost universally accepted just 10 years ago question the dramatic changes in our society and laws, they have been labeled as racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, or xenophobic, but no Muslims are ever condemned if they object to pornography, homosexuality, or transgenderism, or have racist attitudes toward non-Arabs, or openly hate non-Muslims. Those who push these ideologies do not value truth, they value victory in their quest for power.
Date posted: 2020-06-22
These few who honor God tell us that we are called to a higher path - a royal path - that shines with a brilliance like the Sun and is filled with never-ending love. This is the foundation for a culture of life that honors God and all His Creation, and necessarily involves authentically caring for all human life from the very beginning of our developmental process till our naturally-occurring end of life. It means caring for the one right in front of me and you. This is our duty!
Date posted: 2019-12-27
This is the story of our mother's hastened and wrongful death on December 9, 2017. We are sharing our story with the public to help prevent others from experiencing the same horrific events that we experienced, due to the immoral and illegal actions taken by ______ hospice (a very well-known multi-state hospice) to end our mother's life prematurely.
Date posted: 2018-09-11
For someone who cares about hospice's original pro-life mission, what the hospice industry, for the most part, has become is a painful topic to address. Listening to people from all over the United States and other nations who have had traumatic experiences with hospice is also painful, yet that is what I've done for the past two decades.
Date posted: 2018-06-17
For someone who cares about hospice's original pro-life mission, what the hospice industry, for the most part, has become is a painful topic to address. Listening to people from all over the United States and other nations who have had traumatic experiences with hospice is also painful, yet that is what I've done for the past two decades.
Date posted: 2018-06-02
I am grateful to find an avenue to tell my sweet Momma's story and hopefully help others keep this from happening to their loved ones.
Date posted: 2018-05-19
Professional Guardianship Abuse is accomplished under "Color of Law" and Remains Hidden from Public Knowledge! It is supremely important that the public understand what "color of law" actually involves! Acting under "color of law" occurs when an official abuses their power in violation of the law while pretending to be acting in accordance with the law.
Date posted: 2018-03-14
Just wanted to share another poem for those who can tolerate my poor efforts. I hope some will find encouragement in their lives.
Date posted: 2017-11-20
A short poem inspired by the Spirit that fills the hearts of those who serve life.
Date posted: 2017-10-21
We are called to set the example and light a way to restore the culture of life that has been discarded. When even more destruction and chaos arise, will we have His Light within us or will we have been swallowed up in the darkness around us?
Date posted: 2017-10-19
Sin is a concept that atheists and secular humanists reject. They do not acknowledge any fault before a God they do not recognize so they embrace an arrogance that perverts all they do, perverts their relationships to others, and allows them to proceed through life with a little caution in much that they do.
Date posted: 2017-10-18
In every great nation or empire, there comes a time when its power is threatened by forces from outside or within, and like all things, its time simply ends. The nations of the "Western world" are threatened in just such a way. Although there have always been strong differences of opinion on many issues, the general Judeo-Christian worldview and its values were held by most but not all. In the past, even members of opposing political parties held the same worldview, but now that has changed.
Date posted: 2017-10-17
Because there are so many inaccurate articles continually being written about the Islamic movement and its advance into any of the non-Muslim nations, I've been strongly encouraged to write about this topic in order to help us understand the very real threat to pro-life advocacy and to not just the lives of the yet to be born, newborns, or patients, but to the lives of any who resist this extremely political movement.
Date posted: 2017-09-18
The public demands and needs the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth - not misdirection, confusion, outright lies, deceptive half-truths, or lies of omission by those who arrogantly have decided that they know better when and how their loved ones should be made dead. The public needs to be alerted by all pro-life leaders, some of whom have tragically up to this point decided they know better what the people should know or be kept from knowing!
Date posted: 2017-07-02
Hostile forces are threatening the peaceful enjoyment of life within freedom-loving societies, both East and West. When I say "hostile forces," I mean more than one force that is solely capable of obliterating our way of life, causing the fall of nations and the death of many people, as well as removing any real freedom from the land.
Date posted: 2017-07-01
Is there a more succinct definition of what it means to be pro-life? Yet, how many of us dare to rescue those who are being dragged off to be raped or beaten to death, pleading for their lives as they are pulled out to sea in a riptide, sink beneath the ice, or are simply being silenced permanently in a medical setting? How many stand up for those who cannot defend themselves?
Date posted: 2017-06-01
We must shake off the lies expressed by those who have deconstructed our entire culture and who refuse to acknowledge or share the true character of what we are witnessing in the world. We must shake off our willingness to choose to do nothing! It is long past time that we awaken to the realities and become actively involved in promoting a culture of life!
Date posted: 2017-05-28
We join in the hope of millions throughout the world. We hope in Him and find that change guided by His law will restore a culture of life. Yes, there are peace-loving devout Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Christians, Jews, secularists and Muslims who only wish to live in peace and who genuinely love one another. Their generosity and kindness were made evident to me as I traveled from country to country so long ago.
Date posted: 2017-04-10
Judy Bragg, RN reports that her son, Casey, was hastened to death in a hospice setting. Casey had leukemia and after a lengthy hospital stay realized that there was no cure for his condition.
Date posted: 2017-03-20
According to Barbara, the medications used in the ICU to end her father's life were strong doses of morphine and Haldol, which are very commonly used in hospice (though not appropriately for all patients). Her father was perfectly lucid, able to clearly communicate that he was refusing those medications, and did not want them. Nevertheless, Barbara reports they were given, and her father died shortly afterwards.
Date posted: 2017-03-11
Lucy was the mother of two children, Jeffrey and Brian, and also a grandmother to their children. This is the story of my sorrowful experience with Hospice with regard to my dear wife, Lucy Barry. At the time of the incident with Hospice, Lucy was 90 years old. She was a woman of short stature, about 90 lbs. weight, but of considerable strength and determination of will.
Date posted: 2017-03-04
"You Alone Know" is a poem on God and man.
Date posted: 2016-08-02
There are all sorts of discussions, research, and articles debating what drugs are best to use in capital punishment. There are many who seek to outlaw capital punishment altogether for those who have committed murder and other heinous crimes, yet it seems just as many are calling for the legalization of methods to impose death upon vulnerable elderly, disabled, acutely or chronically ill, as well as terminally-ill patients!
Date posted: 2016-06-07
Without qualifying what they are saying, many hospice staff routinely tell patients and families, "Morphine can never harm you." "Morphine is always absolutely safe." And some have even said, "Morphine never killed anyone!" These statements are Ridiculous! Dumb! And, absolute lies!
Date posted: 2016-06-07
But proud man is a thief and unjust in what he does, because he denies others what they need. He steals what is due God and takes it for himself. Man refuses to give God the adoration and reverence He deserves and places faith in the lies that lead man to believe there is a good way that is not part of God's will (Proverbs 14:12). How can we understand such a terrible blunder?
Date posted: 2015-07-01
Whatever the stage of life, we serve and treat - so long as these can truly help. We don't withdraw our services simply because we do not approve the life before us. We know that all patients are human persons made in the image of God. As such, they are to be served and have their lives affirmed - including the preborn, the newborn, infant, child, as well as the adult, the disabled, and the elderly. Like the farmer, we put our hand to the plow and do not look back. We serve to the best of our ability and leave the results in His hands. (Luke 9:62)
Date posted: 2015-05-31
Nobody needs to write anything to demonstrate that Dr. Saunders' mission, in serving the public through her hospice and palliative care work, was absolutely founded upon religious faith. We can gain tremendous insight by simply reading her own inspiring words (and recognizing how greatly her words differ from Ira Byock's re-invention and distortion of the hospice mission). Her words are a refreshing reminder of the true heart of what we are to do.
Date posted: 2015-04-19
What can we learn from history? Those who create policy in government need to be people of integrity, who value the lives of the people and honor the divine and the natural moral law. When they are not, each of us must still choose to honor God by how we live, wherever we serve in society - or choose to go along with terrible evil that harms or even kills others. Each of us is responsible for our own choices. With peer pressure comes the opportunity to show what kind of individual we choose to be.
Date posted: 2015-03-15
People have been getting ready for Christmas for quite a while, many of us anticipating what will come in the days ahead, but as others have already pointed out, we so often get lost in the flurry of activities and forget what this day is all about.
Date posted: 2014-12-22
There can be no other mission in nursing than that which promotes and nurtures life, as the very word "nursing" arises in the context of giving nourishment to one in need. As the mother lovingly gives of herself to her child, we who work in nursing give of our very selves to our patients.
Date posted: 2014-09-14
How many years we have been hearing that patients have been medically-killed! How many years people refused to hear and listen! How many years so very few believed! How many years people continue to live such self-concerned and shallow lives. I and so many others have done this, and now a price is to be paid.
Date posted: 2014-07-24
You ask, with tears and tears / flowing down your face, / "What do I do now?"
Date posted: 2014-07-24
While leaders promise good for all, secretly stuffing their pockets with wealth they accumulate through secret deals and information, the people suffer. Unjust national, state and even county and city leaders use their power to enrich their friends while robbing the people of their earnings. Unjust prosecutors look the other way when the vulnerable are killed, especially when those who are killed are "the unwanted" elderly, chronically-ill, disabled, children, or other targeted groups. ... If we, the people, do not help, then we who are in need will often not be helped, because God most often helps us through others in the blessed community, ourselves. We are those who can, who would, and must help. Have you chosen, willed to and actually helped? Have I? Have we done enough in the face of such great suffering? As Edmund Burke said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." What shall we do if we have reverence for life?
Date posted: 2014-05-27
A short poem about the work the work we do in healthcare.
Date posted: 2014-03-22
A short poem about the work the work we do in healthcare called, "Dance."
Date posted: 2014-03-02
Society is not exclusively culture of death or culture of life. There are some aspects that are wonderful while many other parts of society are corrupt and evil. There are some really wonderful administrators who are just as dedicated as the most caring staff. Working with them is a privilege.
Date posted: 2014-01-14
In an ethical and moral society, the troublemaker repeatedly violates the rules, the standards, and if he's a criminal, the law itself. He's the student that drives the teacher crazy, the kid that's always getting in trouble with the police, the child who disobeys his parents, the one who chooses to never do things right. He ends badly.
Date posted: 2014-01-14
People talk about space - public space, social space, personal space and intimate space, but beyond and much, much closer, is the sacred space where we work and live, caring for those at the end-of-life. People question whether there is meaning to life, or even if there is a God. Within the glow of His love, within the sacred space, there is no question at all whether there is meaning or God. These are the most pervasive truths of life!
Date posted: 2014-01-11
There is a reason for the season, a reason that is the foundation for all we do in this work.
Date posted: 2013-12-22
The humble and honorable man rejects the ways of the culture of death and seeks to find the right way. Yet, even when we are motivated to act mercifully, justly and faithfully, there are still situations where we may not be sure what we should do. There are different possibilities, choices we can make, and there are often other, even undesirable, consequences arising from any of our possible actions.
Date posted: 2013-11-09
You may think that the answer to that question is pretty straightforward, a simple matter of opinions held or asserted, or not, but there's more to it than meets the eye. Many think that it's simply a question of whether you hold a certain political view or not: for or against the right to kill others in certain situations, like saying, "it's ok to kill a person who is in an embryonic, fetal or otherwise unborn state." Or, "it's ok to kill others who are just born, very old, very disabled, genetically-different, chronically-ill or who take up too much time in the hospital, who cost too much for the taxpayer-funded government services." Or not.
Date posted: 2013-10-21
Do you ever wonder why we should care at all? With all the craziness and madness around, why bother doing anything about it? Why not just retreat to a little corner in the world and forget the rest? It might seem like it would be much simpler that way.
Date posted: 2013-10-20
In healthcare, licensed personnel pledge to follow the standards of care established for their field. They promise or vow to be faithful to carry these out to the best of their ability. Physicians used to take the Hippocratic Oath. Today, many working within the culture of death take a "Modern Physicians' Oath" that leaves out the pledge to "do no harm." A promise that does not involve the actual intent to care and protect the patient is a betrayal of that patient's trust. The lack of reliable, trustworthy and safe care is one of the chief characteristics of the culture of death.
Date posted: 2013-09-28
Honesty, or truthfulness, is among the basic principles of the natural moral law, and people everywhere recognize that honesty in dealings with others is a prerequisite for societal order and well-being. Mothers and fathers will insist that their children tell them the truth and not lie to anyone. Honesty in our speech, actions, and interactions with others, is one of the basic principles governing all human activity and relationships, whether in science, technology, industry, commerce and healthcare, or within our own families and communities.
Date posted: 2013-08-02
As man in the world, discerning what is 'right' in each moment is a never-ending task. We hold within ourselves both an animal and rational nature, but we strive to be ruled by the rational, to rule our impulses and instincts and rise above them.
Date posted: 2013-07-02
Ultimately, man's pride is the root cause of socialism, totalitarianism, imperialism and any other system of thought or power-seeking materialism that openly rejects God. If man rejects materialism and yet clings to his arrogant pride, he seeks the spiritual without humbling himself.
Date posted: 2013-05-11
We believe that we have found that which will truly satisfy us, only to eventually feel empty and isolated in this world once again. If we focus on ourselves and those close to us only, we may busy ourselves with all the details of daily life and actually think we are living "the good life," that everything is fine.
Date posted: 2013-04-28
To whom can I speak?/
Who would understand?/
Who has been with us from the beginning?/
Only You, my Friend!
Date posted: 2013-01-12
Of course, long ago I also had my dreams and aspirations, as you do. I understand what you are going through, how hard it can be to have all your life before you, with dreams of what might be, what could be, and yet not know. I also wondered, sometimes desperately, "What will be?" In my confusion I struggled to make sense of it all and asked, "Will I ever find my way?" "Will I ever find my place in this world?" "Why is the world the way it is?" "What is the purpose for my life?"
Date posted: 2013-01-12
Now, after all these years, it is time for you to go out and take your place in the world, and though this is what we have been moving toward all these years, it is still difficult. There is much your mother and I would like to say, perhaps some of which you have heard before. You may think that we have restricted you too much as you were growing up, having tried our best to protect you, but the world can be a cruel place. Forgive us for that and understand, only out of our love have we acted in these ways. You may not wish to hear what we have to share, as you are forming your own judgments now and think you have little need for advice, but I pray that you will read this letter and take it to heart.
Date posted: 2013-01-07
Man and woman as husband and wife are not only to help and encourage each other (Genesis 2:18), they help and encourage their child, ... for many of life's experiences can be difficult. The family is the place where comfort, love and faith are expressed to encourage each other to recover from disappointments, to get up and begin anew. A father or mother's hug, kiss, and smile help the child know they are loved, though he may have fallen down or failed to accomplish what he was trying to do. The family is where home is, where the child as well as the mother and father feel safe, loved and supported in their life. Husband and wife each seek in their own way to nurture the flame of love given to them by God, humbly serving each other, and striving to bring happiness to each other within the home (Philippians 2:1-12).
Date posted: 2012-09-20
Man and woman as husband and wife are not only to help and encourage each other (Genesis 2:18), they help and encourage their child, ... for many of life's experiences can be difficult. The family is the place where comfort, love and faith are expressed to encourage each other to recover from disappointments, to get up and begin anew. A father or mother's hug, kiss, and smile help the child know they are loved, though he may have fallen down or failed to accomplish what he was trying to do. The family is where home is, where the child as well as the mother and father feel safe, loved and supported in their life. Husband and wife each seek in their own way to nurture the flame of love given to them by God, humbly serving each other, and striving to bring happiness to each other within the home (Philippians 2:1-12).
Date posted: 2012-09-20
Man and woman as husband and wife are not only to help and encourage each other (Genesis 2:18), they help and encourage their child, ... for many of life's experiences can be difficult. The family is the place where comfort, love and faith are expressed to encourage each other to recover from disappointments, to get up and begin anew. A father or mother's hug, kiss, and smile help the child know they are loved, though he may have fallen down or failed to accomplish what he was trying to do. The family is where home is, where the child as well as the mother and father feel safe, loved and supported in their life. Husband and wife each seek in their own way to nurture the flame of love given to them by God, humbly serving each other, and striving to bring happiness to each other within the home (Philippians 2:1-12).
Date posted: 2012-09-20
If man wishes to simply go after his own plans, desires, and ambitions, having a God existing that has to be reckoned with interferes with these things. At the most basic level, it comes down to whether man wishes to fulfill his own will without listening to any other person, let alone God, or to follow God's will for his life. Accepting that God really exists would mean man has to completely re-evaluate what he is doing, how he is living, why he does anything at all.
Date posted: 2012-08-03
When the shadows come and fear grows within, we trust in Him who never fails.
Date posted: 2012-08-03
This is the anatomy of the death machine. The details matter. The math matters in calculating doses. The actions and refusals to act, matter. As I write this, death is being intended tonight in a hospital on the East Coast where a son cries. Tonight a woman, a mother, is being killed through terminal sedation. This is the Death Machine at work. Now, you will understand it and recognize it when you see it.
Date posted: 2012-06-14
I have no doubt that basing the pro-life mission on God, the Creator, and loving Him with all we are, is the first step toward a successful mission to promote a culture of life and true "human rights." I know that the second step in the pro-life mission is accomplished when we "love our neighbor as ourselves," whether at the end-of-life, the beginning of life, or any stage of life. He told us what we need to say and do!
Date posted: 2012-05-24
Anyone involved in end-of-life ("EOL") care knows that the praiseworthy and lofty goals of the hospice and palliative care mission asserted for decades that the services provided would "never hasten death." Today, the removal of nutrition and hydration, whether artificial or not, often combined with the permanent sedation of the patient ("terminal/palliative/total sedation") is being done in EOL settings, with the intent that the patient die.
Date posted: 2012-05-15
What is a life well-lived? A life filled with honor, loyalty, honesty, industriousness, faithfulness and love. A life of service and kindness for the poorest of the poor. A life defending and protecting those who are weak and defenseless. A life nurturing those who are growing up. A life achieving and building things whether great or simple, producing wonderful services and products, exemplifying excellence in achievement. These are the heroes and saints: these exemplify the great qualities of a truly successful life.
Date posted: 2012-03-02
Some think dying needs a push, "assistance" to make it come sooner. They find dozens of ways to hasten death, imposing death on the unwilling in most cases. The so-called "choice" to be "assisted" to death is a fraud, as patients are made to be unconscious and then finished off without even asking permission. The problem with blind zealotry is that many thousands of patients can be victimized in the process, and have been. Safeguards never prevent misuse of such a power over life and death. Even government reports from European nations confirm that thousands of patients have been recently involuntarily put to death.
Date posted: 2012-01-19
Christmas time and everyone's supposed to be jolly. But for some, it's the hardest time of the year. The contrast between all the expectations and the reality of our lives can even be depressing. We wish that the joy we think others are experiencing would be real in our own lives. Somehow, we can feel left out, an outsider moving through this world.
Date posted: 2011-12-27
This Christmas, I don't have to wish upon a star to get what I want, but we do need the help of others who feel the same. We need doctors, nurses, social workers and hospice directors who remember the mission and work to make hospice what it was supposed to be. We need them to reinvigorate the hospices that exist already and to renew the mission so many have dedicated their lives to fulfilling.
Date posted: 2011-12-22
We're conditioned to fear anything unknown: unknown persons, places and things. Yes, that's the definition of a "noun", so, in other words, we've been taught to fear just about anything new or different out there. Shall we be strangers? Or friends? What you can do is the difference between living in the darkness and bringing a little light into this world. And that's the difference between being a stranger and being a friend, my friend.
Date posted: 2011-12-19
It seems that healthy debate within the pro-life community can bring out more effective methods of advocacy than doing nothing. If questioning the NRLC raises a ruckus, then so be it. I'd rather that in the pursuit of the truth and in the sincere pursuit of safety for the vulnerable. We're not here to protect NRLC. We're here to protect life.
Date posted: 2011-11-30
"The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens." (Proverbs 3:19) We see the infinitely complex and wonderfully-ordered Creation before us, even in each human being we serve. How can we not wonder at the miracle that is the life before us? How can we forget all that is involved in and part of each patient we serve? We must, with humility and reverence for life, understand the wisdom of those who have given us guidance and respect those entrusted into our care.
Date posted: 2011-11-22
The people of our nation urgently need this information to understand what is happening to our society and how their way of life is being threatened. We encourage everyone to share it. Some names and/or details have been changed to protect the privacy of some individuals mentioned. If you believe that any account given here reflects something that happened in your family or a case that you know about, the similarities are coincidental. There are thousands and thousands of cases like these each year in the United States.
Date posted: 2011-10-10
Why I mention God? Because it matters. Life matters. Our loved ones matter, and our neighbors matter. And our neighbors are everyone on this Earth. We're all here together. Wherever I've traveled, I've found the richness of the human heart in the new friends I met. I didn't see lives that were less "worthy" than those at home. I saw people, just people, everywhere, just like at home. And they were "alive" just like people at home..
Date posted: 2011-02-19
I am certain that the ability to use hospice for the newborn will be misused to end the lives of some babies who are not truly "terminal," but have congenital defects or chromosomal abnormalities/differences in the manner of pure eugenics. What is to stop "perinatal hospice" from being used to end the lives of say, Downs syndrome babies? The public (the parents) may "feel better" because they get to hold their baby for a while and love it, while its life is being ended "peacefully" as it sleeps to death.
Date posted: 2011-01-07
The patient here was not considered "terminal" but was in need of some rehabilitation therapy. Rather than provide therapy, he was placed in a hospice agency and his life was ended prematurely. He did not choose to enter this agency and his wishes were to have rehabilitation. When patients who experience disability, confusion or illness of various sorts are hastened to death, rather than getting the therapy they need, what does this say about our society and those who directly instigated the imposed death?
Date posted: 2010-12-08
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:
Date posted: 2010-12-06
We were all sent out that week. It was a routine case: work to relieve the patient's pain, support the family, and meet whatever needs arose as time went by. I hadn't been at the hospice long, but recognized that Jim was considered to be at the very end, active phase of dying. His systems were shutting down. He wasn't eating or drinking much at all, hands and feet were getting cold, vital signs were looking worse and worse.
Date posted: 2010-12-05
God is always with us. In our weakness, He finds us and protects us.
Date posted: 2010-11-09
The move to "normalize" medical killing is gaining momentum worldwide as we see being done in the Netherlands. There is a drive to promote research that seeks to justify the withholding of formerly routine treatment (like providing food to Alzheimers patients) from the elderly and severely disabled. Another treatment they are trying to increasingly withhold from dementia patients is antibiotic treatment for pneumonia (in other words, let them die from pneumonia intentionally).
Date posted: 2010-08-12
In the late 1800s, leprosy patients were quarantined on the island of Molokai and left to suffer in disgraceful neglect till they died. In 1873, Father Damien arrived at the island of Molokai to tend to the lepers on the island. He dressed their wounds, provided medicines, worked to create a piped in supply of fresh water, build beds, schools, residences, churches and clinics. He looked at each "leper" and saw a "person." In 1882, he contracted the disease and lived with leprosy till he died in 1889. In every way, we can call the work of Father Damien "palliative care" and the place it was provided, "hospice."
Date posted: 2010-06-12
What was always known before as "terminal sedation," was properly applied for certain clinical conditions: the sedating of a patient whose extreme agitation (called "terminal agitation at the end-of-life"), delusional or psychotic state, or extreme pain could not be managed any other way, making him a danger to himself or others, or allowing his continued suffering. This "terminal sedation" properly protects the patient from himself and helps to achieve relief from those distressing symptoms. There is nothing in the original use of "terminal sedation" that required the patient to be denied artificial fluid and nutrition through a feeding tube, IV or other route.
Date posted: 2010-06-01
"The path to the death culture began when doctors learned to think like accountants. As the cost of socialized medicine in the Netherlands grew, doctors were lectured about the importance of keeping expenses down. In many hospitals, signs were posted indicating how much old-age treatments cost taxpayers. The result was a growing "social pressure" from doctors and others, says Arno Heltzel, a spokesman for the Catholic Union of the Elderly, the largest Dutch senior-citizen group, which favors voluntary euthanasia. "Old people have to excuse themselves for living. When they say that all of their friends are dead, people say, 'Maybe it is time for you to go too,' rather than, 'You need to find new friends.'"
Date posted: 2009-08-16
When it comes to promises from the government that things will be "better" under their newly-devised plans, history shows us that they can't be trusted.
Date posted: 2009-08-02
With all the debate about health care "reform," I wonder how much choice individuals retain under the proposed new bills. There is a move to force health care professionals (doctors, nurses and others) to participate in abortions, or abortion counseling, without the right to excuse themselves. They could lose not only their jobs, but also their professional careers.
Date posted: 2009-07-24
As we have been warning, the zealots who are pushing a "right to die" actually seek to impose their values upon those who are vulnerable and to force health care professionals to participate.
Date posted: 2009-05-02
People with a mission are not motivated by status, power, wealth or fame, even though those may come to them. They listen to a "different drummer," and travel a path "less traveled." People with a mission are leaders, though they don't need followers to be who they are. They are either respected or ridiculed, either labeled crazy or inspiring. They arouse hatred or love. And though there are moments of self-doubt and searching, they always come back to serve. No matter what they do, it is done in the spirit of service and love.
Date posted: 2008-12-26
We are at a new crossroad in our nation's history. Which way we turn at this time will determine the future (or lack thereof) of the vulnerable elderly, disabled, exploitable, as well as the born and unborn. There are huge profits being made in health care by ruthless corporate manipulators who publicly tout their "concern" for the "welfare" of patients, while mainstreaming a lethal protocol of patient care denials, mistreatment, and direct intervention to involuntarily end the patient's life. Other agencies cling to the original mission to care and serve.
Date posted: 2008-12-18
Assisted-suicide is just a stepping stone to the real goal of the very active eugenics and euthanasia movement: mandatory death when determined by those in power, just as was done in Nazi Germany during severe economic difficulties.
Date posted: 2008-12-09
The tortuous lengths so-called "ethicists" go to in order to justify their nefarious agenda is never-ending. Though they are true believers in their work (and tell us how "altruistic" their motives are) they sometimes inadvertently admit that they have lied in the past, will lie in the present and future, if it means advancing their cause, and consider mere "people" beneath them, the "givers and takers" of life. These are the judge-jury-executioner types who truly do hold the keys to your life or death, and the life or death of your children or parents and friends.
Date posted: 2008-10-21
The most important task for anyone wishing to solve the problem of death being imposed within hospice is to understand how this situation arose. I spent about 1 1/2 hours on the phone today explaining to a distraught physician why her loved one was killed in hospice with an overdose of morphine and sedatives. She could not understand why any physician would order medications (or any nurse would administer medications) in a way so as to cause death prematurely, before a natural death occurred.
Date posted: 2008-09-22
Death threatens to strike each of us at any unknown, inevitable moment, like Damocles' sword hanging by a thread above, ready to fall suddenly and turn our lives into ashes. Though the certainty of death is undeniable, our most immediate instinct is to do whatever we can to protect ourselves, to live and survive as long as we can. Even animals fight with everything they have to win the daily struggle for life. For them, it's "eat or be eaten!" and they continue to struggle until they can no longer fight, and death swallows them up. Why are we so eager to invite Death's touch and kill our children, our parents, or even ourselves?
Date posted: 2006-02-04
Should health care workers be forced to perform abortion, euthanasia, or assist in suicide if their own religious beliefs forbid such activities? I believe that a health care worker should provide care to people without consideration of their religion, race or gender, but health care workers should have the right to refuse to participate in killing patients! Otherwise, all health care professionals will be railroaded into becoming pawns in the death machine. Those who object would be forced to quit their profession or be fired for refusing to kill. And this is already happening as some nurses, doctors and pharmacists have quit because of the decidedly anti-life agenda moving through health "care" as a field.
Date posted: 2006-01-31
"But what does loneliness or the end-of-life have to do with God's existence or love?" you ask? The universality of loneliness and our certain deaths tell us much about our human nature and also about God's nature. If we were mere physical creatures, how could we feel "lonely?" If we were mere physical creatures, could we be able to communicate with others, or to want to feel "connected?" If we were mere physical creatures, how could we feel love? Isn't this message of Christmas something that can touch all of us as we journey through life, even at the very end?
Date posted: 2005-12-18
Depending upon your perspective, all of this life can be understood as one continuous dying process or as one continuous living process. However, most prefer to live their lives without thinking about the end, without thinking about any of this at all. They do everything to avoid confronting their mortality and are not even aware that they put up mental roadblocks to any reminder of their own mortality.
Date posted: 2005-10-16
Though we cannot with certainty change the world around us, we can change ourselves and choose to salute life. We can then hope, and pray, for the best. I pray that more will join in and lift a glass across the table of this life, as I do, and make a toast, to the family of those who respect life and its Creator, to my friends, to you, and make a toast "To Life!"
Date posted: 2005-07-17
A poisonous philosophy of death is spreading through our nation. Is there an "antivenin" that can neutralize the poisonous culture of death? "Desperate times call for desperate measures," but what measures can help our nation when the poison has spread so far? Will the danger be recognized? Will those who can treat this poison act in time? Will they be equipped to handle the challenge?
Date posted: 2005-06-11
Those who work with the dying witness the waves of challenging losses that arise as death approaches. We see pain on the physical, emotional and psychological level and the anguish of those who are about to lose the one they love. Patients sometimes share their fears and spiritual struggles as they contemplate losing everything they know and face their impending death. There are all sorts of interactions between family members, friends and other visitors. But, contrary to what one might imagine, the dying process is not always experienced as the dark and depressing time many imagine.
Date posted: 2005-05-16
If you choose to deny the "personhood" of any group of individuals, you are stepping into the company of those notorious villains who committed terrible crimes against humanity: the Nazis, the slavers, the Ku Klux Klan, those who massacred noncombatant native American men, women and children, or those who have victimized the disabled, the elderly and others.
Date posted: 2005-05-09
I can't help asking the nagging questions that some continually push away. When not-so-subtle or even blatant pressures are applied to certain categories of individuals in order to "facilitate" their death, is our society becoming more like the Nazi Third Reich than the land of the free?
Date posted: 2005-04-26
Enter any health care setting and your Constitutional rights will be waived under certain circumstances. If you just happen to be the unfortunate victim of severe medical malpractice, you could be sent off to hospice and declared "terminal," rather than having the docs admit their errors. Who will know the difference? And with tort reform sweeping over the nation? Who will care if you are harmed?
Date posted: 2005-04-12
Will they hide behind the skirts of the Legislators? Or will they prove themselves to be honorable, in this case at least? I pray that they act honorably, now. I also recognize that each family is responsible for making choices about how they will or will not care for each other. We cannot just blame others. We must choose whether to honor every life before us, or not.
Date posted: 2005-03-17
Some of you may remember the black and white television sets that were the latest technology just a few generations ago. We now live with high definition television and one does not even mention "color" with regard to TV, because it is assumed, it's a "given." But as outdated black & white TVs are today, so is the so-called "right to die" agenda. It is simply a very old and evil agenda, repackaged with a slick marketing campaign, to slowly, imperceptibly, move the American mood over to the side of death.
Date posted: 2005-03-10
Those of us who feel moved to care for those in need often find ourselves confronted with the harsh realities of this world and the perceived limitations of our own abilities. "How much can we help?" "Will it make a difference?" "What good does it really do," we ask ourselves.
Date posted: 2005-01-16
We cannot erase every problem, disease, pain or crime. But we can do our part. We can do something. It takes will. It takes effort. And it is never easy. Whatever we do ... however we choose to serve, it will always be fulfilling. And we will have the peace that comes with knowing we chose what is right.
Date posted: 2004-12-27
If you are rushing through life, busily doing, getting and keeping, you don't allow the intimacy of caring. You do not recognize the other's world. You live, but are not alive. You "see", but not with open eyes. And so you see nothing that truly matters. You close yourself off from being hurt, yet suffer the worst pain of all. For while physical pain hurts, your loneliness and isolation torment.
Date posted: 2004-09-04
You don't need a thousand dollar seminar to learn that you're supposed to help others and meet their needs. You don't have to think about it. You don't need to be convinced. The attitude runs through your veins.
Date posted: 2004-07-19
Shame is something that people silently endure. It can be inexpressibly painful and something familiar to every health care professional as well as patient. At any stage of life, shame has many faces.
Date posted: 2004-07-06
There is something incredibly blind about those who don't have the slightest clue what life is about, who go through life bulldozing their way into, through and over others around them. And they are convinced they know SO much better than any of the rest of society! Whether they kill one person or dozens, they believe in what they are doing.
Date posted: 2004-06-13
Real compassion for others always involves giving of oneself, even to the point of one's own daily, ongoing suffering, pain and sometimes death. THE Passion of life. There IS something called "passion" and there are the utterly not passionate, the "heart dead." The really "dead" to life are walking among us. They are not "brain dead," but "heart dead," and though they think themselves wise, they do not understand the most basic facts of life! They do not live life and are not "of" life - that is why the culture they have built and promoted is called the "culture of death."
Date posted: 2004-02-13
Our nation was founded upon the principle that all are CREATED "equal." Certainly, the concept of "equality" does not imply "equality" in ability, talent, gifts or individual characteristics. The founders of our nation were referring to an equality of worth in the sight of God who created each life.
Date posted: 2004-01-30
Those who promoted the culture of death in Nazi Germany honored loyalty to the Third Reich. They believed that some people were more worthy of life while others simply were not! They respected principles such as "respect for SOME persons," "justice," and "the greater good of society." They had their own interpretation of what "respect for persons," "justice," and the "greater good of society" meant.
Date posted: 2004-01-19
Why should we be concerned? With 1.6 million people residing in 17,000 nursing homes (11,000 of them for-profit businesses), the opportunity for actual harm to our nation's loved ones is staggering. A recent Congressional study found that 550,000 residents were in homes cited for instances of severe abuse.
Date posted: 2004-01-04