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Thursday, March 11, 2010

End of Life Tools

I'm working on my Advanced Care Directives and some thoughts came to mind.  Before I invent something, does anyone know if the "End of Life Tools" below are available yet?  I can see these might be helpful in my own life when the time comes.  You know me - I'd rather buy products off the shelf, but if I need to invent, then I will.

  •  When I am unable to communicate my healthcare decisions, is there a tool that could scan my body for "signs or signals" that indicate that I'm trying to communicate?  I could picture a device hooked up to me that if there is no signals for a week or so, then my pre-written Advanced Care Directives would take effect.  Kind of a last chance to "speak up".  This concept reminds me of the SETI activities searching for life outside of Earth - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SETI.
  • There seems to be a time for all us that we just want to die.  Is there a tool that would help a person die from the inside out - i.e. wishing ourselves to die?  - For example, using maybe hypnosis, the dying person could relax and suggest bodily systems to shut down one by one, then finally give up and die.  Guided Imagery, too,  is a powerful tool to keep people alive and to improve their health.  Perhaps there could be a Guided Imagery tool that would remind me that my health is not going to improve, that it's OK to die, that it's OK to give up, etc.  This tool could be audio or video or both, where I could hear the tape or see a TV screen.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_guided_imagery for a start.  Seems to me like a legal and perhaps morally acceptable way of ending one's life.

My motives in doing this is to reduce unnecessary cost and suffering, for myself and others.  I bet there's a lot of Baby Boomers thinking just what I'm thinking.  Perhaps this posting will give product developers some ideas on "what else might be done" and open some new market opportunities.

I might have more later, but for now that's enough of end of life talk.  I want to go on living and make the most of my life today!!!
Please let me know if you know of any off-the-shelf tools like above - or anyone working on them.    Thanks!

This writing, and any other communication, from TG Ideas LLC are strictly for informational purposes. See full disclaimer on TG Ideas LLC publications and website - https://sites.google.com/site/tgideas/ 


2 comments:

  1. As an ICU nurse of 30 years I can tell you that being proactive is your best bet. http://endoflifetalk.blogspot.com
    Finding someone you trust to be your health care power of attorney is a MUST. You can also do the living will but even better is to declare yourself a DNRCC (do not resuscitate-comfort care). This assures you'll not end up on life support for any reason.

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