Think of the care that you would like to have or have had for each of these people. And think too about what you would like as you too face illness and dying. After all, if we get the policy and medical care right, we have one last all-important opportunity to be a part of civilized humanity and write our script the way we think it should be. Some thoughts about how this Committee might be able to focus helpful attention in the Senate to promote effective Congressional action. We have made some progress in the last decade, but we are working on the effects of an entire era that denied death and found suffering invisible or at best annoying, and we have a long way to go.
Society needs more .
Society needs to feel free of the taboo that prevents healthy discussions on dying and what that implies. People need to know that dying well is not an oxymoron and they need to have opportunities to develop their ideas about what it is they or their loved ones will seek as they write their last legacy and take their final bow. People can then become active in finding supportive programs, in keeping their ill loved-ones productive as long as possible, in keeping their family psychologically robust even as they face bereavement. For the aging population there are some places that will provide the most promising outreach. These are houses of worship and community settings .