This week there has been a flurry of writing about death and dying and Physician Assisted Suicide. Hospice and Palliative medicine have been conflated in the discussion in a variety of ways, some that were reasonable, and others that were not. These topics seem to dance in and out of the news and popular culture. A large enemy to good policy in this area is fear and ignorance. The two tend to go together. It is scary to think of dying, or to lose a loved one. Both are also inevitable. If you are interested in end of life issues in any way, shape or form, you should follow and read Pallimed Blog, which today is celebrating their Sixth Anniversary. It is a great blog that is written by leaders in the field of Palliative medicine. They have been translating the best research in this area for quite some time (6 years is a long time in the blogosphere). What they do is the opposite of fear and ignorance.
