Go Beyond Words: Wisdom Publications’ Buddhist Blog confirms the suspicions of our buddy Rod Meade Sperry at The Worst Horse, who raised some questions about that Guardian piece on Osel Hita Torres: there is indeed more to the story.
[UPDATE: Over at Shambhala Sun Space, Rod has an update in the form of a letter from Osel himself to the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition.]
Photo by Dana Neely for Getty Images.
This from dear Secundra Beasley: Dr. Pauline W. Chen writes for the New York Times about “talking frankly at the end of life” in the wake of her own mother-in-law’s death.
It is hard as a doctor not to wonder: Am I doing more harm than good?
One particular study came back to me during these last few weeks, a study that attempted to answer just this question. Published last fall in The Journal of the American Medical Association, the study examined how end-of-life care discussions with terminal patients affected their quality of life and that of their caregivers.
Over the course of almost six years, Professor Holly Prigerson, director of the Center for Psycho-oncology and Palliative Care Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and her colleagues interviewed more than 300 terminal patients, asking them if their doctors had ever discussed care at the end of life. After these patients died, the investigators analyzed the type of medical care received prior to death, then interviewed the patients’ caregivers six months later to assess how they were adjusting to their loss.
What Dr. Prigerson and her co-investigators found was that those patients who had had discussions with their physicians were more likely to have better quality of life at the end of their lives. These patients were not more depressed or more worried as a result of these discussions, and they tended to receive less aggressive medical care and earlier hospice referrals. Moreover, their caregivers fared better and suffered from significantly less depression six months after the patient’s death than caregivers whose loved ones had received more aggressive care.
Read the rest here.
“Abbot Thich Hang Dat spoke at a service at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Summit Monastery near Corydon, Ind. He said he stresses that Buddhism respects the right to choose other religions — but works to teach children Buddhist traditions.” Photo by Matt Stone for the Louisville Courier-Journal.
The Louisville Courier-Journal has a really neat feature about Buddhist activity in Kentucky and southern Indiana, with special emphasis placed on the community at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Summit Monastery near Corydon, IN. As a proud Hoosier, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Take a look–and be sure to check out two video reports for the story.
“Myanmar activists shout slogans during a rally demanding the immediate release of their pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 30, 2009. Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi urgently needs medical attention in the Myanmar prison where she is being held, her party said Friday, while closing arguments in her trial were delayed until the end of next week.” Photo by Lee Jin-man for the Associated Press.
Here’s the latest on what’s happening in Burma, with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s military trial and other issues:
