{"id":663,"date":"2015-01-22T21:45:51","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T06:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/?p=663"},"modified":"2015-01-23T02:15:09","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T11:15:09","slug":"jan-22-how-to-answer-the-question-why-am-i-still-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.shelquist.us\/?p=663","title":{"rendered":"Jan. 22 – How to answer the question, “Why am I still living?”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"3D<\/a><\/p>\n

My patient assignments include the most acute patients in our health system.\u00a0 In the words of the patient, \u201cI know I am doing to die, why doesn\u2019t God just take me and get it over with now?\u201d\u00a0 When this question is asked of family members by the patient it produces an emotional response depending on the way the family members view the situation.<\/p>\n

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One time when I asked visitors and a patient how I could help them one of the visitors said, \u201cHelp me tell _________ to stop asking to die?\u201d\u00a0 With the tone of voice and the body language I could tell this was not the first time the topic had been discussed.\u00a0 I responded by asking the visitor what had been said to the patient by the family when the request to die was voiced.<\/p>\n

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Below is a compilation of answers I have received from different encounters when this serious topic is being addressed:<\/p>\n