CARING FOR A DYING LOVED ONE
A Comprehensive Guide

CARING FOR A DYING LOVED ONE
A Comprehensive Guide

Someone in your family is diagnosed with a terminal disease and your whole world is turned upside down. What can you do to help them through their final days? Where will they be cared for? And by whom? How do you decide? What do you do when members of the family disagree on the best way to care for the dying loved one? What resources are available to make it easier for everyone involved? What ethical issues may arise regarding the withholding or withdrawal of life support? How can the loved one be ministered to spiritually as he or she prepares for eternity? When is it time to let them go and how do you go about it? How might hospice help? This is only a small sample of the many matters covered in this handy guide for those who are responsible for the care of a dying loved one. Trying to make sense of suffering and death, the role of grief, the need for forgiveness and reconciliation at times, the essential part that prayer can play and an overview of some bio-ethical decisions that may have to be made are among the many important issues dealt with here.

About the Author: Robert “Bob” Fischer has been a Registered Nurse for the past twenty years working in such areas as acute and critical care, education, and crisis/hospice nursing. He served as a Naval Nurse Corps Officer aboard the USNS Comfort, a Naval Hospital Ship, and aboard the USS Saipan during Operation Desert Storm. He has a Masters Degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston as an Adult Critical Care Clinical Nurse Specialist and is completing his formation program as a Deacon candidate for the Archdiocese of Washington DC. His wife Karen is a Masters Prepared Nurse in Public Health Nursing for the Veterans Administration Hospital and shares in many of his ministries.