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couple chooses hospice for care at end of life's journey

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

Picture a couple sitting on the porch, holding hands, enjoying a fall day. They’ve been married almost 70 years, and they’re still happy.

Nice image, right? Now, picture the wife dying with cancer, and your mental image might change to that of a hospital room, maybe intensive care, lots of people coming and going as the woman and her family are “managed” during her illness and death.

That’s not the way it is happening for Dorothy Eisele and her family. Dorothy refused chemotherapy and other treatments when she was told in July 2008 that her kidney cancer (diagnosed in 2004) had spread to her liver.

The couple decided to sign on with Hospice of Southern Illinois and have not regretted one day since they made the decision, according to the couple.

Hospice can ease the dying process, especially for people who have been diagnosed with terminal illness. Sometimes, like Dorothy, patients feel better with the care and attention they receive.

Any thoughts of euthanasia, the hastening or causing a death, never entered their minds.

Father Dennis Voss, pastor of St. Liborius in St. Libory and St. Anthony in Lively Grove, has worked for many years with people who are dying, especially as a chaplain at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Belleville. He gave his own view on euthanasia.

“We have no right to take our own or anybody else’s life; our life is a gift from God,” Father Voss said.
As a doctor, Hospice of Southern Illinois Medical Director, Dr. Lynne Nowak, agrees.

“Personally, from an ethical and moral standpoint, I would not actively participate in hastening someone’s death,” she said.

Having said that, she added: “I fundamentally believe in a patient’s right to die; if they want to refuse treatment, I don’t have a right to interfere with the natural dying process.”

The Eiseles would agree with Father Voss and Dr. Nowak. Longtime members of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Belleville, Dr. Owen Eisele practiced medicine in Belleville for many years.

Speaking of his wife, Dr. Eisele said: “She’s stronger now, and I give Hospice credit and Jesus credit.”
The Eiseles, with help from Hospice of Southern Illinois, take care of Dorothy. When she was extremely weak, Hospice sent their staff as often as was needed not only to care for Dorothy but to be available to her caregivers.
While Dorothy will never be well, she has improved to the point that the staff visits only once a week. However, the Eiseles know Hospice is just a phone call away, no matter what time of day or night they are called.

Dying can be “a very holy experience,” Father Voss said. When family and friends gather with the dying person, good-byes can be said, and love is palpable in the room.”

The problem, Father Voss said, is “most people don’t want to talk about death; they do everything possible to avoid death. We are in a death denying culture.”

Some people might say we are also afraid of the pain of death. That could lead some people to consider euthanasia or assisted suicide. Hospice assists in managing pain so that pain does not become a focal point of the dying process.
The Church speaks forcefully against both euthanasia and assisted suicide.

“As Catholic leaders and moral teachers, we believe that life is the most basic gift of a loving God — a gift over which we have stewardship but not absolute dominion. Our tradition, declaring a moral obligation to care for our own life and health and to seek such care from others, recognizes that we are not morally obligated to use all available medical procedures in every set of circumstances. But that tradition clearly and strongly affirms that as a responsible steward of life one must never directly intend to cause one’s own death, or the death of an innocent victim, by action or omission.” (Administrative Committee National Conference of Catholic Bishops Sept. 12, 1991)
Hospice of Southern Illinois does not believe in either euthanasia or assisted suicide.

Dr. Nowak said she sees “life as a journey with death being a transition. Death is not something to be feared; it’s not a conclusion but a transition.”

As a doctor, Nowak said even though she can’t “heal” a person, “that doesn’t mean there is nothing I can do. I can provide comfort and assist the person to travel the rest of the journey.”

And Dr. Nowak, like the rest of the Hospice of Southern Illinois staff, makes house calls. She visits with Hospice patients, talks to them about their needs, their pain and what can be done to alleviate the pain.

“It’s a different kind of helping,” she said. “We can offer emotional and spiritual help” as well as medical help. “The bottom line is that death is inevitable.”

Agreeing with Father Voss, Dr. Nowak said: “With rare exceptions, if death doesn’t go well, it’s horrible for everyone involved, mainly those who are left behind.”

Neither the doctor nor the priest is against aggressive treatment if there is reasonable hope that the ultimate outcome provides reasonable hope.

However, when people fear death, don’t discuss it or have procrastinated so long they have no time to prepare for it, many loose ends remain, not the least of which is the family left behind.

Often, Dr. Nowak said, people don’t understand what is happening to a loved one. While they may know about Hospice, “there’s a lack of understanding of when is an appropriate time to call Hospice; people wait way too long.”
Hospice doesn’t pretend that people will not grieve the loss of a loved one, but with careful preparation, lasting memories of someone dying in peace can eventually ease some of that suffering.

In fact, they follow the family of a patient even after the death to assist with grief support.

Hospice works quietly, gently, providing comfort and care one patient and one family at a time.

The national and local debate over health care continues in a very vocal and public way, and “the debate has distorted the discussion” about end of life issues, Father Voss said. “There hasn’t been enough discussion of durable power of attorney for health care (which names someone to make decisions if they are unable to do it) or living wills.
Both Dr. Nowak and Father Voss believe the durable power of attorney for health care is preferable since the living will specifies no extraordinary means can be used to prolong life but a doctor determines what that means.
Together, the durable power of attorney and living will are called “advanced directives.”

The “more information we have, the better off we would be,” Father Voss said.

For more information on Hospice of Southern Illinois, please call 800-233-1708, go to www.hospice.org or visit the National Hospice and Palliative Care web site at www. nhpco.org.