Read more of Bob Abernethy’s interview with author and funeral director Thomas Lynch, followed by an excerpt from his book THE UNDERTAKING: LIFE STUDIES FROM THE DISMAL TRADE: BOB ABERNETHY: You have called undertaking “the dismal trade.” Is it? THOMAS … More →

May 4, 2001

Imagine the sadness of dying alone. To that dismal prospect, add the thought of dying alone in prison. Not long ago, one of the toughest prisons in the country created a hospice program to ensure that that doesn’t happen to its inmates. More →

March 17, 2000

As death approaches, hospice care can impose a heavy burden, with great responsibilities on families. Palliative care is a method of treatment for terminally ill patients and their families that provides them with hospice-like care in a hospital. More →

July 9, 1999

The House is preparing to vote on a bill that could severely curb a doctor’s ability to prescribe lethal drugs for the purpose of suicide. That ability is at the heart of the Oregon law that went into effect last fall. At age 35, Brian Lovell was diagnosed with colon cancer and was given six months to live. Now, he is ready to use Oregon’s Death with Dignity law. More →

September 18, 1998