Notes From the Waiting Room

Being an advocate for a loved one at the end of their lives is so much more than reading their advance directive documents. The decisions are complex, nuanced and unpredictable. There is no way to predict what will be asked of us and no way to insure that we will be clear what decisions to make. Bart Windrum learned this first hand when his own parents came to the end of their lives, both in the hospital, and what the medical community had to offer appeared to make things worse. Only looking back did he realize that their deaths could have been eased if he had known they were in their dying time and he'd been able to say no to some of the options presented to him. These experiences created in him a passion to define the issues and serve as a fierce advocate for others facing similar decisions. Exploring ways to recognize when it's time to stop prolonging life and start letting it go has become his life's work.