End of Life Care: Health Dialogues | The California Report

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Health Dialogues is a special series from KQED's "The California Report" that facilitates an ongoing discussion of California health care issues that are important to the underserved: children, low-income residents, minorities, and people with disabilities to name just a few.

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End of Life Care

Join Health Dialogues as we explore issues surrounding the end of life. What role does culture play, what does insurance cover and what are some ways to plan for the inevitable?

The Shift to End of Life Care

Host Dave Iverson talks with Andrea Villa about the decision to move her elderly mother out of her home and into a board and care facility. Dave also speaks with Andrea's mother's physician about end of life care and Andrea's mom's situation. Guest: Dr. Russell Granich, director of palliative care and hospice at Kaiser Permanente, South San Francisco.

Music Bridge 1: "Passing Clouds" by Bruce Susie Ibarra, from the CD "Songbird Suite" (Tzadik)

Fu-Jung Chang, circa 1999 (courtesy of Chao family)

A Family Faced with a Decision

When it's not clear what someone wants at the end of life, and that person is no longer able to articulate those wishes, it often falls to family members to try and make the best choices they can. But sometimes there's disagreement within a family, and cultural and generational differences can complicate what is already an emotionally fraught situation. That's the dilemma producer Victoria Chao's family found itself in this summer, when Victoria's grandmother became critically ill. Reporter: Victoria Chao

A Physician's Point of View

Dave Iverson speaks with a palliative care physician about his perspective on preparing for and dealing with end of life care. Guest: Dr. Andrew Lasher, director of palliative medicine at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, and co-author of "The End-of-Life Handbook: A Compassionate Guide to Connecting with and Caring for a Dying Loved One".

Music Bridge 2: "Where Is Love" by The Clayton Brothers, from the CD "Brother to Brother" (ArtistShare)

photo: courtesy of the George Mark Children's House

Pediatric Hospice

We tend to think of death as something that happens to older people: those who have at least had a chance to live, to forge relationships, families, careers... But how do you come to terms with the approaching death of someone who hasn't had those chances? Providing care at the end of a child's life is very different from caring for a dying adult. It requires a different medical approach, a different philosophy and even a different way of dealing with health care costs. Reporter: April Dembosky

Music Bridge 3: "Nourishing Our Roots" by Alex Cline, from the CD "Continuation" (Cryptogramophone)

Alvar Stugard in 1997 (photo: Ceil Muller)

The Kiss and the Dying

In this month's show, we've heard a lot about the choices we all face about end of life care. We close with a story about death itself. Ceil Muller is a producer at KQED Radio, and ten years ago her husband Alvar Stugard died of a chronic disease. Two years later, Ceil decided she wanted to put together a story about what those last days with her husband were like, with hopes that we could all draw something from her experience. Ceil's story first aired on KQED Radio's "Hot Soup" in February 2002. Reporter: Ceil Muller

End Music: "Fat Mama" by Herbie Hancock, from the CD "Mwandishi: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings" (Warner Bros.)

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