Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-7drxs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-22T07:43:12.076Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

20 - Personal Religious Identity at the End of Life

from Part V - Religious Claims at the End of Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2018

Robin Fretwell Wilson
Affiliation:
University of Illinois
Get access

Summary

This chapter analyzes the legal relationships between religion, family, and end-of-life care in two contexts: surrogate decisionmaking and hospice care. The chapter first discusses how the law incorporates spirituality and morality into surrogate decisionmaking on end-of-life treatment; it also considers how Medicare incorporates spirituality into the hospice experience through, for example, the involvement of chaplains.  Then, based on in-depth interviews with those who had experienced the death of their parents, the chapter shows how surrogates actually handle end-of-life decision-making. As the interviewees explained, religion helped guide them in deciding what the patient would have wanted, and it also provided the decisionmakers comfort as they moved forward from end-of-life care to death.  Because of the role that religion can play in end-of-life decisionmaking, the uncertainties surrounding the application of Hobby Lobby can compound the traumatic experiences of those involved, regardless of their religious (or nonreligious) beliefs and practices. Solutions involve additional legal support for end-of-life conversations and greater use of end-of-life planning documents.
Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×