Washington State's First Execution in Eight years

For most of the past six months, my home state has been on the verge of its first execution since 2001.

Two separate executions have been cycling through the legal system. One is the possible execution of Darold Stenson, who was convicted of killing his wife and business partner in 1993. A judge ordered a stay on that execution in early December (for at least 90 days). I'm not sure where it stands right now.  

And now, it appears, barring any further appeals, that Cal Coburn Brown will be executed at 12:01 am on Friday—in other words, late tonight, early tomorrow morning.  

The immediate prospect of an execution always raises the issue of whether the legal system should be killing people, especially in an area like Washington where it doesn't happen very often. 

Here, from the Seattle Times is a pro–death penalty piece and a con–death penalty piece. Anyone else care to add their voice? 

Palliative Care Grand Rounds, Volume One, Issue Three ...

... will be hosted right here, on Wednesday April 1.

If you have tips or ideas for things for me to add—stories, radio programs, articles, blog entries, whatever—on death, dying, end-of-life care, palliative care, anything like that, please forward them along.

You can email them to me at jessica.knapp@gmail.com. Or just drop them into the comments section of any blog entry for this month, and I'll probably get the message that way, too.

And don't forget to check out Palliative Care Grand Rounds, Volume One, Issue Two, currently up at dethmama's blog!

Blogger on vacation!

Hi guys.

Expect light posting between now and March 12th or so because I am on vacation. I may still log on here and there, but I definitely will not be up to my normal volume.

Cherry Blossoms

I was looking through my archives, and I don't think I ever posted about this film. 

So ... I'm a bit of a sentimental sap, but I cry watching this trailer. 

It's playing in Seattle for just a week, and I'm going to be out of town for six of those days. I'm hoping I can figure out how to get there that last day. 

I love the conflicting views of what makes a satisfying life—the hedonistic husband who is happy with his daily pleasure of having a loving relationship with his wife versus the epicurean wife who wants to have the big, grand adventure of seeing Mt. Fuji. The music. The acting. You expect the husband to be the one to go, and then it's the wife. That moment when he's on the bed, and he has laid her clothes out next to him. And then he packs up her clothes so he can take "her" to Mt. Fuji with him finally. 

Just beautiful ...

Visit dethmama.blogspot.com

You should check out dethmama's blog right now for two reasons. 

1) She has a great story about her first experience with "the unexplained" in the passing of a patient. 

2) On March 4, she is hosting the second round of Palliative Care Grand Rounds—a monthly blog carnival highlighting what's out there in cyberspace that covers issues of hospice care, death, dying, grieving, caregiving, etc. It's your best opportunity this month to see what the cyber community is writing about these topics. And dethmama is a gripping writer, so I'm sure her turn at the rounds is something not to be missed. 

Death with Dignity Specifics Adopted ... and Not Adopted

Another article on the difficulties of implementing Washington's new death with dignity law, again, it is specifically focused on who will be choosing to opt out of the law and who will be choosing to administer it. (Individual pharmacists, doctors, hospitals, etc., are allowed to choose under the legislation.)

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out.

One example: if you read this article closely, you will note that, while the University of Washington has not decided to opt out of implementing the law, the director of palliative care consult services at the UW does not plan to prescribe any lethal medications to his patients for now. He will instead refer them to Compassion & Choices of Washington.

Contradictions like these are sure to run throughout the system. I just hope there isn't too much confusion. We all know how confusing the healthcare system already is.

Must Read After My Death

After his grandmother's death, Filmmaker Morgan Dews discovered a mass of audio recordings, home movies, photographs, and written journals detailing the turbulent lives of his grandmother's family in the 1960s. Using these materials, Dews has created a movie that the film's site says "affords fly-on-the-wall access to one family's struggles amid an America on the verge of dramatic transformation."

Thanks to Christian Sinclair for the link. (You're practically filling my blog this week!)

Most unusual are dictaphone recordings left by Dews' grandparents in which they offer shockingly honest comments about the state of their marriage and family. You can see some of that in the YouTube clip.





Also, you don't have to wait for this film to hit theaters or come to rental. If you're interested in Must Read After My Death, simply go to the film's website, and you can purchase a copy for play on your computer for only $2.99. Pretty neat.

I plan to watch it, although I haven't gotten around to it yet. And fair warning, I'm notoriously bad at actually watching movies that I plan to watch.