[redwitch]

One of my dear friends died recently. No surprise, she had congestive heart failure and had had several heart attacks in the past year. The tragedy was not her death, the tragedy was that her wishes were not followed.

She had two desires -- to die in her home and to be buried with her beloved husband. Hospice called her daughter in Hawaii and said something had to be done NOW. Jean, my friend, found someone to stay with her 24/7 right after the hospice social worker called the daughter.

Jean's daughter decided that the best thing would be to come to Florida and take her mother back to Hawaii to die there. Jean did not want to go and felt she was being kidnapped. She also felt helpless in stopping this. So, Jean was flown to Hawaii, put in a hospital bed in the dining room and died a week later. She was with her daughter and grandson, whom she adored, but time was taken from her life by the flight and she did not die where she wanted.

There was no maliciousness meant in taking Jean to Hawaii but it was still wrong. This is not what she wanted and she was too weak to fight for herself. Folks, please be sure your wishes are very well known, written out and that you have someone who can fight for you to see that what you want happens. Don't wait until you're too weak to stop things from happening.