Are the Dying Poor?

Like most Americans living in the 1960's, I clearly recall the assination of President Kennedy. I shed tears as the announcement was made over the school PA system, as I watched thousands pass his casket in the rotunda, the procession to Arlington Cemetery and the mourners as the interrment ended and the rituals came to an end. Had anyone asked me why the tears, I would have responded, "He's dead." Dead meant no more interactions with family and friends, no celebrations of special events, no long awaited vacations, no playing in the snow (even for adults), no snuggling with those we love. That certainly seemed to poverty (at least on a subliminal level).

Our attitudes and understands of death have changed dramatically in the last 20+ years. An increasing number of family members now are very much engaged in the care of their dying parents and other family members. Hospice assists the dying person in "dying with dignity."
All of this created an uneasiness within me; maybe the dying aren't poor.

In 2007, USA TODAY reported that 1.8 million people in the United States resided in nursing facilities and receive a full range of care from simple monitoring for safety to hospice care when they are dying. With institutionalized nursing care, comes the poverty; reduction in decision making, rarely a choice of menu for daily meals, often no choice where one will be placed in the dining room, others deciding when it is time to bathe, shared room-diminished privacy, and the list continues.

For the last four years, I have worked part time as a hospice visit nurse. This generally meant visiting hospice clients who were residents in local nursing homes. I was appalled by what I witnessed in some locations. Residents near death were in darkened rooms, televisions were turned to CNN and blasted the news, there was resistance to hospice staff in some homes, there was no place for visitors to sit and be comfortable while visiting the resident....and the list continues.

I would take this a step further to say that often the dead are poor. I don't mean monetarily necessarily. An example of this is a 20+ yr old male who was convicted of murdering a mother and two adolescent children and a man and his adult daughter. The funeral director was angry with another director for accepting the death call. He told that director that there would be no one to assist with moving the body from the Medical Examiner, none to move the body from the cart to the embalming table, and none if there was difficulty with the embalming. The rationale was that this was a murderer, he didn't deserve any care. The reality is that the body was simply only a body. It was the body of someone whose family loved him despite the conviction and who grieved deeply for him. To have one's body cast aside as if it was the one who murdered is to be poor. To have professionals refuse to assist in the care of that body is (in my opinion) unforgivable.

If we are truly Christians, we must read and make ours the words of Jesus: words of compassion, care, concern, forgiveness rather than scorn, hatred, depersonalization, and sin. Jesus reminds us that we will always have the poor with us, even in death.