Academy News | Academy of Aid-in-Dying Medicine

Monthly Aid-in-Dying Word Puzzle
May 30, 2025

If you’re lounging about on a lovely here-comes-summer day, put on your eye shade and solve our monthly Aid-in-Dying Word Puzzle, courtesy of Academy Treasurer (and puzzle genius) Michael Blake.

In the puzzle below, see the expressions at the bottom. Find them in the puzzle (vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or backward), and drag your mouse along the lines.

Enjoy our last Friday of the month puzzles!

Still puzzled?
See the solutions here.

Hospice Staff Support Groups
May 15, 2025

We are proud to announce the launch of the Academy’s new Hospice Staff Support Groups.

2 min

Hospice nurses, social workers, and spiritual care providers are front-line aid-in-dying clinicians, who provide much of the end-of-life care for patients considering or completing medical aid in dying, as well as crucial support for their families. No matter whether a hospice’s policy opts in, opts out, or falls somewhere in between, their clinical staff are often at the bedside, caring for dying patients and their loved ones throughout every stage of the dying process.

We know this work is important, and often deeply meaningful, but it can also be complex and demanding. That’s why we’ve created these free, confidential spaces where staff can share experiences, challenges, insights, or questions with others who truly understand.

If you are a hospice nurse, social worker, or spiritual care provider looking for support or practical guidance, join us!

We offer confidential monthly Zoom meetings and an online chat group. Follow this link to our form

Monthly Aid-in-Dying Word Puzzle
April 25, 2025

Spring is here!! (Well, I suppose that depends on where in the country you live.) You should be out smelling the flowers! But if not, or you have hay fever — here’s your final-Friday of the month aid-in-dying word puzzle, thanks to our puzzle maven (and Board member) Michael Blake.

This month’s theme: Books About Aid in Dying. The format has changed, this time a Word Match Challenge (think, painfully, of when you took the SAT exam in high school).

Here’s how it works: Click in a box until you see a dot, then release the click and move the mouse to the associated word in the next column. Click in that box, then release the click and move the mouse to the correct box in the next column and click on that. If you’re correct, the lines will stay. If you’re incorrect, the lines disappear and you get to keep trying.

Enjoy this last-Friday of the month puzzle. Then go smell those flowers.

Still puzzled?
See the solutions here.

Monthly Aid-in-Dying Word Puzzle
March 28, 2025

Another cold/snowy/rainy weekend begins, with vague hints of spring. There’s more to life, folks, than aid-in-dying clinical care — so here’s your end-of-month aid-in-dying word puzzle, thanks to our puzzle maven (and Board member) Michael Blake.

In the puzzle below, search for the expressions at the bottom. To add to the challenge, some, but not all, of these have been broken up. Find the expressions in the puzzle (vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or backward), drag your mouse along the lines, and… if you complete it, e-mail us a screenshot of the finished puzzle, and Michael will, well, personally congratulate you!

Still puzzled?
See the solutions here.

Pharmacology Update: Hydrocodone vs Morphine for Aid-in-Dying Medications.

Preliminary Data Presented/Explained in a 12-minute Video Podcast.

March 26, 2025

12 minutes

Of interest to attending/prescribing clinicians and pharmacists since it may — or may not — affect prescribing choices.

Gratitude to Angelique Loscar, the Academy’s Director of Data Management and Analysis, for her work on this.

GeriPal Podcast
Comfort Feeding and VSED as Bridge to Aid in Dying
March, 20, 2025:

The Academy’s esteemed colleagues Hope Wechkin, MD, and Thaddeus Pope, JD, PhD, HEC-C are featured on the highly informative and widely viewed GeriPal Podcast. Hope talks about Minimal Comfort Feeding. Thaddeus discusses the use of Voluntary Stopping Eating and Drinking as a bridge to aid in dying — see an article by Thad on that topic in the Academy’s Journal of Aid-in-Dying Medicine (with a counterpoint by Dr. Bob Uslander).

Film Review: The Room Next Door
(Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore)
March 7, 2025

12 minutes

Monthly Aid-in-Dying Word Puzzle
Films about Medical Aid in Dying
March 7, 2025

In the Word Search below, scroll to the bottom for the choices, find the words in the puzzle (vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or backward), drag your mouse along the lines, and… if you complete it, e-mail us a screenshot of the finished puzzle and Michael will, well, personally congratulate you!

All of the hidden entries are movie titles that touch on medical aid in dying. Note that two of the films, A SHORT STAY IN SWITZERLAND and TAKE ME OUT FEET FIRST, are too long to fit in the grid, so they have been chopped into two parts. We hope you enjoy this one!

Still puzzled?
See the solutions here.

February 10, 2025:

Why DDMAPh? The Journal of Palliative Medicine‘s January 2025 issue answered just that.
— The Pharmacology of Aid in Dying: From Database Analyses to Evidence-Based Best Practices.

As Dr. Jessica Kaan of End of Life Washington noted on the Academy Listserv: Published in a well-respected academic journal, this article marks a milestone in the field of end-of-life care. The groundbreaking work is the first to focus exclusively on the scientific aspects of aid in dying. Shifting from discussions about ethics or societal attitudes, this achievement underscores the growing importance of evidence-based clinical practices, advancing the scientific understanding of this complex and evolving field.