As Chochinov continued his work in Canada with the dying, he confronted this again and again - this need people have to assert themselves in the face of death. He and colleagues in the U.S. and Australia set about studying what troubled people most about dying.

They found that what people found most assaulting and annihilating was this idea that who they were would completely cease to exist after their death.   

In some ways, this is not a new idea.  Many people want to leave behind the story of their life in some form.  What Dr. Chochinov and his researchers did was to quantify the benefits from "dignity therapy."

He has published many articles, most recently in The Lancet. In one, the study focused on family member perspectives. It found that 95% of participants reported that Dignity Therapy helped the patient; 78% of families reported that it helped them during their time of grief.   

What we can take away is that that we need to let patients tell their stories.  Whether it's through a structured process or more spontaneous, we must take time in our busy lives to listen to those who need us whether we are family members, friends or medical professionals.  A test or a machine can't restore dignity - that is still a human task.

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There is growing consumer interest in eating meat and animal products raised without the use of antibiotics or growth hormones. Meats raised with antibiotics are contributing to antibiotic resistance, according to the USDA, the CDC and the FDA. Meats raised with synthetic growth hormones (rBGH) are passing this drug on to the consumer and growth hormones are implicated in tumor growth.  (For additional source material and references, see to end of this article).  This is a controversial subject, no doubt, but both the U.S. Government and the World Health Organization, among others, are taking it seriously.  

Aside from the over-prescribing of antibiotics all over the world, the main reason why bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics and, therefore, useless in the fight against disease is that 80% of antibiotics used in the United States are given to farm animals.  Sometimes they are used to fight disease but for the majority of antibiotics is used to increase the size of the animal in order to increase profits.  

By giving over 24.6 million pounds of antimicrobials in the absence of disease for nontherapeutic purposes to farm animals annually (in 2001; it's closer to 29 million pounds now), we are breeding immune super bugs which will become harmful to humans, such as E-coli. Moreover, there are few NEW antibiotics being designed in labs and the ones we have are all now fairly ineffective. We have bred super bugs which are cured with only our strongest antibiotics. If they become resistant to these, infections will become impossible to cure, people will die once again of  staph infections and bacterial pneumonia, for example.  

Doctors and farmers know this is a risk to our dwindling antibiotic arsenal. There is a movement to ban antibiotics for animal growth in this country, and in Europe they have already been banned, according to the Agriculture Committee of the European Commission . Consumers can help by buying antibiotic-free meat to help keep our antibiotics functional.

Growth hormones are also used on farms to increase milk production in cows. This causes overproduction of milk resulting in mastitis in the udders. Pus is produced and gets into the milk. Farmers try to prevent this by giving the cows high doses of antibiotics, adding to the overuse of antibiotics. Research has shown that there is a connection between hormones in meat and milk products and cancer in humans but the findings are often questioned by the agriculture industry. One way that IGF-1 (hormone insulin growth factor) may promote cancer is by reducing programmed cell death (apoptosis) in tumor cells. IGF-1 also inhibits the ability of various anti-cancer drugs to kill cultured human breast cancer cells.  The 1999 European Commission said that one way to prevent cancer is to avoid rBGH in foods.

Estrogens and testosterone are given to cattle and sheep, but the USDA does not allow the use of hormones in the raising of hogs, chickens, turkey or other fowl. So, to avoid hormones in your food when buying cow or sheep meat or dairy products, look for "no hormones administered" labels.  

To help you navigate the food labels, the Natural Resources Defense Council website tells us that meats labeled Organic have been raised without antibiotics or hormones. Animals given antibiotics only when sick can be labeled Certified Humane Raised and Handled, Good Alliance Certified, Animal Welfare Approved, or American Grassfed Association.  

The Livestong Foundation offers more information about labeling as well as background on the abuse of animal antibiotics.   

For Further Reading:

National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS): "What Do We Feed Food Production Animals?" 

Union of Concerned Scientists:  "Hogging It!  Estimates of Antimicrobial Abuse in Livestock"

NIEHS - Environmental Perspectives:  "The Landscape of Antibiotic Resistance" 

FDA/CDC/USDA:  National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System