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Miriam, I just noticed this - its been difficult to keep up with mail. >I have found it very difficult to send this message. > Dale (Dusty) Denham passed away peacefully last Monday morning, Sept. 6 in his sleep at home. The hospice nurse said it was due to aspiration pneumonia. We had been able to keep him comfortable, and he only needed >Pneumonia, often due to aspiration in late stage Parkinsons, is too often treated with aggressive interventions: e.g. ches= t surgery, chest tubes, tracheotomy, gastrostomy (feeding tube in stomach coming out of the abdominal wall). I'd like to add my sympathies to those already expressed. My mother also died of aspiration pneumonia. I'm reminded of what a neurosurgeon friend said when I voiced my doubts about whether we'd done wrong by not taking her to hospital when she started running a fever: Even if they'd pulled her through this time, would you have been able to give her a better quality of life? Would she have wanted to continue living like this? Probably not. >His sister died 5 days earlier, my sister's husband 2 days earlier, and my 97-year old father is still on hospice. It's been a big blow, but our family has been unbelievably loving and helpful. It never rains, does it? I believe in God, but I must confess, his ways defy understanding. Keep the faith. Sarita [log in to unmask]