Talking About End-Of Life Helps The Dying, The Family
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
Researchers in Boston have concluded that having discussions about end of life care with your doctor not only benefits the health of the dying but also helps the loved one during the grieving process. The researchers found that of the 332 people that tracked who had advanced, incurable cancer, only about 1/3 of them ever talked about their end-of-life care options with their doctors. Per Joe Rojas-Burke who blogged on this subject, “The discussions did not trigger depression or worry. On the contrary, the patients received earlier hospice care, reported less suffering during their final weeks and underwent fewer invasive treatments near death than patients whose doctors avoided such discussions.” The results of these findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.