Terminal illness

Patient-physician relationship and terminal illness The patient-physician relationship is vital to the palliative care process of patients deemed to be nearing death, and it is the foundation to which a treatment plan may be negotiated while integrating the best medical technology and human care available. A central aspect of the relationship is influenced by incorporating the virtues mentioned earlier. In addition, hope, empathy and compassion always serve as the major ways employed to ensure…

When serious illness strikes an individual, it can be a life altering. Illness will directly or indirectly effect everyone at some point in their life. Palliative Care and Hospice Care, are two services that provide whole person; physical, emotional, and spiritual care for patients at separate times after diagnosis. Understanding the differences and similarities will enable patients to receive the appropriate support and services during their time of need. The resources available can provide…

people who are suffering from a terminal illness that is causing them immense amounts of pain. Terminal illnesses such as cancer and other diseases cause suffering for not only the people who have the disease, but also the family and friends around them watching them suffer. With no cure for their suffering, the patients are left to decide whether or not to continue the treatment that in the long run will not help with their…

do with it. PAS puts weak social groups such as the disabled, elderly, and poor at great risk for abuse. The savings from PAS is substantial and would lower the cost of medical care. PAS prevent the chance for the patient to recuperate from their illness and fully recover. PAS would aid patients suffering from the symptoms of their disease. Regardless of the message and purpose behind PAS it is still murder. PAS gives patients the opportunity to retain their…

According to a study done by Dartmouth Health Care, 80% of patients with a chronic disease say that they would prefer to avoid hospitalization when they are dying. Of this 80%, less than 20% actually die at home (“Facts”). The remaining terminally ill patients die in a hospital, having been sustained by medications and other life supporting technologies. Terminally ill patients who are experiencing a diminishing quality of life should have the option to voluntarily end their own life through…

HOSPICE CARE Hospice care is the kind of care that focuses on the philosophy of palliation of chronic, terminal or serious illness by providing medical services, emotional support, and spiritual resources. Palliation specializes in the provision of relief from symptoms with the intention of improving the quality of life for both the patient and the family. According to Christensen and Kockrow (2006), hospice care has basic goals as follows: • control and alleviate patient’s symptoms • allows the…

seriousness of a person’s illness is not something anyone can handle. Being told you’re going to die within a couple months, weeks, or even days can put a huge amount of stress on the body and mind. Therefore, worsening the state your body is in; however, being informed that you are going to die soon, does not necessarily mean there is no hope. With enough ambition and diligence, anything can be overcome, even death itself. Opponents of patients being informed of a terminal prognosis believe…

rather than end their lives. (“Physician- Assisted Suicide”). However supporters claim that assisted suicide is about the patients and what they want to do. Although assisted suicide may be against some doctor’s ethics, I believe if the patients with terminal illnesses wat to die, then they should have the right to choose when the suffering shall end. How it works is a patient talks to their doctor saying that is what they want to do. Then the case of the patient has to be reviewed by another…

There are many ethical issues that are unique to providing Hospice care. Recent health care efforts aimed at supporting individuals facing advanced illness are marked by debate over the right to die and assisted suicide. Palliative Sedation therapy to unconsciousness is considered to be controversial as unconsciousness is the intended goal of sedation rather than a side effect. Medications are increased rapidly over minutes and hours to achieve unconsciousness and left at that level until death…

The aim of palliative care is to enable the patients’ and their families’ quality of life. This can be achieved through effective delivery of care by providing age-specific palliation to an individual with chronic illness and their families. Palliative care is a specialized treatment that supports the patient and their family’s wellbeing through controlling the end-of-life physical symptoms and recognizing their psychological, spiritual and social needs. Nurses are member of the…