Death is a natural process that will be experienced by everyone at some point, desirably at the end of a long, well lived life. The reality is that no one knows when that time will come or how it will happen. Unfortunately, for the terminally ill, death is in the near future and it is a sobering reality. Therefore, when that time comes, people need to know that they will have options, and the assurance that death does not have to be an agonizing end. They can choose to endure the annihilating pain that comes with the disease and allow it to take its natural course or choose to put an end to it, surrounded by those who love them.
He then got pneumonia and then the doctors thought he was all better so they sent him home. And then a couple days later he got in really bad shape again and then when they brought him back to the ER, the doctors said there was nothing else they could do, so they put him in hospice. He was so strong in hospice, but you could just tell everyday that he was getting worse and worse. Then it was a Friday night, and the doctor said that he doesn’t think that he will be around for much longer, said he might not make it through the night.
So he went into surgery and the doctors had to cut a piece of his skull out. The doctors said he would have a full recovery after the surgery, but my grandpa is in a nursing home not able to leave, walk or do anything himself. My grandfather was in the hospital for a little over a year. He went through so much and I could not do anything about it.
Oftentimes, grief can be a challenging thing to overcome as a healthcare provider. It not only stymies people from making sound decisions, but it can end up with blame focused in areas where it should not be. This is with particular regard to patient families. In the case of this 72-year-old patient, there are a number of issues in this situation that are both unethical and downright illegal, including the fact that the patient’s living will is not currently being respected. Legal/Ethical issue 1: The legality of the living will parameters Both the legal and ethical issues of this situation have the do with the legality of the living will.
I only began to understand the concept of an individual being terminally ill when my grandmother went into the hospital. I placed my hand inside of hers and stared at her emotionless face. I could only imagine the pain running through her body and the agony of not being able to vocalize a response to my ‘I love you’. Day after day she waited only anticipating her death and the pain she would feel if indeed she woke up the next day. I would have done anything to not have to see her go through the pain, and to allow her to get to her fate quicker and more comfortably.
According to Karaim in 2013 “Decisions about sustaining life, allowing it to end or even hastening death are among the most difficult choices terminally ill patients and their families can face” (para 1). Patients going through this have a bountiful number of things going
Hospice and palliative care can be easily intertwined; they are both concerned with promoting comfort and relieving patient pain. Hospice and palliative care, however, are different in some aspects. Patients who receive hospice care are nearing the end of their lives and there is no effort to cure their disease; the goal is to provide pain relief, a sense of belonging from family and friends if desired, support through the dying stages, and to assure that the person is able to die with dignity. Palliative care is also focused on reducing discomfort; however, the patient receiving care can be at any stage in their disease. Additionally, palliative care can also be administered during a time when a patient is receiving treatment to cure their illness.
Some cancer patients pass away feeling little pain or discomfort. Both diseases have misconceptions about them. The reason these misconceptions exist is because both diseases have been associated with death (Sontag 18). However, cancer is still associated with death and it is impossible to try and romanticize cancer like tuberculosis was
In all my experiences as a nurse, I’ve realized the importance of communication, providing holistic care to an individual and empowering them with the knowledge to manage their health. When an illness strikes a person, it affects not just his body, but also his mind and spirit. The art of communication is invaluable to patient interaction and establishing a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship, that facilitate coping mechanisms for patients, moreover it prepared myself as a nurse to meet their individual needs. Furthermore, there is at the moment an insurmountable demand for survivorship care as a result of the advancement in technology and medicine, which made living beyond life expectancy possible for increasingly more people. Living after cancer treatment is not free of complications as there are acute and chronic side effects of treatment that requires constant monitoring and attention, and this information spurred me to shift my focus from palliative to survivorship care.
sisters, and nieces. Accepting that his time was coming soon. A study done at a hospital in Texas showed “Recognizing death as part of life and thinking about death itself are social coping strategies…” (Ruiz-Fernández 15) People who struggle with a terminal illness have to accept death as a part of living at a different extreme than people who are healthy. When you know you are going to die you see living life as a
“Your grandma has cancer,” These four words were very difficult to swallow at a young age. Dealing with death so young can be very confusing and difficult to cope with. Not only is losing a family member tragic, but losing a family member who you cared so much about can really take a toll on your life. I know it took a toll on me when I lost my grandmother. It still does till this day.
Everyone deals with the loss of a loved one in their own separate ways. In my life, loss is what has shaped me into who I am today. Over these seventeen years, I have gone through many losses in my family: an older brother to suicide, an uncle to colon cancer, a grandmother to a heart attack, however, there is one loss in particular, that has changed me in more ways than one. Every summer my grandfather
When, I was like 5 yrs old my grandpa passed away. He was very sick he couldn't walk, talk or
He died when I was 5years old because he lost his business's and he thought he was living for nothing, he pocked himself with a knife. Mom still didn't care, she was just cleaning the blood on the floor. And I was right before to be next to dad by asking important
A living will, unlike a will, has no power over death and is created to express ones wishes for therapeutic treatment amid sickness. Palliative care is different from hospice because it does not only serve the dying but focuses on improving life and providing comfort for those with serious and life-threating illnesses (Kam). There can be serious consequences of dying without a will or not being able to let family know what type of medical care you wish receive if
