Healing Body, Mind, Spirit
Dying is a more positive experience than most people imagine, psychologists have claimed.
A recent YouGov survey found 68 per cent of people in Britain fear death – but according to the authors of new study, dying is “less sad and terrifying – and happier – than you think”.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina analysed blogs written by terminally ill patients and last words of prisoners on death row.
Thousands of cancer patients would prefer to die at home but are forced to suffer “traumatic” deaths in hospital, according to Macmillan.
Taboos around talking about death are fuelling a “crisis of communication” in the UK that prevents people from planning their final days, warned the organisation in a new report.
Research by the charity found that while 38 per cent of people who die from cancer die in hospital, just one per cent would choose to do so, with 64 per cent saying they wanted to die at home.
Dr. Kendra Fleagle Gorlitsky recalls the anguish she used to feel performing CPR on elderly, terminally ill patients.
“I felt like I was beating up people at the end of their life,” she says.
It looks nothing like what people see on TV. In real life, ribs often break and few survive the ordeal.
Gorlitsky now teaches medicine at the University of Southern California and says these early clinical experiences have stayed with her.
“I would be doing the CPR with tears coming down sometimes, and saying, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, goodbye.’ Because I knew it very likely was not going to be successful. It just seemed a terrible way to end someone’s life.”
Gorlitsky wants something different for herself and for her loved ones. And most other doctors do too: A Stanford University study shows almost 90 percent of doctors would forgo resuscitation and aggressive treatment if facing a terminal illness.
This article was written by KEN MURRAY, MD Years ago, Charlie, a highly respected orthopedist and a mentor of mine, found a lump in his stomach. He had a surgeon explore the area, and the diagnosis was pancreatic cancer. This surgeon was one of the best in the country. He had even invented a new procedure … Read more
In this week’s Scrubbing Up opinion column, Prof Mayur Lakhani chair of the Dying Matters Coalition, urges doctors to be more open and frank about preparing patients and their families for the end of life.
Imagine a situation where most people with a common condition are undiagnosed and where opportunities are repeatedly missed to identify the problem and to offer good care.
What is this condition? It’s dying.
Each year, an estimated 92,000 people in England are believed to need end of life care but not receive it.
As a practising GP I have seen distressed relatives after a patient has died in hospital.
Often they have not had a chance to see their relative before they died and were unaware of the seriousness of the condition, despite repeated admissions with deteriorating conditions.
Many such patients are never formally identified as at risk of dying and not assessed for end of life care.
One relative said something that haunts me to this day: “I wish the doctors had told me that my mother was dying.”
As a result too many people still die in distress with uncontrolled symptoms, or have futile interventions when this will not make any difference.
All of us, including doctors, must do more to talk about dying.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Psychotherapy focused on spirituality and finding meaning may help improve quality of life and well-being in terminally ill cancer patients, suggests a new study from a large cancer treatment center. The talk therapy sessions only seemed to provide a short-term benefit — though researchers said that was reasonable given that … Read more