When Sunita Puri began her medical career, she realized her education had some significant gaps. No one had taught her how to have difficult conversations with patients or how to give a patient a serious diagnosis. Even now, the language of medical professionals often refers to illnesses in terms of “fighting” and “winning the battle” against the disease, leaving little …
3 Reasons Doctors Won’t Break Bad News
When you or your loved one received your diagnosis, did your doctor deliver the news in clear and easily understood terms? For many patients, the answer is no. While doctors almost uniformly agree that patients need clear and direct communication, they aren’t always trained to provide it. No one enjoys delivering bad news, and medical professionals are no exception. But …
What Your Doctor Wants You to Know about Palliative Care
When you hear the words, “palliative care” what do you think of? Perhaps you think of end of life care or of treatments meant to provide comfort rather than healing. Or maybe you consider palliative care a synonym for hospice care. Whether you have experience with palliative care or not, you likely have preconceived notions about it, but are those …
Patient Focused Care
As a friend or family member of a hospice patient, you may have spent considerable amounts of time in a hospital setting. You’ve seen doctors and nurses rushing through sterile hallways and heard heart monitors beeping and respirators whirring. In the midst of this often chaotic setting, the patient’s wishes can sometimes become secondary to the task of keeping them …
Improving the End of Life Experience
Most of us don’t think about death until we’re older. Those taken too soon remind us to live fuller and appreciate precious movements. A few people might buy life insurance or write letters to loved ones just in case they were to pass unexpectedly, but those preparations are meant for the ones left behind. It’s much harder to think about …
5 Quotes About Life and Death
You matter because you are you, and you matter to the end of your life. We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die. Cicely Saunders I had a friend who worked at a hospice, and he said people in their final moments don’t discuss their successes, awards or …
5 Tips for Caregivers
If you’re caring for a person with a terminal illness, you’ve encountered the unique challenges of balancing your life with hospice care. While it’s important to provide the best care possible for your loved one, it’s equally important to care for yourself. Providing for someone else’s needs without paying attention to your own can lead to burnout, so be sure …
Is Cancer a Win or Lose Battle?
Whether you have personally known someone with cancer or heard about someone outside your circle with the disease, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “fighting cancer” before. The language we use when we talk about diseases like cancer reflects our cultural attitude toward these serious conditions. Why do we need to talk about cancer in terms of battles – as though …
The way we die will be unthinkable 50 years from now.
The Vox article by Haider Warraich on April 3, 2019 highlights the fact that “how we treat dying people needs to change”. As the article concludes…”To emerge on the right side of history, the entire culture of medicine needs to be turned around. End-of-life care is not just palliative care’s business. It is everyone’s business, from emergency room doctors to …
Hospice is a Gift
In this article by Wendy Sue Morphew for the Arizona Daily Star dated December 13, 2018 titled “Hospice is a Gift”, we uncover the truth about hospice. My first meeting with Dad’s hospice nurse, Paul, was a disaster. I had flown across the country at Mom’s request specifically to meet him, but once here, I wanted nothing to do with him …