Palliative Care

Hospice care and palliative care: What’s the difference?

Conditions
August 29, 2012

I’ve talked to hundreds of people about the health care options and decisions they face at the end of life.  It’s a challenging time and understandably many have little knowledge, while others have misconceptions, and some have bitter disagreements.

Here’s a basic primer for two common approaches: hospice and palliative care.

Hospice care

Two myths about hospice care are prevalent.  First, many people believe hospice is provided in a place like a hospital.  …

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Artificial death extension: It means that I actually care

Physician
August 25, 2012

The names of things often greatly affect our perception. In end of life lexicon, there is a movement underway to change the name of the medical order DNR (do not resuscitate) to AND (allow natural death). No change in the medical reality of what occurs, but a radical change in our emotional reaction to the each term.

DNR: “They withholding a medical intervention” (evoking negative feelings).

AND:  “They are giving care that …

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How we deliver bad news is critical to how families deal with grief

Physician
May 20, 2012

As a cardiac electrophysiologist, I have had to discuss bad news with patients and families more times than I would like during my career.  How a physician goes about this process can make an enormous impact in the lives of those affected by the news that must be delivered.

Precious little time is devoted to teaching this essential communication skill in the training of physicians today.  I can remember back to …

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End stage colon cancer becomes even more tragic without hospice

Physician
April 11, 2012

Mike was a runner, outdoors-man, and fitness nut. This was not so much as for health reasons as for “feeling good”, but he did hope that it would help him avoid illness. It was worrisome when he started with some belly cramping and noticed some blood streaks in his stools. It took about a month until he could be scheduled for a colonoscopy. The news was shocking. “There’s a cancer …

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Why full code should not be the default status for patients

Physician
March 30, 2012

Full code is the universal default status for patients who haven’t chosen otherwise, but I suspect most physicians believe this policy is wrong. We know in our hearts we’re doing harm when we perform CPR on poor souls at the natural end of their lives, whose bodies can do nothing more than suffer.

Appropriately timed end-of-life discussions are the supposed answer, but for doctors, they are emotionally draining, interpersonally complex, and …

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Why the family meeting is important

Physician
January 24, 2012

“Are you saying, doctor, that mom’s not getting better?” Eleanor asked.

“I’m afraid so.” I replied.

“Someone should have mentioned this to me before.” she said, before returning her gaze to my shoes.

We were talking about Eleanor and Roger’s mother, Bertha, who had been hospitalized in our intensive care unit for three weeks. Bertha, 67, had been admitted with an exacerbation of congestive heart failure. Despite everyone’s best efforts, she’d steadily grown …

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Did hospital politics lead to physician suicide?

Physician
December 17, 2011

What causes a doctor to commit suicide?

A story about a radiation oncologist from Springfield, IL brought this strange case to my attention. Dr. Thomas G. Shanahan committed suicide by cutting his throat in November of 2011. He was respected in his field, having published many research papers and traveled the world helping to set up brachytherapy clinics in several countries. He also had been an acting alderman in his …

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