End-of-Life Talks Benefit All
Reported October 14, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Doctors who have frank discussions with their dying patients about end-of-life issues are doing their patients and their families a favor.
According to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers who conducted interviews with 332 patients who ultimately died, those who had end-of-life discussions with their physicians enjoyed a better quality of life at the end. They were also less likely to use aggressive medical services, such as ICU care, and more likely to choose comfort care and earlier hospice care instead.
The benefits extended to their family members and other caregivers as well, who were also interviewed by the investigators. The study found people whose loved ones passed away in the ICU were three times more likely to suffer from major depression following the deaths than people whose loved ones passed away outside of the ICU.
Overall, patients who received less aggressive care at the end of life were thought to have better quality of life by their family members and other informal caregivers, study author Alexi Wright, M.D., was quoted as saying. The way people die has a profound impact on the way their loved ones live on afterwards.
While she notes it will never be easy for physicians to have these kinds of discussions with their terminally ill patients, she believes its essential to ensuring the best possible outcomes for patients and families. We all wish we had different answers and better news, but its important for us to be both frank and empathetic to give patients and their families a chance to prepare for death.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, published online October 7, 2008