Many Loved Ones Cling To Hope Over Reason In End-Of-Life Talks With Doctors, Study Finds
According to the new report, families and friends frequently hold beliefs that would prompt them to demand aggressive and often futile treatments for their loved one.
Los Angeles Times:
For Loved Ones Of Critically Ill Patients, Hope Often Trumps Understanding Of A Physician's Prognosis
We have virtually all been there, are there now or will be there someday: A loved one is critically ill, and his or her physician is talking to us about the patient's prognosis. She wants to know how we would like to proceed. She's asking what we think our loved one, hovering in a twilight world, would want. She keeps on talking, though her voice is coming through distant and garbled. The doctor's words are scaring us. For a majority of people gathered at the bedside of a critically ill patient, new research finds that confusion and miscommunication rein, jostling for space alongside hope and fear. (Healy, 5/17)
CBS News:
At End Of Life, Doctors And Families Often Differ In Expectations
Discussions around end-of-life care are difficult, wrought with emotion and uncertainty. Ideally, decisions should be made in conjunction with patients, but when they are too ill to speak for themselves, a family member typically steps in as a surrogate. (Welch, 5/17)
Elsewhere, the husband of Brittany Maynard, the California woman who sparked a national conversation about aid-in-dying, speaks about the need for end-of-life cancer care —
The Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Dan Diaz, Medical-Aid-In-Dying Advocate, Tells Of Wife's Final Moments At Cleveland Clinic Summit
An advocate of medical-aid-in-dying legislation appeared at a Cleveland Clinic conference Tuesday, calling for expanded options in treating terminally ill patients at the end of their lives. Dan Diaz spoke about the death of his wife Brittany Maynard, a California woman whose struggle to avoid suffering from terminal brain cancer spurred a national debate about the use of medication to hasten death. "Brittany knew what was coming for her, and that included pain that could not be alleviated with morphine," Diaz said during the Clinic's annual Patient Experience summit at the Cleveland Convention Center. (Ross, 5/18)