Caregivers Research Paper
CMOB English 191 Right To Die Allen, Jane E. “Before It's Too Late, Caregivers Should Know.” Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Times, Sept. 29, 2003, p.F3 Frank discussions between caregivers and ill or dying patients not only can ease the patients' fear of becoming a burden, but can prevent eventual feelings of guilt in their loved ones. Yet increasingly, caregivers must make irrevocable, life-altering decisions on loved ones' behalf without knowing what they would have wanted. These decisions often focus on technical questions about whether to use respirators, attempt resuscitation, or try medical heroics when what really matters is the resulting "quality of life."As it turns out, that phrase can mean different things to caregivers and patients, even when they think they understand
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But they frequently disagreed about treatments that could leave the patient in severe pain, confined to a bed or unable to recognize loved ones. Caregivers were more likely to say that serious physical limitations or severe memory loss would be acceptable after effects. Unfortunately, when caregivers ultimately are called upon to make such decisions, there is usually no way to know whether they are honoring or violating the patients’ desires. Inquirer, July 24, 2003, p.A2 A surprising number of terminally ill hospice patients choose to speed their deaths by refusing food and drink, a study in Oregon suggests. In fact, the survey of hospice nurses found that patients pick this means of ending life, which is legal everywhere in the United States, twice as often as physician-assisted suicide, which is legal only in Oregon. The study further found that these patients are not depressed and typically die tranquilly within two weeks. The patients said “they were ready to die,” their quality of life was poor or they were afraid it would become so, and they saw no point in going
But they frequently disagreed about treatments that could leave the patient in severe pain, confined to a bed or unable to recognize loved ones. Caregivers were more likely to say that serious physical limitations or severe memory loss would be acceptable after effects. Unfortunately, when caregivers ultimately are called upon to make such decisions, there is usually no way to know whether they are honoring or violating the patients’ desires. Inquirer, July 24, 2003, p.A2 A surprising number of terminally ill hospice patients choose to speed their deaths by refusing food and drink, a study in Oregon suggests. In fact, the survey of hospice nurses found that patients pick this means of ending life, which is legal everywhere in the United States, twice as often as physician-assisted suicide, which is legal only in Oregon. The study further found that these patients are not depressed and typically die tranquilly within two weeks. The patients said “they were ready to die,” their quality of life was poor or they were afraid it would become so, and they saw no point in going