Medical Terminology
Every health condition comes with its own language, medical terminology and decision options. End of Life is no different. While CPR and DNR may be familiar to many, that doesn’t mean they are understood as intended.
New ‘terms’ such as Allow Natural Death or AND and Voluntary Stopping Eating and Drinking or VSED have been created to add to options to consider. Understanding the words and terms used is one thing. Being able to act on them is another.
Things I’ve learned from dying
Living, knowing you are going to die Drawn, as I am, to learning ever more about how we die, and how ‘one’ dies, this David Dow title, "Things I've learned from Dying " had me at ‘hello’ Dow – who is very much alive - is a death row lawyer in Texas . He writes...
Communicating Prognosis at the End of Life
How to tell patients they're likely to die Health care professionals often have difficulty facilitating hope and coping strategies when managing end-of-life issues. Advising a limited life expectancy has an obvious impact on the patients, caregivers and their...
Dementia: Feeding tubes may add to risk of bed sores
PEG or Percutaneous endoscopic gastric feeding tubes, long assumed to help bed-bound dementia patients stave off or overcome bed sores/pressure ulcers, may instead make the wounds more likely to develop or not improve, according to a study. "We see a substantial risk...
Substitute Decision-Makers Suffer Post-Traumatic-Stress
Surrogates suffer in their role as patients' decision-makers "A Systematic review: the effect on surrogates of making treatment decisions for others"– published in the Annals of Internal Medicine – was the topic of discussion on Pallimed: A Hospice & Palliative...
