Something to Think About

When a dying parent refuses to tell the rest of the family about a terminal diagnosis,  should you keep the secret or encourage open conversations?

Sometimes the question is not how long we can live, but how we want to live with the time we have.

Most of us aren’t taught what dying actually looks like. When death isn’t sudden, there are natural signs and changes that unfold over months, weeks, and days. Understanding these patterns...

Clear communication is one of the most powerful tools in healthcare. Healing begins when we sit close, speak simply, and remember that care is about people, not just disease.

When working with families who ask me not to tell mom, I say that I won’t bring the subject up, but if she asks, I will talk about it.

Someone has to have the courage to say “We’ve done the best we can. We can’t fix you. Let us help you have some quality time”.

We enter peoples’ lives as professionals. We are knowledgeable, supportive, caring, and personable. However, we are not best friends, we are not even friends, really.

The physician is frontline, the top of the pyramid in healthcare. All care follows from there. The physician can set the tone for the entire patient experience. 

I knew all the signs of approaching death, of labor beginning. What I didn’t know was how much we don’t want to see those signs, and by not wanting to see them,...

Addressing the timelines of approaching death also neutralizes the false hope that our person will get better, that there is more time.

When doctors and healthcare professionals place a number on how long someone has to live they are doing that person a disservice.

Anger in caregiving generally comes from a place of frustration, of fear, of sadness, of tiredness. All sorts of feelings with no outlet so they come bursting out.

Number one, we are all going to die at some point. Of course the operative words here are “at some point.” If we are told death will be the outcome...

In our medical society today, it seems to be very difficult for physicians to tell patients and/or families that death is approaching; That this special person will die, and probably...

When the medical establishment has used all of their options to extend life of course we will not be happy with life and living. We may be depressed, angry, often...