OBICECARE: Necessity Or Exception In Hospice Care

We should not forget that the ability of medicine to keep people alive for long periods of time despite their best efforts to die has changed the way people and family perceives the end

Gawande really captures what happens in the older adult life that society, not just workers in the medical field, forget about. Just because people are growing older and are losing functioning of their bodies doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be allowed to make their own decisions or have their priorities matter. Being Mortal has shown me that most doctors are afraid to give their patients a clear diagnosis and offer Hospice, which I hope is something that is changed within the next couple of years. Hospice is a great alternative for someone who knows that they are near the end of their time but want to remain comfortable and living at home. I would love to see an increase in older adults who are aware that hospice and palliative care are options, and even patients who have terminal illnesses. And last but not least, possibly the most important thing I have learned this semester and from Being Mortal is how slightly changing the environment where someone resides can have drastic effects on how a person acts. Maintaining an environment which keeps the patient calm and comfortable can be seen to drastically alter how their future and outcome looks. I would recommend every nursing and medical student read Being Mortal because it gives insight into topics that are barely looked upon in the medical field. There are great lessons to be learned from this book and I hope that what Gawande has

The Dying of the Light is an article by Dr. Craig Bowron that captures the controversy surrounding the role of medication in prolonging life. The author describes that many medical advancements have become a burden to particularly elderly patients who in most instances are ready to embrace the reality of death. Dr. Bowron believes that dying in these modern times has become a tiring and unnatural process. “Everyone wants to grow old and die in his or her sleep, but the truth is most of us will die in pieces,” Bowron notes (Bowron). The article does not advocate for euthanasia or the management of health care costs due to terminal or chronic illness. Bowron faults humanity for not embracing life and death with dignity as it was in the past.

Death is one of the most significant life events people experience. Most people want to die a peaceful death and desire the same outcome for their family and friends. Medical advancements have resulted in people living longer lives with chronic illnesses. Despite the advancements in medicine and the available treatments of today, sometimes the patient is still unable to escape intolerable suffering; the patient’s quality of life diminishes.

Late adulthood is a time to reflect back on one’s life, travel, spend time with friends, family, grandchildren and maintaining ones health for the years to come. During late adulthood an individual’s family history of genetics play a major role in ones quality of life in their final years, such as if you have a significant family history of myocardial infarctions later in life, increases the probability of you developing heart disease which often leads to a myocardial infarction. Developing a heart healthy lifestyle diet can assist in the prevention of developing heart disease. In this paper I will examine late adulthood and death of an individual across the life span development process. Discuss ageism and stereotypes, evaluated how an individual can promote ones health and wellness to mitigate the negative effects of aging, Analyze the importance of relationships and social interactions nearing the end of life. Finally I will identify cultural and personal attitudes related to death and dignity in late adulthood.

As much as we look for meaning in our lives, we also try to understand the things we can’t understand such as mortality and the future. Since the end of the 20th century, social norms have started to change and life expectancy increasing. Everyone was very involved with their R/S and their futures were laid out for us based on gender and income. However with social norms continuously changing this is no longer so for many people and things such as

As people approach the end of their lives, they with their families and their caregivers, face many tasks and decisions. They may be psychological, spiritual, or medical in nature, but all end-of-life choices and medical decisions have complex psychological components, ramifications, and consequences that have a significant impact on the suffering patients and their caregivers.

Modern medical expertise has achieved remarkable achievements in lengthening the lives of humans. Ventilators can support a patient’s weakening lungs and pills can sustain that patient’s bodily processes. For those patients who have a genuine chance of surviving a sickness or accident, medical technology is science’s greatest gift to mankind. For the terminally ill, however, it is just a means of prolonging suffering. Medicine is supposed to alleviate the suffering that a patient undergoes. Yet the only thing that medical technology does for a dying patient is give that patient more pain and agony day after day and cause them to spend more money that could go to help their family after the patient passes away. Some terminal patients in the past have gone to their doctors and asked for a final medication that would take all the pain away— lethal drugs. For example, imagine a woman who was suffering from a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis, begged her doctor to assist her to die because she could no longer stand the pain. Another example is a lady with an inoperable brain

Rapid and dramatic developments in medicine and technology have given us the power to save more lives than ever possible in the past. Medicine has put at our disposal the means to cure or to reduce the suffering of people afflicted with diseases that were once fatal or painful. At the same time, however, medical technology has given us the power to sustain the lives (or some would say, prolong the deaths) of patients whose physical and mental capabilities cannot be restored, whose degenerating conditions cannot be

The advancement of medical science impacted greatly on our specie and resulted in improvised life expectancy. Though progression of medical science brings cure for unlimited eternal illnesses it doesn’t however bring any remedy for the havocs caused by aging on our bodies. There

The average human lifestyle has drastically improved over the past several years. Advances in medicine and technology have directly led to an irrevocable increase in both the quality of living, as well as the length of average lifetimes. Prior to this modern revolution of medical applications, humans who lived during the middle ages were stricken with plagues, disease, injuries, and other difficulties with health that greatly wreaked havoc on mortality rates. Since remaining in a state of adequate health is so fundamental to human satisfaction and progression, individuals have historically centered the majority of their existence on ensuring that the underlying requirements necessary for life were being

Since the beginning of human history, emperors, conquistadors, alchemists, and many curious and powerful individuals have been in a fruitless search for a chance to transcend the realm of mortals and achieve immortality. Even now, at the dawn of the 21st century, the desire for immortality is still prevalent in our society today. However, while the dream for eternal life is still alive, the search for immortality is no longer just driven by power and greed, but for the universal gain of humanity – to solve many social and economical reasons that result from the current imperfect prolongation of life. Modern biogerontologists, people who study ageing, are determined to uncover the secrets of

Our society finds it difficult to talk about dying and euphemisms are the norm. It is typical for both doctors and patients to be hesitant to initiate a discussion on dying. Focus instead is often more often placed on interventions and actions for managing symptoms. This avoidance can leave patients and their families unprepared for the inevitable death. (Schapira, 2010) It also often results in requests for therapies which may be excessive, costly and even painful in the hopes for a cure. One study demonstrates that when patients are aware that they are terminally ill, the majority are able to reach a state of peacefulness and also exhibit lower levels of distress. (Ray, Block, Friedlander, Zhang, Maciejewski & Prigerson, 2006) It is also important that family members are willing to discuss end-of-life options with their loved ones. According to elderly patients, they are most often the ones who initiate these conversations with their

In our day and age as we know it, there have been astounding advancements in medicine. The average life expectancy has risen. People are being educated in issues that surround a healthy life style. As a society, we are trying to increase our life span and defeat death. While people are following strict

Humanity has come a long way as we evolve and adapt to the changing environment. Through the years, we have managed to overcome several limitations, which in the past were nothing more than dreams. We succeeded in landing on the moon and communicating over long distance, yet there are still some boundaries we have yet to cross despite our best effort. Aging is an inevitable process of nature. While we cannot stop the ticking clock in our body, we have made it possible for aging to be delayed and relieved to a great extent through advance technology and modern governance. High-tech equipments and medications are available for the treatments of more illnesses as our understanding of medicine improves and governments nowadays are doing