Understanding The Mexican American Viewpoint On End Of Life Care

Cultural consideration must be taken into account when discussing end-of-life issues with patients and family members. One cannot assume that cultural affiliation equals a deep connection to cultural beliefs and affiliation with one or more groups should not be used as an assumption about

Spiritual connection with the dead is also one of the important elements of Latino culture, which is demonstrated by frequent gravesite visits and praying to spirits. Death is always associated with separation, which leads to sorrow, and grief; however cultural perceptions and beliefs help to look at death from a different perspective and perceive death as a natural state that can be approached with love, respect, dignity, and tremendous family support. Latino culture supports their dying people during the last journey, and believes in afterlife, which gives them hope and helps to overcome unbearable grief of permanent loss.

Death is inevitable. It is one of the only certainties in life. Regardless, people are often uncomfortable discussing death. Nyatanga (2016) posits that the idea of no longer existing increases anxiety and emotional distress in relation to one’s mortality. Because of the difficulty in level of care for end-of-life patients, the patient and the family often need professional assistance for physical and emotional care. Many family caregivers are not professionally trained in medicine, and this is where hospice comes into play. Hospice aims to meet the holistic needs of both the patient and the patient’s family through treatment plans, education, and advocacy. There is a duality of care to the treatment provided by hospice staff in that they do not attempt to separate the patient’s care from the family’s care. Leming and Dickinson (2011) support that hospice, unlike other clinical fields, focuses on the patient and the family together instead of seeing the patient independent of the family. Many times in hospitals, the medical team focuses solely on the goal of returning the patient back to health in order for them to return to their normal lives. They do not take into account the psychological and spiritual components of the patient’s journey and the journey that the family must take as well. For treatment of the patient, Leming and Dickinson agree that hospice does not attempt to cure patients, and instead concentrates solely

.“As medical technology continues to advance and health care choices become more complicated, the preservation of end-of-life autonomy is an increasingly important issue faced by various client populations.” (Galambos, 1998).

Key people could be family, doctors, carers, religious leaders etc. Each may own distinctive role to play in order for the choices and preferences of the individual to be respected and carried out. [ Every person’s end-of-life trajectory is different and needs differ in intensity and quality over time. End-of-life care must adapt to the varying and changing needs of the individual over time and that it cannot be limited to certain settings or services. The provision of good

2.4 Explain how beliefs, religion and culture of individuals and key people may influence end of life care

Great strides have been made to improve end-of-life care through palliative care and hospice programs, but sometimes that’s just not enough. In America, the care that is offered to the elderly and the chronically ill is less than ideal. Statistics show that an

The study also showed that for-profit, small and community hospitals had very limited accessibility to palliative care; and the higher request for physician assisted death came from outpatient facilities. It has been noted that palliative care practices are extremely low nationwide. Neither primary care physicians nor specialists who treat terminally ill patients routinely are provided with palliative care training. These are important facts since statistics show that although most individuals support the option for a physician-assisted suicide the low numbers of actual requests for assisted death reflected the preference of alternative treatment options. As patients regain the power of making decisions regarding their care, aggressive pain control measures are put in place; consideration of physician-assisted suicide becomes an avoidable option for a dignified death. Regardless of the views on physician-assisted death healthcare professional

They used Spanish folk medicine and Roman Catholic teachings. “Upon encountering western medicine, belief in spiritual causation and treatment of illness may persist in parallel with utilization of allopathic medicine so that prayer and other religious practices may retain high importance (Gillum & Griffith, 2010).” “Mexican and Korean Americans were less likely than the other two groups to believe that a patient should be told the truth about a diagnosis of metastatic cancer and terminal prognosis and were less likely to believe that the patient should make decisions about the use of life support (del Río, 2010).” The Hispanic concerned advance directive, life-prolonging therapy, and

Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in the United States, and the majority of them are Mexican in origin (Kemp, 2001). The Roman Catholic Church plays a vital role in the culture and daily life of many Mexican Americans. Consequently, healthcare personnel must become culturally competent in dealing with the different beliefs possessed by these individuals. Nurses must have the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver care that is congruent with the patient’s cultural beliefs and practices (Kearney-Nunnery, 2010). The ways that a nurse cares for a Mexican American patient during the process of dying or at the critical time of death is especially important. The purpose of this paper is to examine

The African-American cultural view of death is one of normalcy. They view death as comfortable and familiar. The sanctity of life and its preservation is extremely important within African-American culture but when death comes it is considered natural and an accepted part of life (Barrett, 2002). This differs from the traditional American cultural perspective that after the mid to late 1900’s came to view death as unnatural and something to be hidden (Corr, 2009). African-American culture may consider death to be a natural part of life but the sanctity of life is also very important to them. For this reason African-Americans are more inclined to aggressively pursue life saving treatments than those from traditional American culture (Barrett, 2005). Members of African-American culture are also less likely to want to talk about or deal with end of life decision-making (Welch, 2005).

Next, we will discuss the biblical, theological, and cultural perspectives on the end of life issues. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” When God created everything, he advised us about our time on earth before we inherit the promises in our heavenly home. “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.” In today society, many people are dying at a young age for various reasons. One barrier is the change in our dietary. The older generations grew most of their own food. With my generation and afterwards, farm life decrease and more fast food chains increase. Farmers are now using more chemical to make the food grow faster to meet the need of the fast food chains. Also, there has been more man-made food and concepts. These options have impact life leading to more clog arteries, digestive issues, cancer, heart-attack, and others. Another barrier has been increase number in gang related death, suicide attempts and death, and being murder. “While most pastors, theologians and ethicists agreed that it was permissible to

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 Mexico religion and culture interact in a daily basis to create the complexity of the Mexican lifestyle. Traditions like “Dia de muertos” interact with Catholicism in a way where the tradition is respected without offending the catholic beliefs. Since Catholicism take really negative any interaction with magic, superstition or other religions, the tradition grew and adapted to be about honoring and remembering our death relatives who die and went to heaven. (Pages 1-2)

Relationships are very important in the Hispanic culture. The majority of the Hispanic culture are Roman Catholics which means they believe that the soul is eternal and continues on after the physical body has died. Roman Catholics consider human life sacred. The Hispanic culture takes family very seriously. Most people resist of the idea of putting a loved one in the nursing home because they want a family member to be there for their last breath. Many times, religious values keep an ill person from feeling comfortable because their religion does not allow pain medication. When a person is on their death bed, last rites are given by a priest, ill person gives their last confession, and the priest offers absolution. When a loved one has passed away the family will hold a wake. A wake in the Hispanic culture is a time for family members to share memories of the deceased. A funeral is held in a church and the casket is carried to the final location. A burial is followed by the church service. According to the