Talking About Hospice

End-of-life decisions can be some of the most wrenching that a family has to make. How long should a terminally ill patient undergo aggressive treatments to squeeze a few more months, or even weeks, from a body that’s shutting down?

For many doctors, doing no harm means trying all medical treatments to keep a patient alive. While the majority of Americans say they prefer to die peacefully at home, many undergo life-extending procedures that land them in hospitals or emergency rooms during their final days.

Hospice care is one way terminally ill patients can opt out of aggressive treatment. Instead of trying to cure or treat the disease, doctors and nurses focus on comfort instead. But a new study from Harvard Medical School finds that only 53 percent of the terminally ill white patients they surveyed discussed hospice care with their physicians.

Haiden Huskamp is an associate professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School and the lead author of the study. She told us why more doctors don’t bring up hospice care with their patients.

Boston Globe: Many Terminally Ill Patients Delay Talk of Hospice

(Photo by donbuciak via Flickr/Creative Commons)