By Cristina Conti on Shutterstock
Ensuring More Positive End-of-Life Experiences
Professional Help for Dying Well
by Joan Law and Heather Pierce
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In practical terms, this means that patients can receive painful, unnecessary procedures even in the last few days of life. It can also mean passing in the intensive care unit (ICU), rather than at home or in hospice. How do you want to spend your last days? It warrants some thought and preplanning, which is where an end-of-life doula (EOLD) can come into the story. EOLDs are not medically trained. However, they can help ensure that that family is aware of and understands all their options. They can also help get all the family decision-makers on the same page. When EOLDs are engaged sooner in the course of illness, there are many additional services they can offer.
ave you talked about death with your loved ones? It’s not a comfortable topic, so many people avoid even thinking about it until they’re seriously ill. By that point, families are struggling with emotions let alone decision making and planning. So what resources are available to help families during this difficult time? Other than one’s own network of family and friends, it usually comes down to the particular health care system the patient is using. According to a 2013 article on end-of-life care in Medical News Today, “it appears that palliative care for elderly patients is often occurring only as an afterthought, rather than a properly planned part of patient care in which doctors, providers, patients and their family sit down and discuss options.”
EOLD is a relatively new field that has emerged to fill the gaps in a society where we’re not typically very good at pre-planning our death experience. EOLDs do not provide any medical services and therefore aren’t covered by insurance at this time. Most EOLDs offer emotional support to both the ill person and their immediate family members. Most offer companionship to the dying and respite to the family care-givers. Many can describe what to expect, physically, during the dying process. Some EOLDs use the Five Wishes document to help a patient plan the end. In addition to legal matters like designating power of attorney, the document provides prompts, such as, “Would you want music playing or a foot massage at the end?”
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