The Most Trusted Hearing Care Experts in The Triad

As the health of loved ones declines, caregivers face four common decisions about how they’re going to deal with end-of-life issues, according to “Hard Choices for Loving People,” a book by healthcare chaplain Hank Dunn.

Those issues revolve around four questions: whether resuscitation will be attempted; whether a feeding tube will be used; whether the patient will remain at home or be transferred to a hospital; and whether treatment shifts from cure to comfort measures offered by hospice.

generations are the first to be faced with making such difficult choices about potentially life-prolonging medical treatments,” Dunn wrote. “Modern medical developments like ventilators, feeding tubes and cardiopulmonary resuscitation have improved the odds for surviving an accident, heart attack, or stroke.”

Medical advances create another topic of discussion.

“It is very important that all seriously ill patients and their families discuss the use of life-prolonging medical procedures,” Dunn advised.

For Summerfield caregiver Colleen Figueroa, watching the decline of her patients in their homes is most difficult. She finds it hard – if not impossible – to follow a basic guideline for professional caregivers.