A statement that for most, is really a dilemma “Doctor…She wants a chance. She wants to live!” How often have I heard those words? Or some version of them? The location of the conversations varies. I might be standing outside the curtain of an emergency room bay or sitting on a worn chair inside a […]
An ICU physician remembers to breathe in the most difficult of conversations I pause in front of the door. On the other side, you all wait. A spouse, sons and daughters, sometimes with their own small children in tow. Today it’s your husband and father you have come for. Yesterday, it was someone else’s mother. […]
BY DANIEL GAITAN | daniel@lifemattersmedia.org Enough is enough. It’s time that doctors tell their dying patients that they are dying. That’s the message that oncologist Dr. Aroop Mangalik hopes to hammer home with his first book to be published later this winter, Dealing with Doctors, Denial, and Death: A Guide to Living Well with Serious […]
BY DANIEL GAITAN | daniel@lifemattersmedia.org The nation is already facing negative effects from the “Silver Tsunami” – and it’s going to get worse. Currently, more than five million Americans are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia. As the massive baby boomer population ages, the number of those facing cognitive decline will […]
Encouraging doctors to focus on helping families make decisions in family conferences at the end of life could improve quality of dying BY DANIEL GAITAN | daniel@lifemattersmedia.org Quality communication among intensive care unit doctors, nursing staff and families about dying patients’ goals of care and quality of life leads to better deaths. Nearly 20 percent […]