Improving End-of-Life Care in The United States

2060 Words5 Pages

Death comes to all in the end, shrouded in mystery, occasionally bringing with it pain, and while some may welcome its finality, others may fight it with every ounce of their strength. Humans have throughout the centuries created death rituals to bring them peace and healing after the death of a loved one.

Deaths were a form of social event, when families and loved ones would gather around the bed of the dying, offering emotional support and comfort. Myth, religion, and tradition would combine to give the event deeper meaning and ease the transition for all involved. The one who was dying was confident in knowing what lay behind the veil of death, thanks to religious faith or tradition. His or her community held fast to the sense of community, drawing strength from social ties and beliefs. (“Taboos and Social Stigma - Rituals, Body, Life, History, Time, Person, Human, Traditional Views of Death Give Way to New Perceptions" 1)

Americans at the end of their lives no longer have this sense of continuity and stability. Rituals today are as likely to include tubes and noisy machines, artificial ventilators and unpleasant drug regimens bringing as many unpleasant side effects as health benefits. Many times the dying languishes in a hospital bed, surrounded not by the comforts of home and family but rather by sterility and bright lights, strangers and hushed voices. Death is no longer a mysterious part of a cherished tradition but a terrifying ordeal to be postponed as long as possible, an enemy that must be fought off at all costs.

End-of-life care in the United States is often fraught with difficult decisions and borne with great expense. Americans are often uncomfortable discussing death and

making end-of-life choices, and th...

... middle of paper ...

...Palliative Medicine 13.5 (2010): 595-602. EBSCO. Web. 21 Jan. 2011.

"Hospice Services and Expenses (About Hospice)." Home (Hospice Foundation of America). Web. 23 Jan. 2011. .

"Palliative Care | Cancer.Net." Doctor-approved Cancer Information from ASCO | Cancer.Net. Cancer.net, Feb. 2010. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. .

"Taboos and Social Stigma - Rituals, Body, Life, History, Time, Person, Human, Traditional Views of Death Give Way to New Perceptions." Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. Web. 31 Jan. 2011. .

"What Is Hospice (About Hospice)." Home (Hospice Foundation of America). Web. 31 Jan. 2011. .

Show More
Related

  • End Of Life Care Essay

    768 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hospice focuses on end of life care. When patients are facing terminal illness and have an expected life sentence of days to six months or less of life. Care can take place in different milieu including at home, hospice care center, hospital, and skilled nursing facility. Hospice provides patients and family the tool and resources of how to come to the acceptance of death. The goal of care is to help people who are dying have peace, comfort, and dignity. A team of health care providers and volunteers are responsible for providing care. A primary care doctor and a hospice doctor or medical director will patients care. The patient is allowed to decide who their primary doctor will be while receiving hospice care. It may be a primary care physician or a hospice physician. Nurses provide care at home by vising patient at home or in a hospital setting facility. Nurses are responsible for coordination of the hospice care team. Home health aides provide support for daily and routine care ( dressing, bathing, eating and etc). Spiritual counselors, Chaplains, priests, lay ministers or other spiritual counselors can provide spiritual care and guidance for the entire family. Social workers provide counseling and support. They can also provide referrals to other support systems. Pharmacists provide medication oversight and suggestions regarding the most effective

    Read More

  • Sarcaphagus (Greek) And Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagi

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    As all humans are well aware death is inevitable. Human cultures and death have always been closely knit together. Varying between location, time, and struggles you may notice societies adopt and update their cultures and as these cultures change it sometimes if reflected by how a civilization honors their dead. In fact, the way a civilization’s way of honoring their dead is very important to historians and archeologists as they help put together pieces regarding religion, the civilizations stance on mortality, art style and tell stories that can further clarify history. The topic of death is an extremely broad subject having many confusing and sometimes hard to notice difference that are hard to distinguish. An example of this might be Greek

    Read More

  • Funeral Customs of African Americans and American Jews

    5488 Words  | 11 Pages

    ¡§The chaos of death disturbs the peace of the living. This unsettling fact of life has proven to be a rich source of inspiration for human efforts to find order in disorder, meaning in suffering, eternity in finitude. Religion, culture, social structures, the vitality of these rudimentary elements of communal life depends upon ritually putting the dead body in its place, managing the relations between the living and the dead and providing explanations for the existence of death.¡¨

    Read More

  • Behind The Formaldehyde Curtain Analysis

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the essay “On the Fear of Death” Elisabeth Kubler-Ross focuses on dying and the effects it has on children as well as those who are dying, while in Jessica Mitford’s “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain” focuses more on the after fact when the deceased is being prepared of their last appearance. Both authors, point out that the current attitude toward death is to simply cover it up. A successful funeral is when the deceased looks “Lyf Lyk” in Mitford’s Essay, but in Kubler-Ross’ it is dying at a peace with oneself, no IVs attached. Both authors feel that the current views of death is dehumanizing. Mitford points this out with the allusion that the funeral parlors are a theatrical play, while Kubler-Ross comments “I think there are many reasons

    Read More

  • Dying With Dignity Analysis

    793 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since ancient time, “dying with dignity” has had a different cultural context amongst humans. Some individuals have imagined and prepared their dying moments at an early age: In dependence of religious, political and /or society background. Dignity is defined as a sense of self-respect, self-worth and nobility. It is one of the highest consensus of autonomy belonging to humankind. Therefore, it is the sense of honor that makes humans stand up for whatever the meaning of freedom represents to them. The feeling of freedom that a person may have when dying could result in some delusional moments as their life is fading away, or is death perhaps the reality that dignifies human life.

    Read More

  • Lossography Essay

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to a study, many difficult cultures have the tendency to establish their methods of coping, whether it is through religion, culture, or/and personal ideologies (Chen, 2012). Mourning and burial ceremonies play a pivotal role for Lossography due to individuals having the ability and liberty to express melancholy and sometimes jubilation during the times they once had with their loved one. These types of beliefs and practices used as coping mechanisms can be very meaningful and profound for the comfort of the individual who’s going through a mournful experience (Chen, 2012). These types of coping mechanisms is important for Lossography, due to the fact that individuals are able to convey emotions through traditional practices, archaic arts and crafts, and spiritual rituals to fully find meaning with the death of their loved one. In addition, having established beliefs can definitely change the perception of what death signifies based upon religious and cultural expectations of the afterlife. However, not all cultures and religions put much emphasis into the afterlife. For instance, the monotheistic religion Judaism does not contain any interpretation of what happens after someone dies. Judaists believe that nothing happens after death, death is considered a taboo and not something that is commonly talked about for these religious individuals. Lossography, in religion may take on many forms for how death is perceived and for what actions can people take to ensure that their death will bring them to a place of peace, joy, and everlasting life. Lossography regarding religion, gives individuals hope that death is not the end, it gives them hope that knowing that person may not be here with us in the flesh, but that person is somewhere smiling down. Lossography in religion,

    Read More

  • Essay On End Of Life Care Plan

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    The care of patients at the end of their live should be as humane and respectful to help them cope with the accompanying prognosis of the end of their lives. The reality of this situation is that all too often, the care a patient receives at the end of their life is quite different and generally not performed well. The healthcare system of the United States does not perform well within the scope of providing the patient with by all means a distress and pain free palliative or hospice care plan. To often patients do not have a specific plan implemented on how they wish to have their end of life care carried out for them. End of life decisions are frequently left to the decision of family member's or physicians who may not know what the patient needs are beforehand or is not acting in the patient's best wishes. This places the unenviable task of choosing care for the patient instead of the patient having a carefully written out plan on how to carry out their final days. A strategy that can improve the rate of care that patients receive and improve the healthcare system in general would be to have the patient create a end of life care plan with their primary care physician one to two years prior to when the physician feels that the patient is near the end of their life. This would put the decision making power on the patient and it would improve the quality of care the patient receives when they are at the end of their life. By developing a specific care plan, the patient would be in control of their wishes on how they would like their care to be handled when the time of death nears. We can identify strengths and weakness with this strategy and implement changes to the strategy to improve the overall system of care with...

    Read More

  • Palliative Care Executive Summary

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    Palliative care offered by public hospitals is not efficient enough to cater for all the cases that exist. Many medical care providers offer palliative services-it is the availability and affordability is a hindrance to those who need the services.

    Read More

  • Death Rituals In Native American Culture

    1958 Words  | 4 Pages

    Older human cultures, such as the Native Americans, held rituals responding to the death of their people. Today people still hold rituals in honor of the dead, yet people now do not perform these acts. The practices used by Native American groups and tribes were better than the modern American customs used today. Therefore, more people who cannot handle the stress of death should practice these ideas to end the stress and griefing that happens today.

    Read More

  • Aging, Death, Dying and End of Life Care

    2419 Words  | 5 Pages

    THULESIUS, H.O., SCOTT, H., HELGESSON, G. and LYNÖE, N., De-tabooing dying control -- a grounded theory study. .

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On End Of Life Care

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    End of life care is an important aspect to the health care field. According to the 60 minutes video, the U.S spends around 55 million dollars yearly to provide end of life services to its citizens. Many citizens may feel that the money spent is not being used in the most cost effective way. The U.S use the tax payers and Medicare money to pay for end of care services. Funds that are considered to be a waste in end of life care could be useful in other areas; such as research, finding cures, and continuing advancements in medicine. Another reason citizens may feel the money is not being used in the best way, because a lot of services do not actually save a patients like but just prolong it instead. While prolonging a patient’s life more harm

    Read More

  • Hospice and Palliative Care: Nursing Roles

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    The end-of-life nurse’s primary objective is to provide comfort and compassion to patients and their families during an extremely difficult time. They must satisfy all “physical, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual needs” of the patient and their family. (Wu & Volker, 2012) The nurse involves their patient in care planning, as well as educating them about the options available. They must follow the wishes of the patient and their family, as provided in the patient’s advance directive if there is one available. It is i...

    Read More

  • Cultural Analysis On Death And The Afterlife

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    The concept of human mortality and how it is dealt with is dependent upon one’s society or culture. For it is the society that has great impact on the individual’s beliefs. Hence, it is also possible for other cultures to influence the people of a different culture on such comprehensions. The primary and traditional way men and women have made dying a less depressing and disturbing idea is though religion. Various religions offer the comforting conception of death as a begining for another life or perhaps a continuation for the former.

    Read More

  • Death: Learning to Live

    1603 Words  | 4 Pages

    In our society we think of death … “as if it were shameful and dirty. We see in it only horror; meaninglessness, useless struggle and suffering, an intolerable scandal” (xi). De Hennezel shows us how death is supposed to be seen as a passage to a better place, wherever you believe that place to be, and views the movement toward death as an intimate time, as the last moment of someone’s life. To be able to share this moment with someone is a gift, for you are experiencing all that that person has become, everything in their life has come down to this culminating moment. Many ...

    Read More

  • Reflection Paper On Death And Dying

    1374 Words  | 3 Pages

    I was very excited to take Death and Dying as a college level course. Firstly, because I have always had a huge interest in death, but it coincides with a fear surrounding it. I love the opportunity to write this paper because I can delve into my own experiences and beliefs around death and dying and perhaps really establish a clear personal perspective and how I can relate to others in a professional setting.

    Read More

More about Improving End-of-Life Care in The United States

Open Document