Relieving The Stress Of Dying- Palliative Care

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Relieving The Stress Of Dying- Palliative Care
 

– Reported, February 21, 2012

 

PATERSON, NJ (Ivanhoe Newswire)–Everyday, terminally ill patients flood emergency rooms. They often receive invasive treatments, even if they only have months or weeks left to live. These therapies can be dangerous and costly. Patients spend 40 percent of their Medicare expenses in their last month of life. Now, one hospital is trying to remedy the problem by combining two fields of medicine.

Mattie McDowel is planning for something most people don’t like to think about – her death. She has stage four breast cancer and not a lot of time left.

“They said it’s not curable. When they found it was cancer, I lied there praying to die every day. I just didn’t want to be a burden on anyone,” McDowel told Ivanhoe.

She wants to spend her last days at home and not in the hospital. Dr. Mark Rosenberg says while 70 percent of people die in a healthcare setting…

”If you ask 100 people, 100 percent of them will tell you they don’t want to die in the hospital,” Dr. Mark Rosenberg, Chairman of Emergency Medicine at St. Joseph’s Healthcare System told Ivanhoe.

Dr. Rosenberg heads one of the country’s only palliative care programs that operates out of the hospital’s emergency room palliative care is specialized medical care focused on providing patients with relief from the symptoms, pain and stress of a serious illness.

“Doctors sometimes tend to make a textbook decision for you, but if you say what would you do for your mom, you may get a whole different answer,” Dr. Rosenberg concluded.

Instead of repeat trips to the emergency room or extended hospital stays, the team helps these terminal patients find ways to stay home. The Institute of Medicine estimates that if palliative care was fully integrated into U.S hospitals, healthcare spending could be reduced by $6 billion a year! A recent study also found those who receive this type of care report less depression, pain, nausea and worry and survived 2.7 months longer.

As for Mattie, she wants to spend her last days at home, with her loved ones.Hospice care often works in conjunction with palliative care. Hospice focuses on caring for a patient in a person’s home. Care is also provided in freestanding hospice centers, hospitals and nursing homes. Palliative care extends the principles of hospice care to a broader population that could benefit from receiving this type of care earlier in their illness or disease process.

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