Appropriate care at the end of life

KCE Reports 296C (2017)

How is it that some people at the end of their life are treated in a way that does not comply with their wishes? How can we avoid this? Appropriate end-of-life care is care that meets the individual needs of each patient. Some people want to prolong their lives by any means possible, while others prefer to stop all curative treatments and only want comfort care. Thinking in advance about these questions and communicating about what you want is an approach that avoids any such misunderstandings. This is called “advance care planning”. Ideally, this should be done with the general practitioner, in agreement with the family, and lead to a written record kept in the medical file. But the work pressures that caregivers often face do not allow them to spend time discussing such issues with the patients. And patients themselves are not always ready to talk about their nearing death, or are no longer in a position to do so. Regardless of the care system – hospitals, nursing homes or home care – listening to patients, talking with them and being present with them should be part of normal daily work.