Today's Globe and Mail has a story about a new conversation guide for doctors. It's designed to help doctors in hospitals to talk with patients and their families about end-of-life care. Few people are really comfortable talking about end-of-life care, unless it's in a boardroom in the lawyer's office and everyone is in great health, so that the need for the actual care seems safely remote.
However, it's important to find out what a person's wishes may be in terms of care, or refusal of care. If we don't ask, how are we to know? I have met very few doctors who stop and talk to patients and family members about this, though I did encounter one very empathetic, involved doctor at the Saanich Peninsula Hospital in the palliative care wing a couple of years ago. I applaud the initiative of doctors to get better at this conversation.
Click here to read the story.
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