A bad death: the importance of truth-telling at end-of-life

"In their hearts, her daughters just wanted their mother to make the most of the time she had left. She never made it to the beach or hugged her grandchildren. From diagnosis to death, it was two short months. During those weeks, she waited for test results, went back and forth to the hospital to drain her lungs, and was on infusions for a useless Hail Mary treatment, all of which robbed her and her family of precious time to talk about what mattered most. She died in the hospital with her family around her, but everyone had a bad death." Althea Halchuck is a patient advocate and founder, Ending Well! Patient Advocacy. She focuses on end-of-life care and planning, aiming to help people have a "good death," and can be reached at the Final Exit Network and on LinkedIn. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "A bad death: the importance of truth-telling at end-of-life." Did you enjoy today's episode? Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by KevinMD. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out. Click here to earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode. Also available in Category 1 CME bundles. Powered by CMEfy - a seamless way for busy clinician learners to discover Internet Point-of-Care Learning opportunities that reward AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Learn more at about.cmefy.com/cme-info