Question

Physicians are often hesitant to discuss end-of-life care with their patients. Do you think the end-of-life care should be part of all patient care? Do you think the end-of-life care should be part of only the elderly and frail patients? Should you have end-of-life care discussions with children or teenagers who are seriously ill?

Answer 1

The end-of-life care should only be for those patients who are critically ill and have fewer hopes of survival. Using them in all patient care would just waste precious energy and resources of the medical staff. Also, it might affect the quality of the care the terminally ill would get due to the resources and energy being concentrated among many patients. Instead, it should focus on those who actually need it.

End-of-life care should be a part of all the patients who are fighting terminal diseases and not just elderly and frail patients. It is the patient's right to receive the right treatment and care at any age, whether young or old and therefore, such care should be made available for any patient regardless of their age or any other such basis.

For children and teenagers, it would be more appropriate if such discussions are handled by their parents. The young patients are already coping with their illness and having such discussions might affect their psychological and mental health which may aggravate their physical health. Therefore, such discussions should be made between the medical caretaker and the parents of the child.