Palliative Care is the future of care, says Sheehy
January 18, 2011
Gail Sheehy says that the term “end-of-life planning” has “become a political weapon, deliberately used to frighten people into believing their government is out to deny them life-extending treatment when bureaucrats decide they’re too old and sick to deserve it.” So she suggests we plan for the “In-Between Stage — the years between optimum health and hospice.” Sheehy writes, “Palliative care, in my view, is the future of care for those of us entering the In-Between Stage. Its aim is to treat symptoms and relieve suffering, and it can be offered when we are first diagnosed with a serious illness. It’s not the same as hospice, which is available only in the last six months of life.” (USA Today, 1/11, www.usatoday.com/yourlife/parenting-family/caregiving/2011-01-11-passages11_ST_N.htm
Posted in End of Life Planning
