By virtue of its structure, Western medicine is characterized by its cure-oriented
approach to the patient. We pretend to master death and the fear of death, according
to Dr Elizabeth Kübler-Ross.
We are uncomfortable in situations when the patient’s prognosis is poor, because
as health care providers, we are instilled with the idea that the ultimate goal in
patient care is curing the patient. Thus, the fear of failure looms when aggressive
treatment is no longer possible and many providers are reluctant to be straightforward
with families in discussing end-of-life (EOL) care options. Unfortunately, this pandemic
attitude of denial and avoidance has the unintended consequence of alienating both
the dying and the aged and is a true disservice to all patients. Additionally, the
current approach to EOL care often fails to accept the inevitable notion that just
as there is a time for living, there is also a time for dying. With the advances in
medical technology, one of the real challenges of modern medicine is accepting that
dying is part of life’s journey for all individuals and that death does not represent
a failure of the health care system or health care providers.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 05, 2010
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© 2010 American Medical Directors Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
