The Long & Short of It - Health Care Traveler

The Long & Short of It - Health Care Traveler: "Patient wishes and futile interventions

By: Leah Curtin

The experts say one should never use the term 'futile care,' and most especially not around families. Care is never futile, but medical interventions sometimes are. And that is the point: How do you know for sure that further medical care is futile? When you do know, how do you communicate this to patients and families? And, finally, in the face of inevitable death, how do you provide care that comforts and soothes, that prepares families for loss, while it helps patients leave life with their dignity and hope intact? Most of all, how do you do this in today's busy, bottomline-driven institution?"