An Approach to dying Patients and end-of-life care -

At present, time during which people suffer from illnesses has been increasing and doctors more frequently encounter patients with lethal diseases and have to provide more prolonged treatment care for these patients. These facts have led to new concepts like care for terminally ill patients, palliative care and mourning. Palliative care is the care which relaxes patients and improves the quality of life in the terminal stage of their disease when cure is impossible. Hospice care systems have to be established for palliative care. In Turkey where these systems are not available, terminally ill patients occupy beds in hospitals or they die at home without provision of sufficient support for both patients and their relatives. Keeping pain, nausea, vomiting, cachexia, prostration and dyspnea under control is the prominent element of palliative treatment of terminally ill patients. When a physician thinks there is no point in offering treatment alternatives for a disease except for palliative care, withdrawal or discontinuation of these treatments is considered ethical in some countries. However, euthanasia is not considered legal and there is an ongoing debate over ethical aspects of euthanasia in Turkey and some other countries. Time after death is a mourning period during which relatives of people who die have to be given support for about one year. In this paper, some of the definitions, concepts and approaches aimed to raise awareness about end of life care will be reviewed.