Week 8 Health Assessment Option #2: End of life experience

Week 8 Health Assessment Option #2: End of life experience

Week 8 Health Assessment

Option #2: End of life experience

While I was a new medical practitioner, I was involved in end-of-life care, though I acted as support staff, in this case. The decision was made by a cancer patient who had used all the resources that he had to seek medical care. At this point, the family of the patient could not raise any additional coin to cater for the care of the patient. For this reason, the patient thought that it is prudent for him to make an end-of-life decision. After coming up with such a decision, the patient was subjected to sedation.

My observation related to this experience was that the family members of the patients were not willing to lose their loved one and gave some resistance over it. However, since the patient was a person of sound mind and had attained an adult age, we had to respect his autonomy, and it is for this reason that we sedated the patient. The death for this patient was so peaceful as it happened in the wee hours of the night while he was asleep. What went well was that the patient responded well to sedation. However, one thing that I could make better for the family is for them to undergo a counseling session after the patient makes the decision. This would help in making the healing process faster.