October 1, 2002
Options in the Final Days (excerpt)
By John Langone of the The New York Times
"A Few Months to Live," by Jana Staton, Roger Shuy and Dr. Ira Byock, Georgetown University Press, $25.95
..."A Few Months to Live," which grew out of a communitywide project in Missoula, Mont., intended to study and transform life's end and care, follows nine terminally ill people, interweaving their thoughts with those of the people taking care of them.
The authors emphasize the complexity and the ambiguity, as well as the simplicity, of impending death and the range of experiences among the participants. They write, "Some know everything about their disease, some nothing; some families find closure and peace, others are at war before and after the death; some people are able to find meaning despite pain and impending death, others have difficulty."
Interestingly, the authors found that the most feared aspects of dying - great pain, loneliness and depression - did not dominate the last days of most of the patients studied.
"Pain and other symptoms were controlled," they write. "They were able to be with their families and have friends visit; and their preferences, particularly to stay at home, were honored."
But the picture from their helpers' perspective was not as rosy. At times, the burdens for friends, or family members providing care seemed overwhelming....
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