Palliative care is not all about morphine and holding people s hands, he said. Rather, it can be a distinct improvement in a terminal patient s quality of life. Dr. Pantilat said that some dying patients look so much better after being transferred from the ICU to a palliative care unit that family members wonder if the patient is still terminal. Palliative care offers dying patients and their families a positive alternative, Dr. Pantilat explained. Rather than keeping their loved one in an ICU where doctors and nurses seem to take things away no more chemo, no more treatment palliative care units can be comfortable settings with a touch of home, and more liberal visitation for friends and family.
Communication needs Finally, panelists gave some advice about communication.
She noted that one-third of surveyed families, however, said they d like physicians to provide a better description of the dying process. Dr. Pantilat said he spends a lot of time explaining the dying process to his palliative care patients. Understanding Stokes breathing, or the death rattle, usually calms most family members, because the dying process becomes more understandable. The unknown is really frightening, he said.