End of Life Issues

Also called: Death and dying, Terminal care

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Summary

Planning for the end of life can be difficult. But by deciding what end-of-life care best suits your needs when you are healthy, you can help those close to you make the right choices when the time comes.

End-of-life planning usually includes making choices about the following:

The goals of care (for example, whether to use certain medicines during the last days of life)
Where you want to spend your final days
Which treatments for end-of-life care you wish to receive
What type of palliative care and hospice care you wish to receive

Advance directives can help make your wishes clear to your family and health care providers.

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Advanced Illness: Holding on and Letting Go (Family Caregiver Alliance)
End of Life (Supporting a Terminally Ill Loved One) (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
End of Life: Helping with Comfort and Care (National Institute on Aging)
End-of-Life Care for People Who Have Cancer (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish
Last Days of Life (PDQ) (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish
Nearing the End of Life (American Cancer Society) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

Autopsy (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish
Communication with Your Family and Your Doctor about Your Wishes (American College of Emergency Physicians)
Conversations Before the Crisis: If Talking is So Important, Why Is it So Hard? (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization) - PDF
Culturally Diverse Communities and End-of-Life Care (American Psychological Association) - PDF
If You or Someone You Love is Very Ill...Ask Tough Questions (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization) - PDF
Living Well with a Serious Illness: Talking with Your Doctor When the Future Is Uncertain (American College of Physicians) - PDF
Offering Spiritual Support for Family or Friends (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization) - PDF
Planning Your Own Funeral (Federal Trade Commission) Also in Spanish
Shopping for Funeral Services (Federal Trade Commission) Also in Spanish
Things to Do After Someone Dies (National Institute on Aging)
Types of Funerals (Federal Trade Commission) Also in Spanish

Specifics

Advanced Illness: Feeding Tubes and Ventilators (Family Caregiver Alliance) Also in Spanish
Artificial Hydration and Nutrition (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish
Coping with Advanced Cancer (National Cancer Institute)
End of Life (Caring for a Dying Loved One) (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
End of Life Care (AGS Foundation for Health in Aging)
End-of-Life Care for People with Dementia (National Institute on Aging)
How Can an Emergency Department Assist Patients and Caregivers at the End of Life? (American College of Emergency Physicians)
Understanding Health Care Decisions (at the End of Life) (National Institute on Aging)
What Happens When Someone Dies? (National Institute on Aging)
When You Have Pain at the End of Life (American College of Physicians) - PDF

Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov: Terminal Care (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

Reference Desk

Glossary (Center to Advance Palliative Care)

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Children

Grieving the Loss of a Child (American Society of Clinical Oncology)
When Somebody Dies (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

Deciding about treatments that prolong life (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Do not resuscitate orders (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Palliative care - what the final days are like (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

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MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA

National Institutes of Health

The primary NIH organization for research on End of Life Issues is the National Institute of Nursing Research

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Find health information in languages other than English on End of Life Issues

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