End of Life Issues

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here

Learn More

• Related Issues
• Specifics

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Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Reference Desk
• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Patient Handouts

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.

Start Here

• Advanced Illness: Holding on and Letting Go (Family Caregiver Alliance)
• End of Life (National Institute on Aging)
• End of Life (Supporting a Terminally Ill Loved One) (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• 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)
• Culturally Diverse Communities and End-of-Life Care (American Psychological Association) - PDF
• Living Well with a Serious Illness: Talking with Your Doctor When the Future Is Uncertain (American College of Physicians) - 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) Also in Spanish
• 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)

• Article: Navigating the Murky Waters of Hope, Fear, and Spiritual Suffering: An...
• Article: Perioperative Advance Directives: Do Not Resuscitate in the Operating Room.
• Article: Transitioning to Comfort-Focused Care at the End of Life.
• End of Life Issues -- see more articles
• Funeral rites -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• Glossary (Center to Advance Palliative Care)

Find an Expert

• National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
• National Institute of Nursing Research

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