Every year around the world, many people who are old die due to long term illness requiring access to End-of-life care. End of life means the last hours of life or any period in the last year of life for a person with chronic illness. People in the last years of life require health and social care from health institutions and at home to ensure smooth transitions. End-of-life includes Palliative care. Palliative care focuses on pain management, other symptoms and providing psychological and emotional support to the affected patients and the people close to them.
The main aim of end-of-life care is to provide support for the people who have advanced progressive and incurable illnesses to live well until the time of death. Care can be delivered by different people each with a role to play in the affected individuals. There is family, friends, and specialist in palliative care. End-of-life care is important and should be easy to access. A recent survey conducted in Australia indicated that between 60 and 70 per cent of Australians would prefer to die at home and not in hospitals and residential care.
However, despite these findings, home deaths have significantly reduced with only 14 per cent of Australians dying at home. The percentage that dies in residential care is 32 percent with the remaining 54 percent dying in hospitals. The percentage of people who die at home in Australia is low compared to 30 percent in the United States. Over the recent years, death has become an institutionalized, and medicalized institution with hospitalization is increasing rapidly for the aged groups.
Concerning the mental illnesses, the Mental Capacity Act was passed in 2005 to determine the mental incapacities considered before admitting a patient for end-of-life care. When assessing the mental capacity of patients seeking assisted suicide, the health physicians consider the capacity of the patients to harm themselves. Mental illnesses are those illnesses that cause impairment or disturbance in the proper functioning of the brain. One example is the presence of any psychiatric disorder like depression.
Before helping a patient to end their life, a doctor should consider any psychiatric disorders that may hinder decision making of that patient. Many people under palliative care have delirium, a psychiatric disorder and the doctors should be able to determine before giving any assistance. Of utmost important therefore is for the doctors to clearly assess the state of mind of any patient before assisting them to die (Camden, 2012). The problems in health care systems can be blamed for many cases of patients seeking assisted suicide.
Medical progress has made many people fear to die on their own and in pain; something many people consider dehumanizing. Many people have developed perceptions on what a good death should be and feel. Therefore, there is the preference of dying at home or a homelike environment with minimal pain and suffering. People view good death as dying surrounded by caring people such as family and friends. Many people believe that good death should meet psychological, physical, and spiritual needs.
The church has also contributed to this topic by criticizing a society that allows a person to die alone and in pain. However, the church opposes assisted suicide as a good death. The church believes that the process of death should allow people reflect on their lives and seek forgiveness from God. The process of dying according to the church should not be rushed because a person is in pain and suffering. It should come naturally and gracefully just as God plans. Death should not counter the moral perspective as is the case of assisted suicide.
Despite the different opinions expressed concerning assisted suicide modern technology and advancement in medicine leaves people with no alternative. End-of-life care is an important perspective in good dving (Kaveny, 2015). Good end-of-life care is a difficult subject but necessary to avoid suffering for the aged and dying. End-of-life care includes services provided around the time of death or services provided to a person with a condition that is likely to result in death shortly. End-of-life care includes palliative care’ an approach that aims at improving the quality of life of the patient and his or her family.
Palliative care involves prevention and relief of suffering by identifying and treating the cause of pain and any other problems related to the illness. Quality endof-life services include proper health services, home care, personal support according to the wishes and preferences of the dying person. Some of the situations in which end-of-life services can be offered include terminal illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and motor neuron diseases. Many people fear to have a discussion on death and their preferred way to die.
However, it is important to discuss the preferred method of care, treatment, and assistance when death seems to be the only left option. End-of-life for many individuals comes late when the disease has progressed, and the options of getting cured are absent. When it gets to this point, individuals and their families have to make a choice on whether to continue administering cure and rehabilitation care or provide relief from the symptoms and pain palliative care. Availability of good end-of-life care services has made many people seek the services in many countries (Deloitte, 2013).
Although the state of end-of-life care has improved significantly over the past years, so much needs to be done to help the people seeking these services. The information available on end-of-life care costs and its challenges is limited. The United Kingdom has however made progress on end-of-care services by providing information that the estimated annual budget for the end-of-life care program is 4. 5 billion British pounds. Additionally, palliative care is a recognized branch of medicine and specialists should complete a four-year training course before providing end-of-life care services.
Some countries like the US and New Zealand, however, do not recognize palliative care as a branch on its own. General practitioners and anesthetists provide palliative care in these countries. End-of-life care has broadened to include people suffering from chronic respiratory diseases, dementia and neurological conditions. Cancer patients received the services in the past years. The creation of the Department of Health of a National End of Life Care in Britain is an initiative that will develop the end-of-life care program significantly.
The department will ensure the services provided for people who seek end-of-life services are of high quality and includes more primary care services for all and not just a few people. The program also ensures there are no limitations of good end-oflife care to specialists, but district nurses and community health employees can also be part of it (Skinner, 2013). Improving end-of-life services to the aged and dying is important in the health care systems. Many things can be done to ensure an improvement of end-of-life services.
There is a need to develop a rapid response unit comprising of nurses and specialists for the provision of good end of life care. The care providers should also equip health and social care staff with skills necessary to offer support to people under end-of-life care program. Additionally more palliative care outreach centers are needed to offer services to people under end-of-life care programs. To improve services of these programs, the specialist should help people decide on a place they prefer to die and why it is important. People should not feel death is a taboo subject.
The issue of cost needs to be addressed to ensure it is affordable to all the people seeking it to improve end-of-life care. An average end-of-life care program can cost between 186 to 6206 Britain pounds per person as per the survey conducted in 2010. Meeting such costs for many people is expensive, and there is a need for regulation to increase the number of people seeking care. One way the costs can reduce significantly is by taking care of people at home rather than hospitals that are quite expensive. There is a need to address the problems facing end-of-life care to improve the quality of care provided.
One way to achieve this is by regulating the costs to ensure every person in need of care can assess it. There is also need to improve technology by creating mobile apps that can help in the provision of care and improve communication. Electronic care palliative systems are also a great way to improve care. There is also the need to support people to die in a place of their choice (Swerissen & Duckett, 2014). In conclusion, end-of-life care is important, and there is a need to support every person to die in his or her place of preference.
Although the program is expensive, it is necessary in the healthcare system today, and more people should be able to access the services. End-of-life care should ensure people are treated with dignity and die in much less pain in a place they feel comfortable. There is a need to regulate the costs to ensure many people can afford the services of better care. People should also have a discussion on death and how they wish to die to ensure proper end-of-life care. There is a need to ensure the services provided by the specialists are of great quality so as to meet the wishes of the people.
