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Talking About Death, Dying, and Bereavement With Terminally Ill Patients and Their Caregivers —Reply
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In reply
We agree that anticipatory stress and anxiety frequently preclude physicians and other health care workers from talking about death and dying with dying patients. Our data suggest that if this anxiety is based on the suspicion that such discussions will be stressful for the patients, it is largely mistaken. Based on these data, physicians can initiate discussions about death and dying knowing that they will not induce stress in most dying patients.
That many patients did not find these discussions helpful is probably related to the fact that they were held with professional interviewers who were not part of the care team and therefore could not intervene to relieve symptoms, other concerns, or improve care. That so many patients found the mere discussion helpful attests to the therapeutic power of structured communication in the absence of any other therapeutic interventions or even a promise of interventions.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Correspondence: Dr . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD;
Linda L. Emanuel, MD, PhD
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