Abstract
The purpose of this study was to describe hospice social workers' perceptions of cases where hospice patients or their family members expressed a desire to hasten the patient's death. Surveys were mailed to hospice social workers (n=212) in two Southeastern states. Response rate was 36%. Of the 73 respondents, 56.2% had a patient and 26.1% had a patient's family member express a desire to hasten the patient's death. Most patients had a cancer diagnosis (70.4%) and were predominantly male (66.6%), white (94.4%), and were married/had a partner (66.7%). Poor quality of life (28.3%) and concern for suffering (28.3%) were the most common reasons reported for the request to hasten death. These data suggest that the desire for hastened death is not uncommon among hospice patients. Social workers perceive these requests to be related primarily to unmet needs.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 523-532 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of Pain and Symptom Management |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2004 |
Funding
This research was supported by a grant to Dr. Arnold from the Project on Death in America of the Open Society Institute.
| Funders |
|---|
| Open Society Institute |
UN SDGs
This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
-
SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
Keywords
- assisted suicide
- hastening death
- Hospices
- suicide
- symptom management
- unmet needs
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Nursing
- Clinical Neurology
- Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine
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