‘Good’ death different for everyone
‘Good’ death different for everyone
Altoona Mirror, Altoona, PA; 7/26/24
The social and economic inequities patients suffer in life often shapes their death” was a key point of a July 13-14 article in the Review section of the Wall Street Journal. ... In the article, which was written by Dr. Sunita Puri, a palliative care physician and the author of “That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour,” Puri focuses on the conundrum many families face when dealing with the question of where to spend the final days of life. ... “New research classifies the rise in home deaths as progress,” the message immediately under the article’s headline begins, “but we need to look more closely at what these deaths look like.” ... Puri, now 10 years into her physician career, says it is now clear to her that there is much more to a “good” death than where it occurs. “Presuming a home death is a success obscures important questions about the process,” she wrote. “Did this person die comfortably? Did their caregivers have the resources and guidance they needed? Was dying at home a choice or simply the only option?”