DEAR ABBY: I am writing in response to your letters regarding hospice care.
As an oncologist and a hospice physician, I have seen how our society's denial of death can unintentionally deny patients choice and dignity during the final stage of life.
Today less than a quarter of patients who could benefit from hospice ever experience its comfort. And those who do are often referred too late to benefit from excellent pain management, and psychosocial or spiritual care that can enrich the end of life. Moreover, most patients are unaware that there is a Medicare hospice benefit or that their health insurance provides coverage.
Fortunately, our society is starting to explore the possibility of dying well. The Foundation for End of Life Care recently helped found the nation's first interdisciplinary institute to research end-of-life care issues. Housed in Duke University's Divinity School, it will provide much-needed education for health-care professionals and the public.
End-of-life care choices, pain management, the effect of bereavement counseling on spouse survival, and how different ethnic groups or cultures treat death, dying and bereavement are some of the topics for research. The institute will also advocate for the terminally ill in the health-care policy arena.
Our goal as a foundation is to transform dying into the final act of living well. We urge individuals to do their part by learning and talking about end-of-life options today. -- J.R. WILLIAMS, M.D., CHAIRMAN AND PRESIDENT, FOUNDATION FOR END OF LIFE CARE
DEAR DR. WILLIAMS: I am pleased that hospice is finally being discussed more openly in institutions of higher learning. I have received hundreds of letters from readers relating their personal experiences with hospice -- 99 percent positive and incredibly touching. Hospice provides a great deal of comfort to patients and their families.
There is no reason why anyone with a terminal illness should feel he or she must endure pain -- or die frightened or alone.