Time of Death: Some Patients Prefer to Die Alone

This article is the fourth in a series of articles where I will take each assumption from the original article and explore the concept in greater depth to include implications and possible interventions.  In my last article, I wrote about the assumption Family will want to be with their loved one when they are dying.Here is our next assumption: People don’t want to be alone when they die.This may be an unpopular assertion within my own hospice industry for me to advocate for leaving a patient alone sometimes. Hospices have entire programs devoted to assuring patients and families that they will not ever be alone. Many of them are actually called, “No one dies alone” or NODA. The perhaps unintended consequences of the marketing of these programs is the programs may perpetuate the myth for the public that nobody ever wants to die alone.For the family member who has minimal prior direct experience of being with a loved one as they die, this assumption that dying patients shouldn’t ever have to be alone can create intense anxiety. Family members will sit vigil for days without eating or sleeping. Hospice professionals may inform the family they can take a break, but this can be a confusing mixed message. Hospice has a program that says that no one should have to die alone, and yet this hospice nurse is telling me to take a break?Some patients want to die when no one else is there.Hospice professionals know that companionship while dying is a personal preference. We h...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - Category: Palliative Care Tags: assumptions hospice lizzy miles NODA social work social worker time of death Source Type: blogs