Palliative care experts are using the occasion of Aretha Franklin’s death to urge mesothelioma patients and others diagnosed with terminal illnesses to learn about hospice care and understand that it provides far more than just a “days before” benefit. Franklin’s family announced that she would be entering hospice care just three days before she died, less than the national median length of stay in hospice which is just slightly over three weeks and far less than the amount of time that the service is available. According to palliative care experts, when announcements are made that celebrities are entering hospice just days before their deaths, it confirms the public’s impression that hospice is a place to go before you die, rather than its actual goal of anticipating, preventing and managing patient suffering. The earlier mesothelioma patients enter hospice care, the more benefit they are able to get and the greater the improvement in their quality of life.
People diagnosed with mesothelioma who are considering hospice care would do well to learn about those celebrities who have used it to its fullest: columnist and author Art Buchwald called the five months he was in hospice “the best time of [his] life”, where he was able to continue working, seeing friends and dying with a minimum of discomfort, in a warm and comforting environment. Palliative care professionals are working to spread this news and reframe the narrative about what hospice care from “nothing more we can do” to “living as well as you can for as long as you can” writes Jennifer Moore Ballentine, executive director of the CSU Institute for Palliative Care, based at Cal State San Marcos.
In an article she wrote for the San Diego Union Tribune, Ballentine urges family members and physicians alike to remember that palliative care is available for mesothelioma patients and others with a life expectancy of six months or less who are no longer seeking treatment. Unfortunately, a study in the AMA Journal of Ethics found that specialty physicians are less likely to suggest palliative care than are family and internal medicine clinicians. Much of this is due to the challenge of having difficult conversations.
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you are already aware that the rare form of cancer has no cure. If you would like information on the benefits of palliative care or any other resources to support you as you face this challenging disease, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net today at 1-800-692-8608.