Patients Who Recall End-of-Life Discussions with Physicians Die More Comfortably

A study of 332 cancer patients who eventually died, reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncologists in Chicago last week, showed one-third recalled discussing the end of life with their doctors. Researcher Alexi Wright, MD, medical oncology fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, reported that those patients were:

• 1.6 times more likely to enter a hospice in time to receive its benefits -- that is, to die as comfortable a death as possible. In the study, people who entered the hospice two months or more before death reported the best quality of life in their final weeks, Wright says.


• three times more likely to complete a do-not-resuscitate order and two times more likely to fill out a living will.


• no more likely to meet criteria for depression.


• no more likely to report being depressed, worried, anxious, or terrified when directly asked.