Last week, the Washington Post published a hospitalist’s view of dying in America. Dr. Bowron writes, “If we can be honest and admit that we have no choice about dying, then the only thing we do have a say in are the circumstances.” Yet he does not mention that one-third of those who die in the United States now exercise their say by choosing hospice care, which seeks not to prolong life artificially, but to treat pain and symptoms through a multidisciplinary approach.
The Post printed two letters in response to Dr. Bowron’s piece, one from a hospice medical director, and another from a son whose father died in hospice care in Britain.
