Dying Well and Living Well in Palliative Care

Running head: DYING WELL AND LIVING WELL IN PALLIATIVE CARE
DYING WELL AND LIVING WELL IN PALLIATIVE CARE

DYING WELL AND LIVING WELL IN PALLIATIVE CARE
To die well is as important as living well, Discuss this statement with a case study from
your previous working experience.
Case Study
Mr. Tan is a75 years old Chinese who is married and has two sons. His children only
make visits during festivals. He stays in a four-room HDB with wife and helper.
Previously he worked as a taxi driver. Mr. Tan started smoking at the age of 20, ten
sticks a day. He got diagnosed with lung cancer stage 4, nine months ago. Past medical
history of Mr. was a diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus and Hypertension.
He had a right eye cataract surgery done one year ago. The due date for his left eye
cataract surgery (put on hold).Currently, the patient is bed-bound and uncommunicative.
He is presently on Morphine every 4 hourly PRN for pain and SOB. The patient got
discharged from the hospital as the family not keen for further treatment.
Introduction
Dying well is as important as living well as it involves asking the question ‘what is a
good death?'The Question is answerable through palliative care where there is the end
of life care, free from suffering, distress for families, patients, and caregivers. A good
death characterizes itself by the patient being pain-free, symptom-free and all decision
making done through effective communication. There is preparation for death,
affirmation as well as completion of the whole person. The case here involves. As in the

DYING WELL AND LIVING WELL IN PALLIATIVE CARE
case scenario Mr. Tan who is bedbound and uncommunicative a good death for him
would be one that is pain-free and surrounded by his loved ones.
In my point of view culture together and spirituality plays a fundamental role in one's
journey through life. Health beliefs get often tied to one's cultural background, spiritual
and religious affiliation. The significance of the essay to identify how to give Mr. Tand
good care based on his spiritual and cultural association while relieving him from pain
and giving him a right end of life care.
Background Information
The world health organization (2014) defines palliative care as a strategy that assists in
uplifting the lives of the sick in quality as well as their families once faced with a disease
that is life-threatening. It gets done through the preventing as well through identification
and by identifying and assessing by pain curing together with spiritual, psychological as
reducing the extent of suffering and physical problems. Palliative care is a vital health
issue among the public as a result of the dramatic rise of aging persons in number. It
provides attention to their complex needs. It also provides relief to distressing symptoms
(Biswas, Leshabari, & Gebuis, 2015). Age appropriate care is essential while
addressing the issues of palliative care. It gives the specialists the opportunity to handle
the needs as per the lifespan.
Palliative care is essential to the patients due to their complex needs during the dying
moments. They suffer from diseases such as arthritis, and dementia which are
accompanied by a lot of pain. Significantly, it provides a team-based approach to the
needs of patients as well as their families and counseling on death in case it's needed.