Barriers to Healing: End-of-Life Care for Incarcerated Patients

This creative engagement essay explores the interaction between a third-year medical student and a patient diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. The patient's experience is shaped by profound systemic inequities and institutional biases, including his incarcerated status, which significantly delayed and limited his access to medical care. His case highlights the systemic inadequacies within the USA prison healthcare system, where timely and adequate treatment is often unavailable. Beyond the medical aspects of his illness, the patient's emotional journey, particularly his inability to communicate with his family during this critical time, is explored. Through this narrative, the essay underscores the importance of humanism in medicine-bearing witness to each patient's story, recognizing their dignity, and acknowledging the broader sociocultural context that shapes their healthcare experiences.