The dying patient

Dying is again being recognized as a natural phase of life for which we spend a lifetime preparing. There are times during life when it seems least appropriate and most difficult to accept dying, as in childhood. It is important to recognize that we go through life acquiring and losing significant objects in our quest for greater self-esteem and in our preparing for dying. To approach the awareness of dying as a life crisis which allows a new awareness towards self and reality makes the process of dying not only challenging but worth the living. Health care professionals must guard against trying to mold patients into their reality and thus meeting their own needs and not the patients'. Specific guidelines for the support of dying called Comfort Care Only shift the therapeutic focus from a preoccupation with the patient's disease to the broader human concerns and a sharing of the experience which is as important for the surviving as it is for the dying.