Article Review: At Death’s Door
Graham (2018) contends that when a person learns that they have a terminal illness, their lives are changed forever. For instance, if an individual maintained a daily routine that involved morning exercise and eating a healthy breakfast, there is a possibility that these habits will be re-prioritized. While friends and family of terminally-ill patients may criticize the choices that they make, in the long-term, their sentiments do not matter. It can be argued that when a person is diagnosed with terminal illness, they have a heightened awareness that life is short and this radically affects their life’s outlook. In a desire to feel a sense of normalcy, they come up with lists of things they cannot do at their present condition as well as goals that they want to accomplish before they die. An even greater longing for terminally-ill patients is having a support system that helps them to express themselves freely and also aid them to come to terms with their impending death.
In my assessment, the author is persuasive in their argument that terminal illness diagnosis transforms an individual’s life perspective. Graham mentions Ronni Bennet’s blog and uses several examples to illustrate her journey of self-acceptance and her desire to come to terms with her illness. In addition, I learned that it is easy to wrongly interpret the choices that terminally-ill patients when it comes to coping with their illness and it pays to be patient and understanding as the experience of dying affects people differently.
Worldwide, it has been observed that terminally-ill patients and their families are faced with challenges relating to their medical, spiritual, psychosocial, and legal choices. These choices impact their quality of living and eventually, the dying process. The morals and beliefs as well as easing the suffering of the patients are major factors that influence the decision-making process. Moreover, different societies place emphasis either on individual autonomy or communal decision-making, and this influence to a certain degree the patient’s freedom to make choices (“End-of-life issues and care,” n.d.).
References
End-of life issues and care. N.d. Apa. Retrieved from www.apa.org/topics/death/end-of-life.aspx
Graham, J. (2018). At death’s door, shedding light on how to live. Khn. Retrieved from https://khn.org/news/at-deaths-door-shedding-light-on-how-to-live/