The Last Breath Ep 10 - Assisted Dying – 24-10-2024

Examining the experience of assisted dying. Karen Mansfield’s mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier this year and opted for an assisted death. Karen talks us through that experience. Palliative care nurse Archana Gaunder describes the lessons she learned from her first experience caring for patient who’d decided on to go out on his own terms. A statement from Hospice Waikato: Fundamentally, Hospice Waikato exists to help patients live every moment, and treatment is focused on comfort and quality of life, rather than cure. If a patient decides to look into assisted dying, Hospice Waikato staff will provide them with a leaflet, outlining our involvement and giving them a website to visit to find out more information. The Patient will remain a hospice patient and our service delivery will not change. We will continue to provide the best possible care for our patients and their families and whānau, however, we will not be with the patient when they die and end of life interventions will not be carried out in our in-patient unit.