Table 8 Event Outcome
End of Life | Hastened Death | |
|---|---|---|
Favourable resolution | The caregiver has the skills and resources to solve a problem; death brings an end to suffering or is consistent with patient wishes; the caregiver has guidance or professional help in dealing with post-death tasks [28, 33, 36,37,38, 45, 46, 50, 54, 56, 57] | Healthcare providers help plan for or carry out the death; the caregiver finds the hastened death to be peaceful or joyful; loved ones have a chance for closure; the patient avoids unwanted suffering [15, 16, 66,67,68,69,70] |
“We all toasted with the bourbon. Yep. And I mean, I haven’t been around many dying people so I don’t have experience with how that often goes, but this was joyful and peaceful, and it’s exactly what he wanted.” (Buchbinder et al p5) | ||
‘I feel maybe it’s hard to say but I knew the end would come and really it was a release not only for me but for X, I knew it was because it was very hard to watch him.’ (Hasson et al 2010, p.733) | ||
Unfavourable resolution | Professional help is unavailable or inadequate; the illness causes family tension; caregiving demands are unrelenting; the death is unexpected, and the caregiver feels unprepared [27, 34, 35, 42, 47,48,49,50,51, 53, 55, 56, 60] | Healthcare providers are unwilling to discuss hastened death; the patient cannot achieve hastened death and suffers; in Switzerland, the caregiver experiences ongoing distress about breaking social norms to assist in hastened death [15, 57, 70] |
No resolution | Caregiver lives in state of constant vigilance; caregiver cannot process or mourn the patient’s death [32, 40, 51, 60, 61] |