This is the third in a series of 41 posts from both GeriPal and Pallimed to get our physician readers ready for the hospice and palliative medicine boards. Every week GeriPal and Pallimed alternates publishing a new question, as well as a discussion of possible answers to the question (click here for the full list of questions).
Question 3
During a hospice interdisciplinary team meeting, you hear about a 53 year old resident of the local nursing home. He has ALS with bulbar attributes, and is starting to have difficulty swallowing and speaking. He is bedbound most of the day. He has had two episodes of aspiration pneumonia in the last month.
His nurse describes the scene with the patient’s wife, Sally, at his side, squeezing his hand with one hand and her rosary with the other.
He explained to the nurse, “I told Sally that I don’t want a feeding tube. I’ve had a good life and have few regrets. I saw my father-in-law die on a feeding tube and I would not want to go through that, or pu…
Question 3
During a hospice interdisciplinary team meeting, you hear about a 53 year old resident of the local nursing home. He has ALS with bulbar attributes, and is starting to have difficulty swallowing and speaking. He is bedbound most of the day. He has had two episodes of aspiration pneumonia in the last month.
His nurse describes the scene with the patient’s wife, Sally, at his side, squeezing his hand with one hand and her rosary with the other.
He explained to the nurse, “I told Sally that I don’t want a feeding tube. I’ve had a good life and have few regrets. I saw my father-in-law die on a feeding tube and I would not want to go through that, or pu…