Narrative medicine: A comparison of terminal cancer patients' stories from a Dutch hospice with those of Anatole Broyard and Christopher Hitchens. Issue 9 (21st October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Florijn, B. W.; der Graaf, H. Van; Schoones, J. W.; Kaptein, A. A.
• Is Part Of: Death studies. Volume 43:Issue 9(2019)
• Page Start: 570
• Page End: 581
• Publication Date: 2019-10-21
• Subjects: Death -- Psychological aspects -- Periodicals; Terminal care -- Periodicals; Death -- Moral and ethical aspects -- Periodicals; 306.9
• DOI: 10.1080/07481187.2018.1504350
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0748-1187

Abstract

Abstract: Not all physicians readily discuss death with their terminal patients. To explore whether physicians discuss dying with their terminal patients and to pursue an in-depth understanding of patients' perceptions of death, we interviewed terminal cancer patients in a Dutch hospice and compared their stories to quotes from two autobiographies on dying from cancer, Christopher Hitchens' Mortality and Anatole Broyard's Intoxicated by my illness. This narrative medicine study could potentially teach physicians they should discuss impending death to prevent the use of an invasive medical treatment that typically extends the quantity, but not the quality, of life.