Journal of Palliative Care & Medicine
Open Access

Abstract

We are here not only to help you to die but to help you to live until you die” said Cecily Saunders when she began caring for the dying. Back then this seemed to be a metaphoric expression but today, after forty years, improving the quality of life of those with incurable disease is the basic and primary goal of palliative care. Calman has defined the process of end of life as a “gap at a particular time between the hopes and expectations of an individual and that individual’s present experiences”. The question is about what can we do when all the body functions are down, when the patient cannot eat, cannot move normally, cannot be an active part of his family anymore? What are we able to offer more than a regular nursing and medical treatment for symptoms control, in order to improve his/her quality of life? What really means quality of life for a terminally ill? We will try to answer these questions, while going through a real case presentation, by discussing the role of interdisciplinary team, and the importance of collaboration between medical professionals. We will present the creative efforts and contributions of each team member towards one goal; offer a touch of wellbeing to the terminally ill. We will discuss if quality of life, at the end of life, is a paradox, impossibility or reality, and what are the best ways to offer it to our patients and their families. Finally, we will present a short movie about a dream come true and the subsequent impact on the patient and his family.

Biography

Michaela Bercovitch is the Director of the Oncological Hospice in Sheba Medical Center, Israel and a Lecturer at Tel Aviv University, Sackler School of Medicine. She was born in Romania, Bucharest, where she graduated from Medical School as MD in Pediatrics. In 1987 she emigrated to Israel and after two years training in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics she continued her medical practice in the Oncological Hospice. She is involved in the education of medical students, nurses and doctors across Israel.

E-mail: Michaela.Berkowitz@sheba.health.gov.il