End-of-Life

By Angela Morrow, RN, About.com Guide to Palliative Care

Most of us want to have a say how we spend the last days of our lives. Here you will find information about the dying process and instructions on how to make informed decisions for yourself or your loved one regarding care at the end of life.

1. Making Decisions for Your Own Care
2. Making Difficult Decisions for Others
3. Death, Dying, and Bereavement

Making Decisions for Your Own Care

With a little advanced planning, you can make decisions for yourself regarding the care you would like to receive at or near the end of life.

• Advanced Directives
• Physician-Assisted Suicide
• Deciding Where to Die

• Five Wishes
• Hands Off! Do Not Resuscitate Orders
• 5 Reasons to Plan Your Own Funeral

Making Difficult Decisions for Others

Making decisions about our own care at the end of life can be difficult, but making decisions about someone else's end-of-life care can seem especially daunting, if not impossible. Here you can find information about choices you may face as your friend or loved one nears the end of life.

• Introduction to Difficult Decisions
• Deciding to Withhold or Withdraw Life Support
• Artificial Nutrition and Hydration at the End of Life
• Do Not Resuscitate Orders

Death, Dying, and Bereavement

The process of dying is a mystery to most of us. What to do during the dying process and after death occurs is not much clearer. Here we will shed some light on those difficult topics.

• The Dying Process
• Interacting With the Dying
• Writing a Condolence Letter
• Grief and Mourning
• How to Write and Deliver a Eulogy