I cannot get into specifics but I have a question for all of you fellow nurses. What do you do when you have a patient that is young, experiencing end stage metastatic cancer and they do not know it. The oncologist has not given them the realistic and total picture of their disease process NOR have they been given the tools to deal with the fact that the treatment they are undergoing IS NOT WORKING.

I worked in hospice many years ago and I had a bitter taste in my mouth then, as I do now, when the oncologist continues to throw one chemo/radiation therapy after another at a person who is just getting worse… and then they die in the midst of treatment and everyone around them, including often times their children and spouse are left with the thoughts of “but they were getting better….the doctor said the treatment was hopeful.”

While I was a nurse in the hospice world I had a voice and I could council my patients as they directed me to…I could also have a voice with the team that was treating the patient. I often feel left out in the wind while working these people in the ER. Read more…