End-of-Life Decisions

END OF LIFE En END OF LIFE End-of-life Name Institute-affiliated End- of- Life Care According to Norlander, L. (2014) end of life care refers to the final hours of a life of a person. The description has extended to other conditions such as the patients who have terminal diseases. It applies to those conditions that have continued to become complicated, have advanced and those that cannot be cured. End of life involves a number of decisions that the patient must make in consultations with the healthcare providers. The decisions that must be made include the palliative care, the right of patients in self-determination in regard to life and treatment, ethics and medical examination. End of life most of the times considers rationing, allocation of resources in the hospital and the medical system. The decision has to be informed by technical, economic and medical considerations. The decision has to consider the will of the patient. The final decision on the end-of-life lies on the patient and the family in regard to terminate the life of a patient through withdrawal of machines that support life. Role of Nurses in End of Life Decisions Most of the patients lack the capacity to make an end-of-life decision when they are severely ill. This leaves the family to make the decisions on whether they will support life or not. Healthcare providers fear that eliminating all hopes for the recovery of the patient may be a hard issue for the family. The decision becomes hard for the nurses because of prognostic uncertainties and this hinders them from initiating such as discussion with the family members (Norlander, (2014). Although the role of nurses and other healthcare providers is to diagnose the patient and communicate the information t