RT Article
T1 ‘Ambivalence’ at the end of life: How to understand patients’ wishes ethically
JF Nursing ethics
VO 19
IS 5
SP 629
OP 641
A1 Ohnsorge, Kathrin
A1 Keller, Heike R Gudat
A1 Widdershoven, Guy AM
A1 Rehmann-Sutter, Christoph
LA English
PB Sage
YR 2012
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1779450591
AB Health-care professionals in end-of-life care are frequently confronted with patients who seem to be ‘ambivalent’ about treatment decisions, especially if they express a wish to die. This article investigates this phenomenon by analysing two case stories based on narrative interviews with two patients and their caregivers. First, we argue that a respectful approach to patients requires acknowledging that coexistence of opposing wishes can be part of authentic, multi-layered experiences and moral understandings at the end of life. Second, caregivers need to understand when contradictory statements point to tensions in a patient’s moral experience that require support. Third, caregivers should be careful not to negatively label or even pathologize seemingly contradictory patient statements.
K1 wish to die
K1 patients’ experience
K1 Narratives
K1 Identity
K1 end of life
K1 Ambivalence
DO 10.1177/0969733011436206