A hospice program has taken care of 552 terminally ill patients since its launch in January and has earned the Symbol of National Quality, the Taipei City Government’s Department of Health said.
“Patients should have the right to choose a natural death,” Taipei City Hospital Zhongxing Branch physician Chen Yang-ching (陳揚卿) said, adding that about 95 percent of terminally ill patients in Taiwan pass away in medical facilities, but a large percentage of patients wish to pass away at home.
After more than 1,200 physicians, nurses, social workers and psychologists have received specialized training for community and home palliative care, the Community Hospice and Palliative Care Program conducted by the Taipei City Hospital was able to send medical teams to communities to take care of terminally ill patients at their homes.
Feng Rung-chuang (馮容莊), the hospital’s nursing department director, said the medical teams not only gave the patients mental and social support to reduce their pain as much as possible while avoiding unnecessary medical procedures, but also provided support to family members, allowing them to feel more comfortable in taking care of their terminally ill relatives.
The medical teams paid an average of 13.27 visits to each patient, much higher than the national average of 7.02 visits, Feng said.
An 89-year-old man, surnamed Yuan (袁), had terminal prostate cancer and had to be hospitalized many times, but he wished to stop chemotherapy and die with dignity in his home, members of the medical team said, adding that they visited Yuan and provided a 24-hour consultation hotline, and that he passed away peacefully at home.
Hospital deputy superintendent Chu Dachen (璩大成) said that among the 552 terminally ill people enrolled in the program, about 50 percent were non-cancer patients, and 262 have passed away peacefully, with 71 choosing to die in their homes.
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