Ethics Talk: Healthy Dying and How It Can Happen

In acute care settings, it can be challenging for clinicians to treat patients who might benefit from minimal interventions as the end of their lives approach. They also might not know how to help families make the most of remaining time with loved ones, or begin a transition from hoping for more life to mourning and grieving immediately following someone's death. This month on Ethics Talk, we spoke with Helen Chapple, a professor at Creighton University and expert in end-of-life issues, and Caitlin Doughty, a mortician and author, about what it might mean for clinicians and health care systems to fully acknowledge dying as something that can be done in a healthy way.