title: The nature of suffering and the nature of opportunity at the end of life.
abstract: Encountering a patient who is suffering in the midst of terminal illness is an all-too-common occurrence for clinicians who care for the elderly. This article explores the personal experience of suffering in the context of life-limiting illness. The concept of personhood is used to illuminate the nature of suffering. Clinical observation documents that some persons experience a subjectively heightened sense of well-being as they die. The concept of personhood and the model of life-long human development is applied to the explication of this apparent paradox, enabling an understanding of the nature of opportunity at the end of life.
authors.affiliation: Palliative Care Service, Missoula, Montana, USA.
authors.forename: I R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Byock
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001293:Attitude to Death; D005260:Female; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010684:Philosophy; D012068:Religion and Medicine