When communication fails: resolving end-of-life impasses.
Various protocols and advance directives can prepare physician assistants for difficult conversations with patients about end-of-life care. This case scenario explores the roles and influences that complicated one patient's care and how the situation was resolved.
Lisa Z. Davenport is an assistant professor at South University in Savannah, Ga. Georgeanne Schopp is a marriage and family therapist in private practice in Savannah, Ga., and Hilton Head, S.C., and a guest lecturer in the South University PA program. The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
Lisa Z
LZ
Davenport
Georgeanne
G
Schopp
D000368:Aged; D003142:Communication; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications; D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000473:pathology*; D005734:Gangrene / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications; D018447:Medical Futility; D017008:Negotiating; D057240:Patient Preference; D011368:Professional-Family Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D016414:Resuscitation Orders / Q000941:ethics*; D018805:Sepsis / Q000209:etiology