The last days of life

This chapter focuses on the final days of the patients and the transition from palliative care to terminal care. Despite advances in the treatment of haematological malignancies, many patients face death due to their disease. In these moments, families encounter profound sadness, and clinicians experience inadequacy for not being able to change the course of death. Although death is inevitable and cannot be averted, there is much that can be done to improve the last days of the patient and to assure dying with a sense of dignity. Good terminal care plays a prominent role in achieving good death and in creating positive memories for the families and the healthcare professionals. One of the keys to good terminal care is the admission that death is inevitable and that the focus of care has changed. In the chapter, the focus is on the terminal care of haematological patients who face a short terminal phase after intensive treatment, whose palliation requires high-tech and invasive interventions, who are taken care of in regional centres, and who are often young. Also discussed are the creation of decisions and the ethical issues within the context of terminal care.