Terminally ill is a medical term that is commonly used by people to refer to individuals who suffer from an incurable disease such as an advanced heart disease.
Most of the time, an individual is considered to be having a terminal illness when one’s life expectancy is estimated to be at most six months.
Even if the life expectancy of the patient is estimated to be half a year, it can still be extended to a year or two years or it can be limited to a month.
Keeping a patient with a terminal disease alive requires time, effort, and money from the caregiver.
To know how much it costs to keep the terminally ill alive, let us look at a study conducted by researchers at the business and medical schools of Stanford University on medical care costs for individuals suffering from terminal diseases.
Computing One’s Worth of Life
How much does it cost to keep the terminally ill alive? According to the study, researchers found that caregivers should allot $129,000 a year to keep the patient alive.
This covers expensive treatments like dialysis as well as food and medicines.
Some patients in the United States criticized the research since most insurance companies only allot $50,000 for the medical care costs of terminally ill individuals.
However, the researchers argued that the study showed that many terminally ill patients in the country were denied expensive but high-quality medical treatments.
Additional Information and Other Important Details
Palliative care refers to the management or high-quality care given to those who are suffering from terminal illnesses.
Hospice care is the provision of spiritual as well as emotional support to patients and their loved ones. Hospice care can be given at home or at long-term care institutions.
Even if most terminal illnesses have no cure, there are some methods that people can use to relieve the sufferings of patients like acupuncture, relaxation therapy as well as massage.
Dealing with a patient is not easy. It is important that loved ones and caregivers always stay at the side of a terminally ill individual.
By doing this, the chances that the patient will suffer from depression will be reduced. It is also helpful if the loved ones maintain physical contact with the person.
If the patient can move, it is best to do enjoyable activities with the patient. Encourage the individual to keep one’s focus on living and not on dying.
Listen to everything that the patient says. Above all, provide emotional and spiritual support to the loved ones or relatives of the patient.