AMA launches end-of-life program

The American Medical Association, in conjunction with several other medical organizations, is offering physicians a new end-of-life resource for patients. The program is aimed at educating the medical profession, patients, and their families, as well as supporting legislation that improves end-of-life care.

The program’s goals are to promote physician-patient relationships that include the following:

o the opportunity to talk and plan for end-of-life care;

o assurance that physical and mental suffering will be attended to and comfort measures used;

o respect for the patient’s preferences when it comes to withholding or withdrawing life- sustaining interventions;

o attention to the goals of the dying patient.