Heart Failure Patients Urged to Discuss Care With Docs

March 6th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

MONDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) — Patients suffering from
advanced heart failure should maintain an open dialogue with their
physicians, so everyone is on the same page with patients’ long-range
personal wishes regarding treatment, experts say.

The advice is outlined in a “scientific statement” published March 5 in
the journal Circulation.

“For patients with advanced heart failure, the decision-making process
should be proactive, anticipatory and patient-centered,” lead author Dr.
Larry Allen, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of
Colorado Anschutz Medical Center, said in a journal news release. “This
involves talking about goals of care, expectations for the future, and the
full range of treatment options, including palliative care.” Palliative
care involves pain relief in the absence of a cure.

According to the release, about 3 percent of American adults have heart
failure, a figure that goes up with age. The condition develops when the
heart can no longer pump enough blood, resulting in fatigue, shortness of
breath and ankle swelling. Heart failure often progressively worsens.

Allen and colleagues stressed the importance of building a
patient-doctor consensus with respect to questions of survival, symptom
relief and quality of life issues. Depending on their personal perspective
and situation, not all patients want to “do everything” at all costs, they
noted.

One way to promote such a discussion, the authors said, is to set aside
one day a year to review the patient’s situation, focusing on prognosis
and possible treatments alongside an appreciation for the patient’s values
and goals.

Such an annual review, however, should not replace appropriate
discussions at critical junctures in a patient’s ongoing care, such as
when a turn for the worse or hospitalization occurs.

“The process of checking in with patients on a regular basis is
extremely important because heart failure and general health change over
time,” Allen said.

More information

For more on heart failure, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.