自2012年以来，上海提供临终关怀服务，但临终关怀在中国还并不普遍。国人对死亡与绝症病人临终医疗的传统认识与西方截然不同。在中国，知道病情的往往是绝症病人家属，医生一般会向病人隐瞒他们不治之症的事实。西方正相反，医生会让病人知道自己的身体状况，有时家属到病人生前最后一刻都被蒙在鼓里。
Hospice care has taken a very long time to be accepted in China, but it still suffers from traditions that run completely contrary to the way we Westerners view medical care for the terminally ill. It's common practice for Chinese doctors to only inform a patient's family, not the patient himself, if the patient is terminally ill. In the West, however, the reverse tends to occur.
2007年，Rob Reiner执导的文艺喜剧电影《遗愿清单》（Bucket List）风靡美国，“遗愿清单”一词随之走红于网络。电影讲述了两个中年人（分别由Morgan Freeman 和 Jack Nicholson饰演）得知自己身患绝症后，决定在死前完成一系列心愿的故事。两人列下自己临终的心愿单，经历了人生最后的精彩。
The term 'bucket list' came into popularity circa 2007 when the motion picture of the same name was released. The Rob Reiner-directed film tells of two middle-aged men (played by Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson) who are diagnosed with untreatable cancers. Facing death, they draw up bucket lists - a checklist of life goals one wants to do before they die - and then set out to accomplish these objectives while their clocks tick away.
《遗愿清单》对人们走向死亡的心理的刻画在西方受好评。生命的终点只有一个，但没有人愿意带着遗憾离开人世。所以中国人所谓对至亲“善意的谎言”也许不是保护而是伤害。在世时间不多的亲人如果能够安排好生前想做的事，平静面对死亡，临终时他们是满足而有尊严的。医生与家属该隐瞒病情还是让病人得到临终关怀？欢迎读者评论，告诉我们你的观点！
The Bucket List was popular in the West because it addressed how we approach death. We might not think of it often, but in the end everyone hopes to have a death that leaves behind no regrets. The Chinese way of trying to protect our loved ones from bad news is, for many, the worst possible thing you can do to them in their time of dying. You are more than welcome to tell us your opinions and comments!
Hospice care has taken a very long time to be accepted in China, but it still suffers from traditions that run completely contrary to the way we Westerners view medical care for the terminally ill.
It's common practice for Chinese doctors to only inform a patient's family, not the patient himself, if the patient is terminally ill. There is only one reason, then, to be admitted to a hospice here, and that is to receive palliative care - in other words, to make dying as easy and dignified as possible.
So, you see, in China, admission into a hospice is an admission that there is no cure possible.
I first encountered this approach to the terminally ill a few years ago, when a colleague was talking about asking for some time off to take his dying father to visit Beijing. I told him this was a thoughtful gesture and that his father must be really grateful for this last-chance opportunity. 'But we haven't told my father he is dying,' my friend responded.
At that time I thought this was just one family's individual albeit quirky approach to medical care. But I have since discovered that this is, indeed, the norm here.
A report in the Global Times two weeks ago on the hospice care being offered in Shanghai noted that since 2012 the local government has invested more than 40 million yuan ($6.45 million) in hospice and palliative care projects. Around the city, more than 300 hospice palliative care wards have been opened in 74 community health service centers, a nursing home and a private hospital. Another 801 residents have been given hospice care at home. Over the past three years, more than 6,000 terminally ill cancer patients have received these services, saving Shanghai hospitals an estimated 60 million yuan in unnecessary or ineffective medical treatments.
Doctors by nature have a special relationship with patients, and it is with the patients that they should be sharing vital information, not just the next of kin. In the West, however, the reverse tends to occur, whereby patients, having been diagnosed with fatal diseases, swear the doctors to secrecy and families are kept in the dark until the last moment.
Many aspects of life in China are about caring for one's family. Children are overly pampered, extended family and distant relatives are brought into a couple's home, and old folks are treated with the utmost deference and respect. But there is also a stage where all that care and consideration starts to encroach on a person's rights, not to mention their life goals.
The term 'bucket list' came into popularity circa 2007 when the motion picture of the same name was released. The Rob Reiner-directed film tells of two middle-aged men (played by Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson) who are diagnosed with untreatable cancers. Facing death, they draw up bucket lists - a checklist of life goals one wants to do before they die - and then set out to accomplish these objectives while their clocks tick away.
The film was a box-office success and bucket lists as a social phenomenon began to flourish. On the Internet one can now find many websites dedicated to making and sharing bucket lists. Whether they are dying or not, all manner of people have begun drawing up their own lists.
Unfortunately, this concept has yet to catch on here in China.
The Bucket List was popular in the West because it addressed (albeit in a romanticized way) how we approach death. We might not think of it often, but in the end everyone hopes to have a death that leaves behind no regrets.
The Chinese way of trying to protect our loved ones from bad news is, for many, the worst possible thing you can do to them in their time of dying.
In the grand scheme of life, to have the opportunity to accomplish a few things that we never got to do before we kick the bucket is but a small request.
Photos: Internet
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