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Every year, thousands of families sit in hospital rooms hearing words no one wants to hear: "We have done everything we can." What happens next, whether doctors stay engaged or step away, can transform one of life's most difficult moments for patients and their families.
Unfortunately, for too many patients, the shift from curative care to end-of-life care leaves them feeling stranded. Physicians, trained to fight disease and save lives, can struggle when those tools no longer work. Some retreat behind clinical distance. Others hand off care entirely, leaving many families to navigate their most vulnerable moments without the support of the physicians they know.
"But it doesn't have to be this way," says Matthew Ellman, MD, professor of medicine (general medicine) at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and director of Medical Student Palliative and End-of-Life Care Education. "In my experience, patients want clinicians who will be there for them even when cures or life-prolonging treatments are no longer available, and that's a huge part of patient care."
Ellman has spent decades at patients' bedsides and now teaches medical students about death and dying. In his recent essay in Academic Medicine, he draws from his personal experiences as a physician and encourages fellow doctors to embrace difficult conversations around end-of-life care.
We talked with Ellman about the importance of human connection in end-of-life care and how YSM is empowering the next generation of physicians to be actively present when their patients need them the most.