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enough  photo of gleason  Visiting Nurse Service of New York
Read the extended interview »  …How do you know to not just let
somebody be?  There have been many times when we had a patient
that was near death, and we could have gotten more aggressive
with antibiotics, … maybe prolonged their leaving. But in some
ways, that's not always the best approach, because if they've
made it clear that they don't want to be kept around by
aggressive measures, then a good death for that person would be
to go out as gently as possible. So sometimes [if] it's clear
that that's what they want, then all we do is medicate them for
pain and keep them from feeling pain.  There are other things
that happen, too, when someone's nearing death. They may
suddenly become very anxious and start breathing really quickly.
We can give them medications to help with that so that they
don't feel that anxiety, almost l