Oscar is making news today as a cat who lives at a hospice in Providence, Rhode Island, and seems to have the ability to predict within four hours when nursing home patients will die. For the most part, families appreciate Oscar's providing comfort in their loved one's final hours. The nursing staff notes when when Oscar settles in with a patient and contacts families so they can have additional time to say goodbye. The full story is covered as an essay in today's New England Journal of Medicine and is being reported via the Associated Press.The more scientific among us would like to see Oscar's time documented between the living and the dying and note such things as whether there's a heated blanket that would be more attractive to him that's provided to the dying versus the living.
But the nursing staff doesn't care. Because Oscar has given comfort to both patients and families, he's been awarded with a plaque that commends "compassionate hospice care." May we all be so lucky as to have an Oscar with us at the end of our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment