(Beijing) – Health insurance can solve a lot of problems when a patient’s illness is treatable, but it falls short on handling end-of-life issues for patients with no hope of being cured.
One remedy to this problem is palliative care, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has promoted in dozens of nations, but is only now debuting in China.
Chen Xiaolu, the son of general Chen Yi (1901-1972), a founder of modern China, still cringes at the memory of his father’s final moments. After repeated efforts by hospital staff to resuscitate the general, the dying Chen looked at himself and joked, “I’m a robot now.”
Every time his heart stopped, electric shock treatment made his body convulse. It was very painful to watch, his son says…read more