Developing A Support Programme for Families with Seriously Ill Or Dying Children: The First Six Months

Abstract

Death of children in our days has changed its character according to the development in society at large and within modern medicine. The most frequent causes of death among children today are accidents. In most cases this means a sudden death. Next to accidents, cancer is the most frequent cause of death among children in the western world. According to the development in modern medicine one has coined the concept “prolonged death” (in many of the cases prolonged life would have been a more positive and better expression). The concept covers the fact that children with malignancies, for example solid tumor, may be kept alive for weeks and months and years because of modern treatment with cytostatica and radiation. Children with leukemia receive blood transfusions and medical treatment curing the illness in circa 50% of the children and prolonging life from one to five years among the rest of the children.