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People know when they are going to die.
They are tired of suffering. They are ready to leave the misery behind.
In reality, what is there to look forward to?
I suppose you could pass their feelings along to a social worker or clergy if they are religious.
I have reported these sort of comments to my supervisor. Pastoral Care services or Psychology is then usually summoned.
Sometimes it is fear - especially fear of pain. Good hospice care can help tremendously. Sometimes it is grief & counselling helps. There are many reasons.
But take it seriously.
"If a person in a nurse’s care expresses a wish to die, the nurse should consider it “an opportunity to open a dialogue. Such comments might be transient, the result of a temporary distress or an expression of suffering due to unmet needs”that could be treated or addressed. The role of the nurse is to identify and alleviate the factors prompting such requests, whether these stem from physical symptoms like pain or are related to anxiety or fear. Nurses have an obligation to try to understand the person’s request and to bring in appropriate resources to address unmet needs. Nurses are accountable and responsible for listening to and acknowledging the suffering of every person in their care since failure to do so can increase suffering unnecessarily"
https://www.cna-aiic.ca/~/media/cna/page-content/pdf-en/cna-national-nursing-framework-on-maid.pdf
Although this is directed at RN's and NP's I think that front line caregivers are an integral part of the care team and are no doubt the people who know the client's needs better than anyone, if there is an unmet need there should be a process in place to report it.
If the "like this" part is not so obvious, ask gentle questions about what the client is finding difficult. It may be possible to assist a change in perspective.
Widen the discussion and encourage the client to express feelings, which you then acknowledge and validate.
Does this particular client, if you're talking about one in particular, have any realistic prospect of improvements in quality of life?
There are probably two lines to look at. Is the person you are caring for being kept alive by drugs that prolong life but don’t provide quality? If so, has the option of hospice been discussed? Hospice will aim for quality of life but not to prolong it if the person doesn’t wish it. For many older people blood pressure drugs and cholesterol drugs are the ‘prolongers’, but there may be others.
The other thing to consider is whether the person is depressed and that is the main reason for the wish to die. If so, different medications might help. Most suicide phone lines will also help to talk a person through this. Wishing to die can be ‘a permanent solution to a temporary problem’.
Perhaps your knowledge could be helpful to the family, but it will probably not go down well if you try to talk it through yourself with the person you are caring for. It’s a tricky situation, when you obviously care yourself.