Extra care required when dying parents have young kids

By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - End-of-life care for parents of young children may need to include additional support services that help the entire family cope with terminal illness, a recent study suggests. While all families may struggle when a loved one is dying, parenting duties can create an added layer of emotional stress and complicate efforts to comfort patients at the end of life, researchers note in the journal BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care. “What is unique about patients with young children is the extraordinary psychological suffering related to parenting,” said lead study author Dr. Eliza Park, a psychiatry researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.