Terminally ill 'unprepared for death'

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OUR "obsession" with curing sickness is leaving some terminally ill patients poorly cared for and unprepared for death, a new report says.

Seven out 10 Australians die an "expected death" with doctors able to accurately predict the length of time they have left.

But now a small group of medical professionals suggest some doctors are afraid to tell patients they are dying, and as a result are prescribing unsuitable care.

"I think a lot of doctors find it very hard to say: `You're dying'," says Dr Richard Chye, director of Sacred Heart Palliative Care Unit, at Sydney's St Vincent's Public Hospital.

"It's not easy for doctors to actually say: `No, I can't give you any more treatment'."

"I tell my patients: `I know I cannot cure you, but I can make you feel better. I will walk with you'."

Professor Ken Hillman, from the University of NSW, says too many very ill patients end up in acute-care hospital wards when, in fact, they would be better off in other settings to die peacefully.

"We want to look after them. We want to cure them. And in doing so we've set up a situation where it's difficult to die peacefully," Prof Hillman said.

The issue is examined in a new series of the ABC's Four Corners program.

Reporter Deb Masters spent 10 weeks following four terminally ill patients at Sacred Heart over the Christmas and new year period for the program.

It concludes that palliative care must be accepted as an "integral part of medicine" and "resourced appropriately".

The Four Corners program, entitled A Good Death, airs on ABC1 at 8.30pm (AEDT) on Monday.