Terminally Ill Patients: Doctors & Loved Ones Often Disagree On How Much Time Is Left, Study Finds

Having loved ones who are considered by doctors as terminally ill patients is one of the most heartbreaking things to experience for most people. A new research shows that people often disagree with doctors about how much time their loved ones have left.

The research -- published in Journal of the American Medical Association --- shows that more than half of the 229 studied cases of terminally ill patients had loved ones who were more optimistic than the doctors. So what is causing this optimism in the patients' loved ones?

The loved ones of the terminally ill patients display more optimism because they feel that this attitude can help the patients recover and feel more positive, lead author Dr. Douglas White told U.S. News. Many of the loved ones also have religious and spiritual beliefs about a divine power that can perform miracles for the terminally ill patients.

Editors’ Picks - Coping with Mortality series looks at our fear of death and how to cope with the dying process https://t.co/5E70lWwDfO

— Conversation Africa (@TC_Africa) May 16, 2016

"Doctors should be aware of everything that may go into a surrogate decision maker's thinking when conveying a prognosis and laying out potential care options," White added. There are also some loved ones who are in self-denial in order to protect their minds from total heartbreak. "They just don't want to hear what we said and how we said it." Saint-Louis Hospital ICU deputy director Dr. Elie Azoulay explained to U.S. News.

The study involved surveying 229 people who have experienced serving as decision makers for 174 terminally ill patients at the intensive care unit of the San Francisco Medical Center between the years 2005 and 2009. The study participants were asked to estimate their loved ones' chances of surviving their condition on a scale of one to 100.

When the researchers compared the loved ones' scores to the doctors' scores, they found out that the loved ones' scores are at least 20 percent higher 53 percent of the time. The survey results also show that the reasons for the optimism of the loved ones of the terminally-ill patients are religious convictions and their belief that it can help the patients survive.

There are different ways for people to comfort their loved ones who are considered as terminally ill patients. These include being physically present as much as possible, exploring each other's feelings, sharing memories with each other and accepting feelings of grief, according to Mayo Clinic.