Religious support tied to intensive end-of-life care

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People with advanced cancer tend to get more aggressive care at the end of life and spend more time in the intensive care unit if they receive spiritual support from their religious communities, according to a new study. The report’s lead researcher said that finding was “quite the opposite” of what her team was expecting – in part because of evidence that spiritual support coming from within a patient’s medical team leads to less aggressive care and more use of hospice. …