From a JAMA embargo release:
Many of us think that the terminally ill can postpone their deaths so that
they can see a relative, experience their last birthday or enjoy a special
holiday – sadly, this is a myth, according to a new study.The study looked at the records of 300,000 cancer patients who died in
Ohio, USA, between 1989-2000. The study found that they did not have the
ability, or the desire, to wait till after Christmas, their birthdays or
Thanksgiving before they died.“For Christmas, Thanksgiving, or the individual’s birthday, during the
12-year period there was no significant difference in the proportion of
patients dying in the week after the event compared with the proportion
dying in the week before the event,” the researchers write. “Although
overall birthday data showed no effect, women dying of cancer were more
likely to die during the week before their birthday compared with the
following week. Men showed no significant differences. In no subgroup was a
statistically significant decrease of deaths observed in the week before the
event.”“Although we cannot eliminate the possibility that a small number of dying
cancer patients have the ability to control the timing of their death, the
proportion would have to be much smaller than that previously reported,” the
authors write. ” analysis of thousands of cancer deaths shows no pattern
to support the concept that ‘death takes a holiday.'”
-Dominic Sisti [from MCW]
Labels: death, JAMA, myths, terminal illness