Here’s an interesting blog post from Marti Hand, RN, Artist, Advocate for creativity and the arts in healthcare. It is [her] belief that medical treament is fully effective only when the whole person is being treated - body, mind, spirit, emotions.

She writes about a study that showed that patients who rely heavily on their religious faith were 3 times more likely to want intensive, invasive medical procedures like cpr when their hearts stop or being connected to a ventilator (breathing machine). They also made fewer preparations for death, such as living wills, giving someone power of attorney, or filling out a “do not resuscitate” forms.

My colleague Corey Kilgannon recently profiled Ms. Volkening’s artistic journey through cancer. She began sketching in the hospital about 18 months ago. Ms. Volkening has stopped medical treatment, after being told that it would give her some more time but leave her too weak to paint.