Gary Jones was dying of cancer, but McCullough detected another condition that he has seen more frequently in recent years: latent post-traumatic stress disorder afflicting dying veterans as they confront unresolved war memories, some for the first time.
McCullough is part of a new national program that offers terminally ill veterans honor and emotional healing. The program, We Honor Veterans, trains hospice workers to serve dying veterans by helping them die peacefully and with pride in their service.
The need to treat end-of life angst such as PTSD is rising as more Vietnam veterans enter hospice care.
“Vietnam veterans are dying earlier in their lives than the WWII veterans, partly because of the chemicals they were exposed to in Vietnam,” Zuberbueler said.
More often than any other veterans, hospices say, Vietnam veterans suffer in spirit as their lives wane because of their hostile reception upon returning home. Deathbed anxiety occurs in obvious cases, where the veterans never recovered, said Christian Sinclair, Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care’s associate medical director.
Decades later, in a worn recliner that would soon become his deathbed, those visions seemed more vivid than ever. They left Jones with a question: Do you think God can forgive me for what I’ve done?
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