Homepage > Cancer Support > DSTW Transition Centre - Journey towards end of life > Deciding To Forego Treatment
Deciding to stop treatment is not one decision. There are many types of treatment and hence, many decisions patients make about the care they want. Whatever the decisions about unwanted treatments, everyone still has the right to be as comfortable as possible. It is important to ask for what is needed to be comfortable. For example, many cancer patients have pain. It is important to ask for pain medication to treat the pain and prevent it, whether you are getting any other treatment or not.

Treatments people decide they do not want include:
Surgery
Radiation therapy
Chemotherapy
IV fluids or tube feedings
Medications

Deciding to stop or not have a treatment can be controversial. Patients have to decide what is best for them and their family. Discuss the pros and cons of each type of treatment as it relates to your cancer at any given point in time with your health care providers.

Be prepared with other support sources when chemotherapy or radiation treatment stops .

When chemotherapy or radiation treatments end or are discontinued, frequent visits to the doctor’s office, clinic, or hospital decrease too. This is a hard time for patients and their family. You do not get to see the treatment team as often. They may have been an important lifeline during difficult times. You can become overwhelmed if you try to face this new transition alone. Ask for support from your family, friends, church, or other cancer patients through this difficult time.

Advance Directives and DNRs

Make sure that your family and your medical team is clear about how you want to proceed with your care. This may entail writing an “advance directive.” Also called a “living will,” an advance directive is an important legal document used to express your wishes about end of life care. In an advance directive you document the care you do or do not want, who will make decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself, and how the decisions will be carried out.

You may make the decision that you do not want resuscitation. Your doctor will write at the patient or family’s direction a DNR order. DNR stands for “Do Not Resuscitate”. This means if you stop breathing or your heart stops, doctors and nurses will not perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to get your heart beating again.