Till death do us part

Recently our intensive care unit was asked to organise two “emergency marriages” in the space of a week, reminding us that the most important wish of dying patients may be one we are ill prepared to ask about. Discussions about the wishes of patients and families regarding care at the end of life are commonplace in critical care, but the desire for marriage in a couple dealing with terminal illness is more common than we expect. Marriage may have the power to help meet some of the spiritual and emotional needs of dying patients and …