Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Jersey's hospitals reviewing how they treat dying patients
star ledger ^ | January 15, 2008 | CAROL ANN CAMPBELL

Posted on 01/18/2008 6:46:10 PM PST by Coleus

Top medical officials from around New Jersey plan to meet next month for talks that could profoundly change the way doctors and hospitals in the state treat dying patients. Many New Jerseyans at the end of life receive futile medical care, and studies show extremely high rates of hospitalizations, interventions and physician consultations for such patients even though they do not live longer or suffer less than patients in other states.

Hospitals' medical directors plan to meet Feb. 13 at the New Jersey Hospital Association in Princeton to take on the issue. "We can do a good job of resuscitating people and putting them on ventilators," said Aline Holmes, the NJHA's senior vice president of clinical affairs. "But when we know they can't go home, we have to do a better job of talking to families and patients about what it all means."

The meeting, which also will involve ethics experts from the Medical Society of New Jersey, is coming two months after a series of reports in The Star-Ledger on the treatment of dying patients. The two-day series, called "New Jersey's High Cost of Dying," chronicled several families who said their loved ones were subjected to painful and unnecessary medical interventions in their final days. The series also examined several studies, particularly one by the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in New Hampshire, that showed Medicare patients in New Jersey undergo more tests, see more doctors and endure more procedures at the end of life than patients in any other state.

Since then, the trustees of the New Jersey Hospital Association have asked the association's ICU Collaborative, a group of intensive care experts from 35 hospitals, to examine ways to end futile care for terminally ill patients.

(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 01/18/2008 6:46:13 PM PST by Coleus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: AliVeritas

Well, what’s to say.


2 posted on 01/18/2008 6:48:23 PM PST by Bahbah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bahbah

Euthanasia?


3 posted on 01/18/2008 6:52:21 PM PST by doc1019 (Rabbit and the Hare … Fred ‘08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Coleus

Another fine example of how we’ve got to ban certain “worthless” people from receiving medical care because the supply of medical care is not keeping pace with the growth in demand.


4 posted on 01/18/2008 6:52:44 PM PST by Brilliant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Coleus

bump to myself. I’ll have end of life comments later.


5 posted on 01/18/2008 6:57:18 PM PST by Judith Anne (I have no idea what to put here. Not a clue.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Coleus

Cool, this will help out with rising medical costs, social security, and the burden on the families.

Next let’s see about the disabled who will never be able to live a normal live, why spend there? We can eliminate the very dumb, “lifer” welfare recipients, why not?

Might as well do the right thing and knock them out before they are born.


6 posted on 01/18/2008 6:59:44 PM PST by AbeKrieger (There is a special place in Hell for Lyndon Johnson.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

Liberal logic:

Once a person is beyond the age when they can contribute monetarily to the system, why keep them alive? There is no government incentive. From the last point of productivity until their death, they become a burden.


7 posted on 01/18/2008 7:02:18 PM PST by doc1019 (Rabbit and the Hare … Fred ‘08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Coleus

Yo, Jersey, that’s why there’s hospice.


8 posted on 01/18/2008 7:09:43 PM PST by swmobuffalo (The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: doc1019

This is such a joke.We just went through hell trying to save the life of a woman’s mother.They just stopped all care-in New Jersey.Her mother walked into the hospital and was dead 2 weeks later.For anyone reading this go to Priestsforlife.org for your state to get the paperwork for when you go in the hospital.


9 posted on 01/18/2008 7:11:29 PM PST by fatima (Free Hugs for Martin Luther King Day :))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: swmobuffalo

Beat me to it.


10 posted on 01/18/2008 7:27:05 PM PST by squidly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Coleus
Jersey's hospitals reviewing how they treat dying patients

Slightly different headline here in swimmer country:

Bay State's Polling Places Reviewing How They Treat Dead Voters

11 posted on 01/18/2008 7:37:22 PM PST by C210N (The television has mounted the most serious assault on Republicanism since Das Kapital.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 8mmMauser

.


12 posted on 01/18/2008 8:06:13 PM PST by Coleus (Abortion and Euthanasia, Don't Democrats just kill ya?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Coleus

“Quality of life” was the catch phrase our mother’s doctor liked to use to try to get us to approve cessation of care for her at ninety-two - as in “she has no more quality of life”, even though she still seemed to enjoy music and recognize some of us occasionally through her dementia - we finally gave approval when she fell and broke her hip, figuring the recovery process would be too long, difficult, and painful for her - not an easy decision, and I still wonder some times.......


13 posted on 01/18/2008 9:18:06 PM PST by Intolerant in NJ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Coleus
Pinged from Terri Dailies

8mm


14 posted on 01/19/2008 3:53:28 AM PST by 8mmMauser (Jezu ufam tobie...Jesus I trust in Thee)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson