Disagree. When an ethical doctor and his peers know that death is inevitable(within a certain time frame) I see nothing wrong with this approach. That was the deal with my 84 year old mother, who, dying of cancer was told that chemo would give her a year, while palliative care would give her six more or less pain free months. She lasted seven decent, coherent months that allowed her to make peace in her life instead of puking her guts out for a year.
I agree with you comments 100%. It was the choice your mom made. My mom, who passed away at 85, made clear to me what she wanted for end of life treatment. I did what she wanted. In her case at 100 pounds she did not want dialysis that would give her a few hours or days of extra life.
She went peaceably in her sleep.
I am very sorry about your mother’s passing.
But I have to respectfully disagree with you. This article, in my opinion, is painting a picture that’s not accurate. The first clue should be when it refers to death panels as imaginary. Yeah right. Tell that to the Weimar Republic.
Buck, thank you for posting that. It wasn’t until one of the nurses explained to me how painfully difficult it was to my mom to have the further treatments she was receiving that they ceased. But it was a battle with another famiy member who wasn’t about to second guess the doctors.
The hard part is the family members IMO. When you have one who is the “appointed” one to correspond with the Dr’s etc.... Who doesn’t always have their hands on the pulse of the matters,.... it makes it difficult for other family members who want those ill to be as comfortable as possible..especially when death is so close to their door.
I was prepared to take leave of my work so my mother could be home, where she wanted to be, instead of the hospital. I was out-numbered and out-voted. So she remained in the hospital for over a month going thru one course of treatment after another. Once they stop the hospital wants you to move them into nursing home care.
She ended up leaving this world once she knew the family was preparing to have her transfered to a nursing home...and I can’t say I didn’t blame her a bit! She was sone and she knew it...and so did I.
I wouldn’t mind the aggressive care if hospitals paid equal attention to pain control and comfort, but my experience is that they are incredibly stingy with pain meds. My friend’s mother went through hell as the doctors very aggressively battled her myriad of health problems. But they weren’t interested in making her comfortable or pain-free. They resusitated, intubated, and operated briskly, but they handed out pain meds like it was coming out of their own pocket. Finally they transitioned over to hospice care, and that ended. Hospice gives you all the pain meds you want.
That is what my mom opted for, they said chemo might buy her a few months. She chose to do nothing, and when it got bad, she went on Hospice Care. They kept her comfortable as possible with the pain.
Every one should have a living will, and have it on file with your doctor, as well as letting your family know your wishes.
most of us actually recommend a palliative approach for the dying, or for those with “multisystem failure” where everything is slowly going, and you know if you fix one problem another one will crash.
This is not the same as euthanasia, because I’ve seen such patients recover and do well for another few months, and they are a lot more comfortable.
The real problem is when we have a person who could recover or live for months with aggressive treatment...then he ends up dying and we are the bad guys.