It would be interesting to see some actual research into this theory.
Maybe we go into medicine to figure out what death means. Kind of like how the kookiest docs go into psychiatry. I've never met a psychiatrist who didn't have mental illness of some kind.
True. From my limited private conversations with health professionals, I also understand that a certain percentage request that when the time comes, the dose of morphine be increased.
Going the route of least treatment can be the most humane, especially if it involves chemo and radical treatments, but every situation is different.
The flip side of this is when a patient is in a coma, and the patient’s stated wishes were that everything reasonable, including life support, be available. This would not include unreasonable major surgeries with a low chance of success.
My experience has been, at least at one major hospital, that when the patient had gone into a coma for only a FEW days, the doctors quickly went death panel on me and pushed to end all treatment.
The patient was my wife, 49, who had a stroke, and a brain tumor was found. The prognosis was bad, but her vital signs were good, and ending her life would have barred any chance for a miracle. Once in a coma, the doctors did pain tests and brain activity tests and found she felt no pain.
Yet they still pushed me to consider her “quality of life”, saying further treatment could be “cruel” and cause her to suffer. I refused to have the breathing tube removed, citing that since she was in a coma and out of pain, that no one could ascertain her quality of life, and that she indeed may be in a state of peace. She passed away on her own a few days later, 4 months ago. If I had followed the insistence of the doctors, I couldn’t have lived with the decision. So there’s many sides to these situations, and it can come down to a specific doctor’s philosophy or the patient’s, vs. the hospital. And sorry for the unpleasant post.
Coming from a family of docs, it is true in my family. Not only did my parents chose to forego treatment for their diseases but watching them allowed me to come to the same conclusion. I do not want to be poked and prodded and tested and medicated. What I want is comfort care. Palliative care if you will. Treat my pain so that I can continue to function in some reasonable level and then leave me be. Death is not so frightening as the alternatives that modern medicine often provides.
not with me as a subject, thanks. does anyone else notice
that if medical abandonment becomes routine, it will
happen earlier and earlier? those who actually have
diabetes might weigh in. I do know one elderly gentleman
who had an entirely successful operation for diabetic
complications (lost a toe) after age 80. Don’t believe
the dezo here. If no operations are done, no one will
know how to do any.