An opinion piece written by a physician that I found interesting and certainly thought provoking.
How Doctors Die « Zócalo Public Square
How Doctors Die « Zócalo Public Square
How Doctors Die
- Thread starter SLM
- Start date
This is the part that got me thinking,
simply because I'd never really contemplated before what the experience might be like. And I have to ask myself, do I want this to be my last memory?
It made me think of my grandmother who, in her last year of life, suffered a stroke and a weakening heart. Her lungs were constantly filling with fluids, it was distressful if not outright painful for her. On each trip to the hospital to deal with her breathing difficulties, she told everyone that there were to be no extraordinary/life saving measures. And there weren't. An hour after my son and I visited her in hospital, she passed. I'm grateful she didn't have to suffer through CPR, which in her state would have been nothing short of a violent assault upon her frail body.
simply because I'd never really contemplated before what the experience might be like. And I have to ask myself, do I want this to be my last memory?
It made me think of my grandmother who, in her last year of life, suffered a stroke and a weakening heart. Her lungs were constantly filling with fluids, it was distressful if not outright painful for her. On each trip to the hospital to deal with her breathing difficulties, she told everyone that there were to be no extraordinary/life saving measures. And there weren't. An hour after my son and I visited her in hospital, she passed. I'm grateful she didn't have to suffer through CPR, which in her state would have been nothing short of a violent assault upon her frail body.
I can relate to that, minutes before my Mum died at age 85 from heart problems she said to the nurse, "I want you to promise me that nothing will be done in an attempt to extend my life", and then she died peacefully. By the same token I'm sure I wouldn't let go that easily, I sort of believe that while there is (reasonable) life there is hope.
There's a hell of a lot of life in between heavy objects and assisted bodily functions. Anyway, it's not just about extraordinary measures, it's also about choices made when dealing with life threatening illnesses too. Easy to say to 'choose life' but sometimes the quality of life suffers depending upon the methods of treatment.
It's just a lot to think about. It's not an easy question, and to me, there are no easy answers.
Interesting.
Around here, and in other rural areas, there are shortages of doctors. So should we expect doctors not to retire? For as they swear an oath not to do harm, removing themselves from doctoring causes harm indirectly. And not seeking out the best treatments doctors can get to combat their own ailments, indirectly does the same thing.
