Khan
Gone but not forgotten
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2006
- Messages
- 6,924
Please, that's what I want.
How doctors die, not like the rest of us !
- Thread starter frayne
- Start date
Please, that's what I want.
bruce1
Full time employment: Posting here.
I am with you.
DAYDREAMER
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2008
- Messages
- 413
After watching my mom this past year struggle with getting meds balanced due to congestive heart failure/low kidney function etc, there is something to be said about quality of life. Not much quality, when you are always sick and struggle to do everything. Thank god the doctors have her at a chemical balance she can deal with now. I'm glad we've had this last year to talk with her, and mentally prepare for the next step.
Today, if she fell on the floor not breathing, I definitely would go make that pot of coffee before calling 911. And she agrees. I think we are more humane to our pets than we are to ourselves.
Today, if she fell on the floor not breathing, I definitely would go make that pot of coffee before calling 911. And she agrees. I think we are more humane to our pets than we are to ourselves.
Over the last couple of years our 3 remaining parents died, and fortunately we had no decisions to make.
MIL died quickly and there were no options. FIL, from being extremely fit (at age 85), suddenly suffered multiple falls, was taken into hospital and found to be at an advanced stage of an agressive form of lymphoma, the falls being caused by tumors in the spinal column. His condition deterioated quickly and although he was offered chemotherapy he declined since the oncologist said that the best he could hope for would be a few weeks, or possibly months, of extended life but no chance of leaving the hospital. The next morning he had his breakfast then passed away.
A few months earlier my father (84) had collapsed at home and been blue-lighted to the ER where he was diagnosed as having an Abdominal Aortic Anneuyrism which was leaking. The doctors said surgery was an option with a 50/50 chance of survival but he firmly refused that option. He died the next morning after breakfast just after the nurse went out to get him an extra slice of toast.
Back in '95 my mother was receiving treatment for cancer (MEN II) and after a visit to the hospital she and Dad decided that since it was lunchtime they would eat at the hospital cafeteria rather than go straight home. They had collected their food and sat down at the table when my mother said she felt faint and slid to the floor. Her heart had stopped, but there were plenty of medical staff available and they called for a "crash cart", put the paddles on and shocked her back to life. The following 6 months were totally miserable and she died at home, completely out of this world on morphine for the pain. (She did not have a DNR order in place).
MIL died quickly and there were no options. FIL, from being extremely fit (at age 85), suddenly suffered multiple falls, was taken into hospital and found to be at an advanced stage of an agressive form of lymphoma, the falls being caused by tumors in the spinal column. His condition deterioated quickly and although he was offered chemotherapy he declined since the oncologist said that the best he could hope for would be a few weeks, or possibly months, of extended life but no chance of leaving the hospital. The next morning he had his breakfast then passed away.
A few months earlier my father (84) had collapsed at home and been blue-lighted to the ER where he was diagnosed as having an Abdominal Aortic Anneuyrism which was leaking. The doctors said surgery was an option with a 50/50 chance of survival but he firmly refused that option. He died the next morning after breakfast just after the nurse went out to get him an extra slice of toast.
Back in '95 my mother was receiving treatment for cancer (MEN II) and after a visit to the hospital she and Dad decided that since it was lunchtime they would eat at the hospital cafeteria rather than go straight home. They had collected their food and sat down at the table when my mother said she felt faint and slid to the floor. Her heart had stopped, but there were plenty of medical staff available and they called for a "crash cart", put the paddles on and shocked her back to life. The following 6 months were totally miserable and she died at home, completely out of this world on morphine for the pain. (She did not have a DNR order in place).
Htown Harry
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- May 13, 2007
- Messages
- 1,525
Essayist Ezra Klein mentions the Murray paper in this piece advocating wider use of living wills:
Don
"...living wills should be standard: to ease the burden on families and medical professionals who are otherwise left trying to guess the wishes of a patient who is no longer capable of making decisions...
What doctors know is that sooner or later, everyone who dies under the supervision of medical professionals comes face to face with a death panel. Eventually, life-or-death decisions need to be made. Without a living will, a panel -- perhaps made up of family members, perhaps not -- makes crucial decisions without the patient’s input. With one, the patient has a say. It’s long past time for Medicare to encourage patients to recognize that reality, and to plan for it, rather than leave it as an awful surprise for the very end."
Don
"...living wills should be standard: to ease the burden on families and medical professionals who are otherwise left trying to guess the wishes of a patient who is no longer capable of making decisions...
What doctors know is that sooner or later, everyone who dies under the supervision of medical professionals comes face to face with a death panel. Eventually, life-or-death decisions need to be made. Without a living will, a panel -- perhaps made up of family members, perhaps not -- makes crucial decisions without the patient’s input. With one, the patient has a say. It’s long past time for Medicare to encourage patients to recognize that reality, and to plan for it, rather than leave it as an awful surprise for the very end."
