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End of life care

WFU71

WFU71

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There have been several recent articles about how we, as individuals and a society, should deal with death and dying. The combination of cost per person for end of life care, the coming wave of aging boomers and the need for a more compassionate view of how to deal with the inevitable is going lead to changes.

Here a few articles:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/07/brittany-maynard-death-with-dignity-newser/16851903/

Ihttp://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/06/expanding-the-right-to-die/oregon-shows-that-assisted-suicide-can-work-sensibly-and-fairly

http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21621688-too-many-old-people-developed-world-end-their-lives-hospital-hooked-up

Any thoughts?
 
I thought this thread was about a new nickname for the ACA.
 
I always felt that if I was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor or something like that I would just take a lethal dose of heroin and take myself out like the woman in the first article. Glad we are coming around on assisted suicide laws it appears.
 
WakeandBake said:
I always felt that if I was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor or something like that I would just take a lethal dose of heroin and take myself out like the woman in the first article. Glad we are coming around on assisted suicide laws it appears.
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That's what Dr. McCoy did for his father. Six months later they found a cure.
 
It's a very sensitive topic. We have to be careful not to blur the lines where a physician is seen as something beyond a healer. We need to make sure pts never question our motives. That being said, my own thoughts are similar to the article above. Many times the things we do for people in end of life care are not things I'd want done for myself. I have a much better grasp on the way a disease will generally progress than pts do. While doing nothing is sometimes hard to offer, I think it can be very rewarding for me and the pt. I'm also a firm believer in dying with dignity. When the end is clear, I have no issue with assisting that process. We as a society have to move away from our fear of death and make end of life care a bigger priority. My hospital in residency had an excellent palliative care team and I think pts really, really benefited from those discussions and that process.
 
Shorty said:
That's what Dr. McCoy did for his father. Six months later they found a cure.
Click to expand...

Would he have lived out the 6 months? I don' t understand your point. Hang on through pain and suffering and massive expense and heartache to your family in hopes of a cure no matter what?
 
WakeandBake said:
Would he have lived out the 6 months? I don' t understand your point. Hang on through pain and suffering and massive expense and heartache to your family in hopes of a cure no matter what?
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Since both Dr. McCoy and his father are fictional characters, I couldn't really say whether he would have lived out the six months or not. I guess it would have been up to the writers of Star Trek.
 
the implication was that he would've been cured and his quality of life restored, so Bones felt guilty forever about it
 
BacktoBack said:
It's a very sensitive topic. We have to be careful not to blur the lines where a physician is seen as something beyond a healer. We need to make sure pts never question our motives. That being said, my own thoughts are similar to the article above. Many times the things we do for people in end of life care are not things I'd want done for myself. I have a much better grasp on the way a disease will generally progress than pts do. While doing nothing is sometimes hard to offer, I think it can be very rewarding for me and the pt. I'm also a firm believer in dying with dignity. When the end is clear, I have no issue with assisting that process. We as a society have to move away from our fear of death and make end of life care a bigger priority. My hospital in residency had an excellent palliative care team and I think pts really, really benefited from those discussions and that process.
Click to expand...

Nailed it!
 
Shorty said:
Since both Dr. McCoy and his father are fictional characters, I couldn't really say whether he would have lived out the six months or not. I guess it would have been up to the writers of Star Trek.
Click to expand...

:tard:
 
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