Writer Atul Gawande (writer ofLog In) appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In announcing that Gawande would be on the show, Stewart fell into the trap of 'believing that "medicine" is what matters in the medical field' (when I'm sure you know that 'the human immune-system' is what keeps a human healthy, and medicine is only a "crutch" to be used while the system does its work). That truth ... wasn't even addressed in the interview. What they talked about was 'the practice of treating patients as machines that doctors HAVE to keep running (no matter how unpleasant the life is to the person who's living)---how they are starting more-&-more to give the patients themselves a say in whether-or-not to keep living.' Does this mean that doctors who lose patients will be seen as 'Kevorkians'? (What was the decision in Kevorkian's case? Was he convicted of murder?) Or will doctors whose patients live-in-suffering be seen as tyrannical punishers?
There's a branch of medicine now, Hospice and Palliative Care, that specializes in pain relief. My grandmother had a successful operation in January one year when she was almost 80. Successful in that a surgery that had a low chance of success and of her surviving, she survived. Not only did she survive, but she woke up. Unfortunately, she had post-op infections, lost a ton of weight in the medically induced coma, was as weak as a baby, and her kidneys no longer worked properly so she had to be on dialysis, which was very painful for her. One thing after another happened, causing setbacks. By then, her surgeon had declared his part a success and transfered her care to others. Those doctors sentenced her to even more treatments and a long slow rehab, which her children bullied her into accepting. She talked about how they were torturing her and she didn't want to go through any more. It was heartbreaking. I talked to a nurse when she told me about it. The nurse called social work. Social work called palliative care. The doc from palliative care talked to her about what level of recovery would be acceptable to her and got her some better pain medications. She LISTENED most of all. My grandmother decided to try long term rehab one more time but if they wanted to send her back to acute care at the hospital again, she was done. Eventually, she chose to discontinue dialysis and go into hospice care. She was happier her last month in the home-like hospice house setting than in the two months of "torture" in the hospital. About 6 months after her death, her main surgeon contacted my mother, looking for an update to see how the case had finished out, was she home or in a nursing facility. When told she had discontinued dialysis and chosen hospice, the surgeon was surprised. Mom said he was angry she had given up. I suspect he was writing a paper about the surgery (only the 6th one of that type they had done and the only one in an emergency situation and on someone so old) and wanted to point to her as a success. For him, she was. But for her, it wasn't a success. She said many times that she wished she hadn't survived the surgery, wished she had never gone to the hospital that day and just died at home. I think the doctors don't hear enough of that type of story. The ones who think about quality of life vs quantity seem very few and far between.
Doctors and family members who may be interested in having their loved one stay around for as long as it takes need take into consideration that person's quality of life. Will they be enjoying their life? If all that is before them is pain and nothing more, doctors need to end that person's misery. It doesn't necessarily mean going for euthanasia. Get them off life-support machines and let their life end . . . naturally.
It is indeed a fact that living well can actually result in a longer life. The minds of individuals have a lot to do with their overall well being and if we feel as if we are having a wholesome and well enjoyed time here then most times it is reflected in our health.
Honestly this is such a controversial topic - everyone has their own opinion which is why the policy will never change. Personally i think that if a person is deemed suffering and is known to be living in pain that cannot comfortably be managed to improve the quality of life - the patient should have the option to end his or her own life with medical assistance if they choose.
