Friday, October 12, 2007
Its God's job, let him do it.
When my time is up I ask that you let me go. As I lay in a bed unable to feed myself, am wearing a diaper becaues I cannot hold anything, and more so, if I can't get aroused without an implant to hold things up...Its time for me to move on. And for the record, wiskey dick does not count. People who cannot let loved ones pass on because they cannot let go or have some other issues that make them put their loved ones through such torture is beyond me. We in health care have the ability to perform great things. This comes with a price. That price includes pain and suffering, humilliation, and degradation. First off, everything we do hurts. From blood draws to surgeries, and on to many other invasive procedures. Sadists, each and every one of us. To acomplish this we strip you of your clothing, watch you while you do this, inspect every inch of you and then document it all for the next person to review and do themselves for comparison. What fun you say. Now in the end we discuss these findings with you and the "loved ones" you let listen in and proceed to give you a course of action. Yet again more pain and suffering, inspecting and discussion. Then as you, the topic of this discussion, are no longer able to understand the conversation and make sound judgements reguarding your health, you are assigned a guardian or your family gets to shout it out and take control. This usually where I see people who have not let nature take its course. Yes we can put you on a ventilator and breathe for you. But if you have no ability to talk anymore due to a stroke, whats the point. And why place a feeding tube to porvide you nutrition when you will never again be able to sit up at a table and taste the food passing by your tongue. This is not how medicine was meant to be. It is a process in which can help a person get over an ailment not live forever. Medicine may , very well, catch up to a science fiction view and be able to cure all in a wave of a machine or by the " magic" pill. But we are not there yet. Some day. untill then when its time to go, its time to go. Stop the torture and let your loved ones rest in peace. That is all they truly want.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Because my friend we are selfish...and in many cases the psychological war between dealing with the loss and letting people go is often decided by our own needs, not theirs.
I have often pondered the same things. I have sat and typed reports where doctors refuse to give up hope. "Well, we can try this and we can try this, and there's a chance they could get off of the respirator, might be able to get off the feeding tube, etc". THEY are often the reason families choose to put their loved ones through this process. As a doctor, they usually see it as their responsibility per the oath they take to prolong lives, and sometimes way longer than they should be. I have sat there and wondered what the hell these docs are doing. Many of us are often confused between whether we are "killing" someone versus "letting them go" and letting nature take it's course. Although it is not the same thing as seeing a person bleeding to death and just watching instead of doing something (this, would technically be letting nature takes its course), families are often stuck with the same sort of dilemma in their minds. And then you add the difficulty of saying goodbye to someone you love so much, it all becomes muddled. I have actually typed a report where the patient's family was saying goodbye to him at the bedside and in the middle of it he regained consciousness and recovered and walked out of the hospital. So what we want is to know that that's not going to happen. We want to know there's no hope, absolutely no hope because to have someone's unnecessary death on our conscience is more than the average human being can handle. However, I am seeing the trend lately between patients, families, and doctors agreeing that when it comes to that point, they want it to be over and their decision to call it quits at that point are being addressed, observed, and respected. We do not have funerals for the dead - we have them for the living. The same can be said for this. I can only hope that when it is my time I will get to take my dignity with me and leave this world on God's schedule, not anyone elses.
I stopped by to say I enjoyed sharing dinner last weekend, but in reading your entry, all I can say is I have experienced these same feelings. I've seen it as a healthcare worker and I've seen it as I said goodbye to my grandparents. Truly the more we love, the more we have to let go. Karen
Post a Comment