end of life care

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/05/60minutes/main6747002.shtml

I never used to watch 60 Minutes, but since Mark is a big fan of the show I have started watching it as we share the couch in the evening, and sometimes I do enjoy the shows a lot. I thought this show was EXCELLENT. It brought up a lot of important issues.

I completely agree with the main doctor interviewed. As Kafka said "the meaning of life is that is stops". I don't know why so many people are so terrified of death and will have their families and healthcare providers do EVERYTHING to keep them alive. I am all about saving people, and animals for that matter. After all, I am going in to a field where my job is going to be to save some of the sickest of our patients, to fix patients with cancer (notice I did not say cure), put dying animals on a ventilator, give dialysis to those in anuric renal failure, to crack chests and perform CPR to bring an animal back to life. I am supposed to do all those things in my career, and I love doing them, but for me it is all about quality of life. I have discussions with owners everyday about "I could do this, or that, or this to keep your pet alive, but what for? He or she has terminal cancer, and what type of life are we looking at if I am successful in saving your pet?" It's tough conversation, but a part of my job I love, connecting to people and explaining to them in the best way what is going on with their pet so they can make informed decisions.

So why can't we do that with people? There are many times in my job where I tell people "This is what I need to do to keep your pet alive, it might not work but it's the only chance, but why are we doing it? And is it the right choice?" Everyone will have to die eventually, and it can be hard to make those decisions for someone else, but it is also the right thing in so many situations.

I think it is terrible that so much of people's healthcare is spent on the last couple months of their lives, why not spend it earlier on preventative medicine, etc? And why are so many people so scared of dying that they will tell their healthcare provider to do ANYTHING to just "keep them alive as long as possible" at the end? Is live worth living when you have hepatic encephalopathy and are not coherent? or when you are on a ventilator? or when you are unable to walk, urinate, and defecate on your own? I guess everyone has to make that decision for themselves, but I know what my decision will be when I am old and debilitated or sick. I just hope laws can change more so that euthanasia is an option for people.