Palliative care

[Soapcat]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/health/04doctor.html?src=me&ref=health

I am personally very much interested in palliative care and this article seems to provide important insights into the field, especially as doctors.

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[docelh]

Am I the only person who saw a disconnect in her integrity?

She is counseling end-of-life patients to let go, people who very well may have wanted to fight on.

 

[armybound]

Am I the only person who saw a disconnect in her integrity?

She is counseling end-of-life patients to let go, people who very well may have wanted to fight on.

I think that's ultimately the lesson to get from this article. You have to remember to put yourself in patients' shoes every once in a while to understand what they might want.

 

[loveoforganic]

Interesting read.

 

[wolfiemd]

should a doctor necessarily practice what he/she preaches?

 

[docelh]

You mean like the fat doctor treating his diabetes patients?

 

[FloatOn]

If you haven't already, I recommend reading Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality by Pauline Chen. It helped me realize that there is a very blurred line between exhausting all treatment options and accepting that as humans, we are impermanent. The book definitely makes you look at medicine and your motives for it differently.

End-of-life care in the US still has a long way to go in terms of providing patients adequate resources and the emotional support that they need, so good for you for being interested in it.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Am I the only person who saw a disconnect in her integrity?

She is counseling end-of-life patients to let go, people who very well may have wanted to fight on.

The role of a palliative care physician is not to convince people to "let go" but to put that option on the table, let the patient decide, and provide resources to ease suffering regardless of what the patient chooses. She was free to choose aggressive therapy, as are any of her patients.

I think the article is written to make people see that kind of disconnect, but I don't think it's there.

 

[docelh]

The role of a palliative care physician is not to convince people to "let go" but to put that option on the table, let the patient decide, and provide resources to ease suffering regardless of what the patient chooses. She was free to choose aggressive therapy, as are any of her patients.

I think the article is written to make people see that kind of disconnect, but I don't think it's there.

I see. Thanks for the clarification.

In a part of the article, the writer suggests the self-conflict and contradiction the physician had, given her own personal choice versus what she had to do in her job. If her patient voluntarily decided to choose the palliative option, I can't see why she should feel conflicted. But that's just the way I roll, I guess.

 

[devilpup]

The role of a palliative care physician is not to convince people to "let go" but to put that option on the table, let the patient decide, and provide resources to ease suffering regardless of what the patient chooses. She was free to choose aggressive therapy, as are any of her patients.

Ditto.

In regards to putting options on the table and letting patients decide, why are we still putting physician-assisted suicide off the table in most States?

Physician-Assisted Suicide or Palliative care- why not both...

 

[LizzyM]

I felt sad knowing that she had such miserable final days due to her refusal to accept the cards dealt her... but 40 is so very young so I can see her desire to fight and fight.

What astonished me about this story was the fact that she was diagnosed abroad in a country with a much different culture (her husband was working there and she went to visit and got a medical check-up in order to apply for a visa to extend her visit) and so it was her husband who was provided the information and who relayed treatment decisions to the doctors who were caring for her. She liked this so much that she insisted that her doctors in the States operate in the same manner. Her husband (who it seems was in finance, not medicine) would tell her only what she needed to know to make the decision immediately before them. It seems very odd. I wonder how much of what was wrong with her was downplayed and if she really had incomplete information on type, stage and prognosis.

It is an article that is very much worth your time.

 

[Lokhtar]

Great article.

 

[boko]

thanks for the article. i def have a new perspective of death and dying, from both the patient perspective and the physician perspective.