Just a Man and His Dogs

cranquis:

Powerful article, with insight on how many doctors refuse to receive the very life-prolonging (but NOT life-improving) interventions which they feel “pushed” to provide for many terminal/critically-ill patients.

Personally, I’m “No Code”, and ever since med-school ICU rotations, I’ve often spoken with my medical colleagues about my mental list of conditions for which “If I had X diagnosis or X medical situation, just let me die.” Who has two thumbs and isn’t going to die riding a ventilator? THIS DOC.

Furthermore, I strongly believe that we (Americans and the US healthcare system) do not utilize Hospice Care soon enough/often enough for terminally ill people. The average American terminally-ill patient is enrolled in hospice less than 48 hours before he/she dies… yet doctors can certify a patient to receive hospice services if the doctor just thinks that it would be “reasonable to expect that this patient could pass away from a medical condition within the next 6 months.” And as this article states, many hospice patients have longer QUANTITY of Life, along with infinitely-greater Quality of Life, while on hospice.

/rant

Thanks for the heads-up on this article, doctom666! 

we had a lecture from a Hospice director and its scary how little education goes on in med school (any other school) when it comes to end of life care.  Hospice is a wonderful organization that really picks up where conventional medicine lets off