From
Deseret News, "How will I die: the high cost of death"
This article is part 5 of a 5 part series (there are links to the others on their
page.) They are very interesting and worthwhile!
Here's the link:
www.deseretnews.com/article/765555271/How-will-I-die-The-high-cost-of-death.html
Suggested by Amy Madigan-Dube
From
Hospice News Network, sent weekly to the
Pine Tree Hospice office.
DOCTOR EXAMINES "UNREALISTIC ATTITUDES” ABOUT DEATH
Dr. Craig Bowron, Minnesota hospital-based internist, wrote an article published
in The Washington Post. Bowron begins his article about attitudes toward death
with a discussion of an elderly person with multiple chronic conditions admitted
through the ER. Of people in that condition, Bowron says, “The potential
complications of any therapy are often large and the benefits small. It’s a
medical checkmate; all moves end in abdication.”
If Bowron is lucky, he says, the family will realize that more care is futile.
If he’s not, “The family may ask me to use my physician superpowers to push the
patient’s tired body further down the road, with little thought as to whether
the additional suffering to get there will be worth it. For many Americans,
modern medical advances have made death seem more like an option than an
obligation. We want our loved ones to live as long as possible, but our culture
has come to view death as a medical failure rather than life’s natural
conclusion.”
The unrealistic expectations arise in part from a misunderstanding of the
increase in life span of the average American during the last century. While
medical science has certainly made dramatic gains, other factors weigh heavier.
Infant mortality in the U.S. in 1900 was 10%; by 2000, it was .69%. Improved
public health measures such as better sanitation and nutrition, and improved
maternal mortality count for more than “open heart surgery, MRIs or
sophisticated medicines.” Bowron thinks that modern medicine “may be doing more
to complicate the end of life than to prolong or improve it.”
Another major factor in “denial of death” has arisen because of the nation’s
move from a rural to an urban lifestyle. Death was a fact of life in America a
hundred years ago – today it is “a rarely witnessed, foreign event.” Bowron
writes, “The farmers I take care of aren’t in any more of a hurry to die than my
city-dwelling patients, but when death comes, they are familiar with it. They’ve
seen it, smelled it, had it under their fingernails.”
The nation is more mobile and more affluent. Rather than three or four
generations of a family living in one home, or near each other, the elderly are
relegated to nursing homes and assisted living centers where no younger members
of the family witness their struggles. Bowron says, “Sequestering our elderly
keeps most of us from knowing what it’s like to grow old.”
Bowron says the distance is obvious when it’s time to make end-of-life
decisions. He writes, “Suffering is like a fire: Those who sit closest feel the
most heat; a picture of a fire gives off no warmth. That’s why it’s typically
the son or daughter who has been physically closest to an elderly parent’s pain
who is the most willing to let go.” An estranged family member may fly home to
straighten everything out, but Bowron says, “She’ll have problems bringing her
white horse as carry-on luggage. This person may think she is being driven by
compassion, but a good deal of what got her on the plane was the guilt and
regret of living far away and having not done any of the heavy lifting in caring
for her parent.”
He writes that ,at some point, “Aggressive medical treatment can become
sanctioned torture.” He cites a retired nurse as saying, “I am so glad I don’t
have to hurt old people anymore.”
Bowron concludes, “When families talk about letting their loved ones die
‘naturally,’ they often mean ‘in their sleep’ — not from a treatable illness
such as a stroke, cancer or an infection. Choosing to let a loved one pass away
by not treating an illness feels too complicit; conversely, choosing treatment
that will push a patient into further suffering somehow feels like taking care
of him. While it’s easy to empathize with these family members’ wishes, what
they don’t appreciate is that very few elderly patients are lucky enough to die
in their sleep. Almost everyone dies of something.” (The Washington Post, 2/17,
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/our-unrealistic-views-of-death-through-a-doctors-eyes/2012/01/31/gIQAeaHpJR_story.html)
Suggested by Amy Madigan-Dube
How Doctors Die
This is an interesting article that talks about end of life care that doctors want for themselves. Their answers may, or may not, surprise you!
Link
to the article
Suggested by Amy Madigan-Dube
Last Words, Last Connections
An article from The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association website
about how augmentative communication can support children facing end of
life
Link to the article
Suggested by Beth Ranagan, Pine Tree Hospice Board member
Months to Live
The New York Times has published several articles in its "Months to Live"
series. The most recent two are "Hard Choice for a Comfortable Death:
Sedation" and "Weighing Medical Costs of End-of-Life Care." In addition to
the articles, there are slideshows, photographs, and letters to the editor.
To see the entire series, go to www.nytimes.com and search for "Months to
Live."
Link to the Article
Suggested by Amy Madigan-Dube
Make a Difference Movie
The Make A Difference Movie - The Teddy Stallard Story - by Mary Robinson
Reynolds The MasterMind. I just watched this short movie and it
certainly reinforces the work we are doing at Evergreen, the Pine Tree
Hospice Center for Grieving Children and Their Families. Erin Callaway and I
hold Bereavement Volunteer Facilitator Training sessions. Please let
either of us know if you are interested in learning more about the training
or the Evergreen program. YOU can make a big difference in the life of a
child.
Link to the Movie
Suggested by Cynthia Scott, Pine Tree Hospice Volunteer
Letting Go
Amy recommends an article in the "New Yorker" called "Letting Go: What
Should Medicine Do When It Can't Save Your Life" "Modern medicine is
good at staving off death with aggressive interventions...and bad at knowing
when to focus, instead, on improving the days that terminal patients have
left."
Link to the Article
Suggested by Amy Madigan-Dube
The Hidden Costs of Caregiving
Caring for an older parent or an ill spouse can be a labor of love, but it
can also take a toll on you emotionally, physically and financially. While
many caregivers are not fully prepared for their new role, it is important
to understand the impact that caregiving may have on your own pocketbook and
retirement savings — and how to plan ahead so you can avoid bankrupting your
financial future.
Link to the Article
Suggested by Amy Madigan-Dube
