Can we afford a healthcare system where everyone has a right to delay death?

United States
April 26, 2009 6:20pm CST
My mother, Shirley, has had 3 hospitalizations due to blood clots this winter. She is 85 and her primary insurance is Medicare so the Federal government here in the USA is picking up most of the tab? In December alone, the hospital bills exceeded $52,000, then there are the ambulance rides, ER, doctors, etc. Mom has made it clear that she wants to die... But the system won't let her... What do you think? Steve Slaton
1 person likes this
2 responses
debrakcarey
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
11 Jul 09
Here I am again, responding to a really OLD discussion. I surf around and go where my interests are. I work in a nursing home. I agree, we should not prolong the dying process. But after 20 years in this line of work...I've seen some troubling things. I see hospice nurse practicioners prescribing lots of pain medications and lots of anti anxiety medications...and I get the real creepy feeling that they are speeding up the process. Sort of putting them out of their misery. If we allow this, who will they target for "mercy" next? This coupled with our soon to be 'government sponsored healthcare for all' and I see a recipe for euthenasia. Forgive me for putting it this way, I am not cold hearted...but right now we have a young man of 39 in our facility...with a bone infection. He's real sick. He needs a lot of care and expensive medications. Two of which his insurance won't pay for. He is not 85 and he has children at home...who need him there. Who are we to say who gets to live or die? And I have read state senate bills proposed in our country in favor of the doctor deciding...not the family or loved ones. This scares me. No human being should have that power. DNR's and POA are more than enough to ensure that no one is MADE to live when they naturally would die.
matersfish
@matersfish (6306)
• United States
12 Jul 09
lol Thank you, debrakcarey. Unless you responded to this late, I wouldn't have found it. :P When it comes to people dealing with the medical industry and all the finer ins and outs, one thing remains clear above all others: it's always about the individual's personal experience. This is why I feel anything dealing in "health" HAS to be about the individual patient, and NOT the collective. When you start putting measures in place for everyone based on an intellectual's notebook or a sporadic series of tests done on elderly individuals, etc, it paints a false picture. There's no way you can make an individual's afflictions a "social" affliction wherein doctors and, probably more likely in America's future, government officials get to determine the best line of treatment. An individual should always get to make the call for his or her own line of treatment or lack thereof. If anything, it's the human dignity that we should all be afforded.
debrakcarey
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
12 Jul 09
Steve, I am so sorry for you loss. I am sorry too, that my responding has opened up this discussion again if it causes you pain. I never meant to say that we should not use pain medications to ease the transition. That would be barbaric. I am a medications technician. I usually see Xanax 1mg. every four to six hours. When someone is in the last stages of dying I am told to give it every hour on the hour. I give Vicodin 10/500. Normaly this is given every four hours as well...when someone is dying it is given every two hours...along with morphine IM hourly. What I see happening is once this process starts...the goal is to keep them totally sedated. How can goodbyes be said...and amends be made? It is almost as if we are afraid to let them speak...or think. I don't want this happening to me. I understand the agony and grief. I nursed my father and mother through the end of their lives. Again, forgive me for opening this discussion and causing you any renewed grief.
ANTIQUELADY
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
27 Apr 09
my aunt was in the nursing home for years. her mind was gone. she got nothing out of living really. she was deaf & she couldn't really communicate w/people very well. before she got sick she wore a hearing aid & could but after her stroke she was pitaful. my dad was her poa. he really didn't pay much attention to her. he got sick & passed away in 2008. it fell on me to be responsible for her. i went every week & fixed her hair, bought her clothes when she needed them etc. she got real sick & i put my foot down w/the nursing home. it helped. i don't see prolonging the inevitable. i don't mean to sound cold hearted but they would have kept on probing & prodding, dragging her to the hospital etc. i stopped it all, u can to.
ANTIQUELADY
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
27 Apr 09
all she has was her s/s/ & of course they got that. they get the same treatment whether they have money or not. the people that work there don't know who has & who hasn't as it should be. everybody should be treated the same. the care they get leaves alot to desire anyeway. they don't pay the empoyees enought to start with so they don't get the cream of the crock . u take care of yourself & good luck w/your mom.