It's to make it easier for your survivors in case such a decision should become necessary. Ask an attorney or compassionate doctor. I had to make the decision without knowing my mother's desires, it will not occur with my family, what I want is on paper, pull the plug.
Former Top Canadian Dr. Brian Day: Obamacare Will Bring Rationed Care & Skyrocketing
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It's to make it easier for your survivors in case such a decision should become necessary. Ask an attorney or compassionate doctor. I had to make the decision without knowing my mother's desires, it will not occur with my family, what I want is on paper, pull the plug.
christiefan915
Catalyst
In case their health deteriorates to the point where they're just a vegetable. My parents have living wills and went through this type of checklist before deciding what level of treatment they wanted at the end of life.
C
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Guest
Bud's grandmother had a pace maker put in a 89, the family had not asked her what she wanted, not had she been briefed, she would not have chosen to have the pace maker put in had she known in advance what was in store for her and her heart!
christiefan915
Catalyst
I agree. It's much better to make these decisions while a person still has a sound mind and body, than to wait for the worst to happen and not be in a position to make the choice.
apple0154
MEOW
Southern Man, here's a situation I was faced with 15 years ago. I would like to hear how you would have handled it.
My Aunt was 87 years old. She never married. Had no children. She was close to my brother and I and our mother, her sister. She always lived alone and loved to travel to Europe. You could say she was a "woman's libber" before women's lib was popular.
During the previous few years she seldom left her home due to difficulty walking. We (my mother, brother and I) suggested she move to a home for the aged where she would be looked after. We explained to her that if something happened, she fell or took ill, no one would be there to help her even though my mother phoned her at least once a day to see if she was OK. She made us all promise we would never, ever put her in a "home". She said she would rather die alone than be in an old folks home. We decided to have a lady visit once a day to make her a hot meal and tidy up the house. (My Aunt could manage to get breakfast and a light snack.)
Anyway, one day the lady happened to be there when my Aunt took ill. She had a stomach hemorrhage. The lady called an ambulance and they took her to the hospital.
They operated, the operation opened when she moved in the bed as her skin was too thin to hold the stitches, they closed the operation again. Then they sedated her and started intravenous.
A few days later we talked with the doctor. The prognosis was she would have to stay in the hospital for probably one month, if she survived, at which time she would be moved to a convalescent home. She would never recuperate to the point where she could return to her own home.
So, the doctor asked, are you going to make arrangements for her to be moved to a "home" or do you want us to stop treatment and let her go?
What would you have decided bearing in mind she never, ever wanted to end up in a "home"?
C
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Guest
It is so hard, I am so sorry, but I am sure you handled it with love, humor and grace.Southern Man, here's a situation I was faced with 15 years ago. I would like to hear how you would have handled it.
My Aunt was 87 years old. She never married. Had no children. She was close to my brother and I and our mother, her sister. She always lived alone and loved to travel to Europe. You could say she was a "woman's libber" before women's lib was popular.
During the previous few years she seldom left her home due to difficulty walking. We (my mother, brother and I) suggested she move to a home for the aged where she would be looked after. We explained to her that if something happened, she fell or took ill, no one would be there to help her even though my mother phoned her at least once a day to see if she was OK. She made us all promise we would never, ever put her in a "home". She said she would rather die alone than be in an old folks home. We decided to have a lady visit once a day to make her a hot meal and tidy up the house. (My Aunt could manage to get breakfast and a light snack.)
Anyway, one day the lady happened to be there when my Aunt took ill. She had a stomach hemorrhage. The lady called an ambulance and they took her to the hospital.
They operated, the operation opened when she moved in the bed as her skin was too thin to hold the stitches, they closed the operation again. Then they sedated her and started intravenous.
A few days later we talked with the doctor. The prognosis was she would have to stay in the hospital for probably one month, if she survived, at which time she would be moved to a convalescent home. She would never recuperate to the point where she could return to her own home.
So, the doctor asked, are you going to make arrangements for her to be moved to a "home" or do you want us to stop treatment and let her go?
What would you have decided bearing in mind she never, ever wanted to end up in a "home"?
apple0154
MEOW
We kept our promise. One is only as good as their word.
DamnYankee
Loyal to the end
So the decision is to die or not; its a death decision matrix.
DamnYankee
Loyal to the end
Southern Man, here's a situation I was faced with 15 years ago. I would like to hear how you would have handled it.
My Aunt was 87 years old. She never married. Had no children. She was close to my brother and I and our mother, her sister. She always lived alone and loved to travel to Europe. You could say she was a "woman's libber" before women's lib was popular.
During the previous few years she seldom left her home due to difficulty walking. We (my mother, brother and I) suggested she move to a home for the aged where she would be looked after. We explained to her that if something happened, she fell or took ill, no one would be there to help her even though my mother phoned her at least once a day to see if she was OK. She made us all promise we would never, ever put her in a "home". She said she would rather die alone than be in an old folks home. We decided to have a lady visit once a day to make her a hot meal and tidy up the house. (My Aunt could manage to get breakfast and a light snack.)
Anyway, one day the lady happened to be there when my Aunt took ill. She had a stomach hemorrhage. The lady called an ambulance and they took her to the hospital.
They operated, the operation opened when she moved in the bed as her skin was too thin to hold the stitches, they closed the operation again. Then they sedated her and started intravenous.
A few days later we talked with the doctor. The prognosis was she would have to stay in the hospital for probably one month, if she survived, at which time she would be moved to a convalescent home. She would never recuperate to the point where she could return to her own home.
So, the doctor asked, are you going to make arrangements for her to be moved to a "home" or do you want us to stop treatment and let her go?
What would you have decided bearing in mind she never, ever wanted to end up in a "home"?
That decision is entirely yours, not mine. Your question may soon be, what would some government bureaucrat decide?
Taichiliberal
Shaken, not stirred!
Here's the deal. In the last 12 years my mom developed a serious condition that landed her in the hospital ER a few times, and on one or two occasions required serious hospitalization. While in the ER once, I was next to a room where an old guy who already had poor health came in with cranial damage from a bath tub fall. Long story short: the doctor informed the family that his condition was terminal and that one of the options besides mechanical sustaining him was to let him go naturally (as surgery was out of the question).
For the neocons to wail like banshees as if this type of counsel never happened before is just plain silly.
DamnYankee
Loyal to the end
Again, I'd prefer that the family make that decision upon advice from their doctor instead of some government bureaucrat with a budget to meet. But that's just me. *shrug*
TuTu Monroe
A Realist
All page 21 does is to make the vet think about ending their life. They need to be encouraged, not this crap.
C
Cancel5
Guest
Well, it was true for some during during the Bush administration, and Obama has retained the rendition policy, so I guess time will tell.
DamnYankee
Loyal to the end
Doooodete, Bush removed the Death Manual from the VA.
C
Cancel5
Guest
You didn't get the joke, I'm sorry.
DamnYankee
Loyal to the end
Oh I got it. But the concept of injecting Bush into every conversation ceased being funny about a decade ago.
TuTu Monroe
A Realist
C
Cancel5
Guest
Oh, and so Clinton is also off limits? It has gone on even longer?
And Bush is still under the lamp.
Taichiliberal
Shaken, not stirred!
Again, there is NOTHING in the current proposals from that are circulating through the Congress that directs a bureaucrat to supercede/intervene/influence a doctor in this instance in any shape, manner or form. THE DOCTORS ARE ALREADY DOING THIS, AND WHERE DOING IT FOR A LONG, LONG TIME. What folk like you FAIL/REFUSE to understand is that the Obama proposals get medicare to cover the bill for counseling THAT IS ALREADY AN OPTION FOR FAMILY MEMBERS.
For the love of God, pull your head out of your ass (or Limbaughs', or WND, or Foxnews, or Hannity's or Newsmax)...even FactCheck.org has called the neocon noise machine on this:
http://factcheck.org/2009/07/false-euthanasia-claims/
A decision made by the one whose life it is, the ultimate freedom. What would you suggest as an alternative?
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