Comments on: Do Doctors Die Like the Rest of Us? http://www.compassionandchoices.org/2012/01/12/do-doctors-die-like-the-rest-of-us/ End-of-Life Choice, Palliative Care and Counseling Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:08:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Dudley Cook http://www.compassionandchoices.org/2012/01/12/do-doctors-die-like-the-rest-of-us/#comment-658 Dudley Cook Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:46:51 +0000 http://blog.compassionandchoices.org/?p=2008#comment-658 Thanks for such an informative description of what standard 'Medical Care' has in store for us as we proceed into our 'End of Life.' I agree wholeheartedly that we need Compassion and Choices by our side at our 'EOL.' Thanks for such an informative description of what standard ‘Medical Care’ has in store for us as we proceed into our ‘End of Life.’
I agree wholeheartedly that we need Compassion and Choices by our side at our ‘EOL.’

]]> By: Annemarie S Haner http://www.compassionandchoices.org/2012/01/12/do-doctors-die-like-the-rest-of-us/#comment-657 Annemarie S Haner Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:58:58 +0000 http://blog.compassionandchoices.org/?p=2008#comment-657 Just last month, my very youthful 80 yr old husband was hospitalized twice, first with pneumonia in one lung, and then with pneumonia in both lungs, coughing up blood. A Cat scan showed a mass in his right upper lobe, and his hospitalist and pulmunary specialists urged him to have his lobe removed THE NEXT MORNING!. This doctor knew my husband's lungs were compromised by scarring from asbestos exposure. He KNEW what the surgery would do to my husband. He didn't pressure my husband, but he made it very clear that in his experience he expected that it WAS cancer and waiting a month could make it worse. (DUH) . At first my husband was almost ready to rush to surgery. (he is a brave man who has survived radical prostatectomy and removal of a large part of his arm to remove a melanoma, but he was younger, then, and the situations were much more clear cut) He and I talked, and we decided to WAIT a month and repeat the cat scan to see if the mass was perhaps an abcess, or the scarring from the pneumonia. And the mass SHRUNK, and now a month later, he is completely off oxygen and quickly regaining his strength. His doctors are amazed, But we knew what they did not. My husband is a strong upbeat man with good genetics. And rushing into surgery is NEVER a good idea. Doctors STILL do not factor into the equation the stress on the body of major surgery, or so it seems to us. If he had had the surgery I doubt he would have lived another year. Now we look forward to many years together because of our strong genetic backgrounds. And I have to add this as well; some 20 years ago my surgeon gynocologist proposed I have serious surgery involving mesh and by the way lets get rid of that damned uterus. Fortunately for me, a family member researched the surgery and told me that I needed to get a second opinion because the surgery was actually very much discretionary. The 2nd opinion confirmed that I could also do NOTHING. What a relief! I went back to my surgeon gynocologist and asked her WHY she was so strong on surgery. This honorable woman said words to the effect: Look, I'm a surgeon. When I see something wrong I think in terms of surgery. Its how I was trained. A knife is my tool. That was 15 years ago, and I did not have the surgery. The situation that inspired the doctor to suggest very serious surgery has barely caused me any problem. Meanwhile mesh implants are all over the news, and lawsuits abound. And I also found out from my families research that the proposed surgery had a "useful life" of about 10 years, at which time further surgery would most likely be required. Doctors are very human. They mostly follow what they were taught. Which seems to us: cut it out, blast it out, poison it out etcAnd by the way, we could try that new technique here.... I am responsible to weigh what any doctor tells me using my own intelligence and broad knowlege of my own body. And my husband and I have a pact, which includes younger members of our family (and all the legal documents to back us and them up........I was a lawyer for many years) to enlist the help available from Compassion and Choices and other sources. We are determined to die on our own terms, and not a day sooner than WE deem necessary. And maybe by the time our adult children reach these decision points, things will be better. We certainly hope so and will work to reach that goal. Just last month, my very youthful 80 yr old husband was hospitalized twice, first with pneumonia in one lung, and then with pneumonia in both lungs, coughing up blood. A Cat scan showed a mass in his right upper lobe, and his hospitalist and pulmunary specialists urged him to have his lobe removed THE NEXT MORNING!.

This doctor knew my husband’s lungs were compromised by scarring from asbestos exposure. He KNEW what the surgery would do to my husband. He didn’t pressure my husband, but he made it very clear that in his experience he expected that it WAS cancer and waiting a month could make it worse. (DUH) . At first my husband was almost ready to rush to surgery. (he is a brave man who has survived radical prostatectomy and removal of a large part of his arm to remove a melanoma, but he was younger, then, and the situations were much more clear cut)

He and I talked, and we decided to WAIT a month and repeat the cat scan to see if the mass was perhaps an abcess, or the scarring from the pneumonia. And the mass SHRUNK, and now a month later, he is completely off oxygen and quickly regaining his strength. His doctors are amazed, But we knew what they did not. My husband is a strong upbeat man with good genetics. And rushing into surgery is NEVER a good idea. Doctors STILL do not factor into the equation the stress on the body of major surgery, or so it seems to us.

If he had had the surgery I doubt he would have lived another year. Now we look forward to many years together because of our strong genetic backgrounds.

And I have to add this as well; some 20 years ago my surgeon gynocologist proposed I have serious surgery involving mesh and by the way lets get rid of that damned uterus. Fortunately for me, a family member researched the surgery and told me that I needed to get a second opinion because the surgery was actually very much discretionary. The 2nd opinion confirmed that I could also do NOTHING. What a relief!

I went back to my surgeon gynocologist and asked her WHY she was so strong on surgery. This honorable woman said words to the effect: Look, I’m a surgeon. When I see something wrong I think in terms of surgery. Its how I was trained. A knife is my tool.

That was 15 years ago, and I did not have the surgery. The situation that inspired the doctor to suggest very serious surgery has barely caused me any problem. Meanwhile mesh implants are all over the news, and lawsuits abound. And I also found out from my families research that the proposed surgery had a “useful life” of about 10 years, at which time further surgery would most likely be required.

Doctors are very human. They mostly follow what they were taught. Which seems to us: cut it out, blast it out, poison it out etcAnd by the way, we could try that new technique here….

I am responsible to weigh what any doctor tells me using my own intelligence and broad knowlege of my own body. And my husband and I have a pact, which includes younger members of our family (and all the legal documents to back us and them up……..I was a lawyer for many years) to enlist the help available from Compassion and Choices and other sources.

We are determined to die on our own terms, and not a day sooner than WE deem necessary. And maybe by the time our adult children reach these decision points, things will be better. We certainly hope so and will work to reach that goal.

]]> By: Noreen Sullivan http://www.compassionandchoices.org/2012/01/12/do-doctors-die-like-the-rest-of-us/#comment-656 Noreen Sullivan Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:18:16 +0000 http://blog.compassionandchoices.org/?p=2008#comment-656 My father was a medical doctor. In 1982 at the age of 72 he was diagnosed with lung cancer which had metastasized to the brain. When his doctor, a close friend, gave him the diagnosis in the hospital, Dad looked at my mother and said"Let's go home". His doctor friends were angry that he refused any kind of treatment but he knew exactly what he was doing. My sisters and I stayed with him and my mother night and day for 4 weeks and he died peacefully in his own bed in the home he built with his family around him. He was a beloved doctor-his patients adored him. I can't imagine him ever putting pressure on his patients to do things that he knew probably wouldn't help them. When my brother was diagnosed with the same cancer at the age of 46, he went for radiation for a while and then chose to stop. He too died peacefully in my mother's home with all of us around him. Both their deaths, so dignified, inculcated in me the desire to make the same choice when my time comes. My mother died in my sister's home at the age of 98. She had been in a nursing home but we took her out and she spent 3 happy weeks with all of us there. She refused food and drink and as I lay beside her, she quietly passed away. I feel fortunate to have had these experiences; however painful it was to lose those I loved. I have had over 27 rescue dogs in my adult life and each time their time came and they were euthanized, I have been proud and at peace to have held each of them in my arms. They deserved a "good death" and so do all humans who desire it. I hope that when my time comes, I will be able to have such a death and not have to depend on more violent means. My father was a medical doctor. In 1982 at the age of 72 he was diagnosed with lung cancer which had metastasized to the brain. When his doctor, a close friend, gave him the diagnosis in the hospital, Dad looked at my mother and said”Let’s go home”. His doctor friends were angry that he refused any kind of treatment but he knew exactly what he was doing. My sisters and I stayed with him and my mother night and day for 4 weeks and he died peacefully in his own bed in the home he built with his family around him. He was a beloved doctor-his patients adored him. I can’t imagine him ever putting pressure on his patients to do things that he knew probably wouldn’t help them. When my brother was diagnosed with the same cancer at the age of 46, he went for radiation for a while and then chose to stop. He too died peacefully in my mother’s home with all of us around him. Both their deaths, so dignified, inculcated in me the desire to make the same choice when my time comes. My mother died in my sister’s home at the age of 98. She had been in a nursing home but we took her out and she spent 3 happy weeks with all of us there. She refused food and drink and as I lay beside her, she quietly passed away. I feel fortunate to have had these experiences; however painful it was to lose those I loved. I have had over 27 rescue dogs in my adult life and each time their time came and they were euthanized, I have been proud and at peace to have held each of them in my arms. They deserved a “good death” and so do all humans who desire it. I hope that when my time comes, I will be able to have such a death and not have to depend on more violent means.

]]> By: Marilyn Ash Samet http://www.compassionandchoices.org/2012/01/12/do-doctors-die-like-the-rest-of-us/#comment-655 Marilyn Ash Samet Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:39:50 +0000 http://blog.compassionandchoices.org/?p=2008#comment-655 My dad , a doctor from 1918 to 1966..knew he had advanced lung cancer. (Nobody else knew..only that he had had abdominal problems).He took a professional size bottle of seconal hidden in his check in things..in 1966..in Chicago)..They found him too soon, kept him in agony on machines for two weeks til he died. Then, only after autopsy, did they actually apologize to my mother. I will use my car hose or a plastic bag over my head if I think I will be in similar situation...My state,mNC, is not too progressive about human rights. (I am 86!) My dad , a doctor from 1918 to 1966..knew he had advanced lung cancer. (Nobody else knew..only that he had had abdominal problems).He took a professional size bottle of seconal hidden in his check in things..in 1966..in Chicago)..They found him too soon, kept him in agony on machines for two weeks til he died. Then, only after autopsy, did they actually apologize to my mother. I will use my car hose or a plastic bag over my head if I think I will be in similar situation…My state,mNC, is not too progressive about human rights. (I am 86!)

]]> By: Roy Ingham http://www.compassionandchoices.org/2012/01/12/do-doctors-die-like-the-rest-of-us/#comment-654 Roy Ingham Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:08:47 +0000 http://blog.compassionandchoices.org/?p=2008#comment-654 Whose death is it anyway,? Whose death is it anyway,?

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