tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8660481009315454237.post8927303020272675148..comments2024-01-06T00:25:26.113-05:00Comments on Meanwhile...: The Cost of Dyingfdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8660481009315454237.post-38191087290956319662009-11-24T10:01:14.953-05:002009-11-24T10:01:14.953-05:00I wonder if there isn't a "cut-off" ...I wonder if there isn't a "cut-off" age, written down secretly somewhere. Mid-sixties is relatively young. My dad was seventy-nine when he died. I really got the sense that there was a limited amount of care he was going to have access to, whether he wanted it or not.<br /><br />Our entire interpretation of the art of healing is so far off the mark that we often do more harm than good. We have no idea when to intervene and when to let nature take its course. The decisions we make are haphazard, often wrong, and based upon things that should never enter into the process-like the almoighty dollar.Lisa :-]https://www.blogger.com/profile/02237889098638895390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8660481009315454237.post-15735953759562903142009-11-23T23:33:38.173-05:002009-11-23T23:33:38.173-05:00I'm very sorry about the experience you had wi...I'm very sorry about the experience you had with your dad. I had almost the exact opposite experience a few months back with my mother-in-law. Although she was only in her mid-60s, she was in terrible physical shape and had been sick for many years. Modern medicine prolonged her life, but, in my opinion, made the end a lot more gruesome and horrible than it should have been. The only bright spot was that she did get good hospice care and was able to die at home as she wished.fdtatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8660481009315454237.post-20438160400748885082009-11-23T11:30:53.853-05:002009-11-23T11:30:53.853-05:00Duane--
This is sore point with me.
If Medicare ...Duane--<br /><br />This is sore point with me.<br /><br />If Medicare is spending billions of dollars on medical care to keep dying elderly folks alive, it certainly isn't here in Oregon.<br /><br />My dad died of cancer ten years ago. The Medicare coverage he got was horrible. The care he got was horrible. It was a nightmare. It boiled down to his being mis-diagnosed until it was too late to do anything really effective, then being subjected to a radical surgery and basically being sent home to die. When we took him to the hospital a few days before he died (at the behest of his hospice nurse) they all but threw him out. Basically said, "We can't do anything for you here,. Go home and die." So he did. It was probably the best choice, but it was not presented as a "choice." We were not offered alternatives or any kind of "end of life" counseling at all.<br /><br />So when I hear these idiots whining about "unplugging Grandma" and death panels and all that rot, I wonder what country THEY live in, because it certainly isn't this one. Because this kind of "you aren't worth the treatment" culture already exists. Has existed for at least a decade, in my experience, and has probably existed since shortly after the creation of the HMO...Lisa :-]https://www.blogger.com/profile/02237889098638895390noreply@blogger.com