I can appreciate that everyone is granted the opportunity to hold different values and beliefs, but as a nurse who stands by in those often torturous final weeks of a terminal cancer patient, I have to vehemently disagree with this woman: many family members are broken and haunted by the suffering their family members endure when dying. Many of them beg through tears for nurses and physicians to have mercy and end their family members obvious suffering which can not seem to be remedied by any amount of morphine or sedation. It is not a beautiful end and a privilege for all families to listen to their loved ones, despite a physicians best prescriptions and care, take those last gasps, or hang on for days emaciated, malnourished, delirious and crying out in pain or fear due to hallucinations. A physician is not abandoning their Hippocratic Oath to do no harm by considering end of life care beyond the accepted, often excruciating palliative period that the dying face. This is a very upsetting assumption for one individual to make for all families and patients dealing with terminal illness, regardless if her beliefs. I dont disagree with her vantage point- everyone has the right to believe in God and afterlife, or not. I do disagree with her broad assumptions and criticism regarding the commitment of healthcare professionals to do no harm; surely she has attended the suffering of fewer terminal patients and loved ones than the physicians she is quick to judge. This womans heart may be in the right place to bring a belief that brings her so much peace to someone in a similar position, but her guilting suggestion that this young woman is robbing her family of a necessary or empowering emotional experience by not letting them watch her beautifully suffer and die is deplorable. Palliation can be a very supportive, loving environment that eases the emotional and physical pain involved in dying for all parties...but it is irresponsible, in my opinion, to assume for others who are dying, or their families, what is therapeutic.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 01:52:46 +0000
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