As the old man sat quietly in the corner of the nursing home, I watched as he stared endlessly out the window. Not saying a word, he was apparently visiting another place.
He was not able to communicate his whereabouts or know any of his visitors. The medication further numbed his faculties, and his years of life and travel had taken a heavy toll on his body and mind.
What to do?
His medical condition was sadly deteriorating, but the medicines and medical treatments were keeping him alive.
Years ago, I read an article in the Washington Post written by Craig Bowron, who was a physician in a large hospital in Minneapolis. The writer shared many of his experiences as a doctor.
On the one hand, life as a doctor was most rewarding. He referred to some of those experiences and how he had helped a young sick or injured person mend and return to a useful and normal lifestyle. Those medical encounters, I imagined, must have been very encouraging for a doctor, and professionally rewarding to see some improvement in the injured and suffering.
This doctor and his editorial, entitled “The Dying of the Light,” however, shared another side of the medical profession and some confounding issues for the present-day family and our society.
More and more, as the doctor’s patients became older and older, it seemed that the established medical treatment was designed to keep the patient alive at all costs. These costs may drain a family’s resources, as well as the government’s Medicaid account, but that is not the important issue here from the doctor’s perspective.
One patient described in this most interesting article was that of an 85-year-old lady who was suffering from several medical problems. Part of one leg had been amputated, her blood pressure was low, her appetite was gone, she felt exhausted and weak, and the toes on her remaining foot had gangrene present.
Dialysis was the only procedure which might extend her life.
She now spent three days a week in dialysis according to the article and the other four days recovering.
Although her life was extended by dialysis, the end result actually served to extend her misery.
The family has elected to keep her alive by all possible means. In other words, should her heart stop beating, CPR would be used to revive her. Her reward, more suffering.
Another patient’s story tells of a 91-year-old man, some 230 pounds, who had experienced some dementia and suffered a debilitating stroke, which had paralyzed his right side and caused him to be bedridden. His joints were also swollen and plagued with painful arthritis.
Just moving the patient from the bed to a toilet or chair required a herculean effort, and the use of a mechanical lift on the part of the caretaker.
The quality of life had slowly departed from this gentleman, his strength had been robbed, and his remaining limbs had become useless.
Extending his life through further medical intervention is to also extend his suffering.
Many in our society are repulsed by the likes of the late Jack Kevorkian. And more currently, a group known as the Final Exit Network discusses “self-deliverance” in certain situations.
Kevorkian was actually convicted in Michigan of second-degree murder for administering drugs to a man with Lou Gehrig’s disease, which resulted in his death.
Although Kevorkian’s deeds were questionable at the time, the state of Oregon in 1997 actually passed the “Death with Dignity Act,” which authorizes those individuals who are terminally ill to end their lives legally. Many qualifying patients in Oregon, to date, have benefited from this law.
Dr. Bowron’s article, however, is not focused on euthanasia, nor is it directed at health care costs. Instead, he tells us “It’s about the gift of life and death. It is about living and death with dignity and letting go.” He leaves us with this pondering thought:
“At some point in life, the only thing worse than dying is being kept alive.”
Death, dignity and dying should be issues considered across this nation for those who suffer. Oregon’s law and procedures are worth examining and considering.
On June 17, 2016, a bill to legalize and regulate euthanasia also passed in Canada’s Parliament.
It, for certain, is a most difficult situation to say goodbye to a loved one. It is equally difficult to see and watch that loved one in a painful, suffering and debilitating state of existence with no return to a normal and happy life.
Greek author Herodotus offered a consoling view:
“Death is a delightful hiding place for a weary man.”
