Was he right is trying to give the right of choice to suffer or die with dignity?
Our dogs had to be put down- they didn't understand what was happening. 30 second shot, and their sufferig was over. My poor lab had cancer, again. took friend who s nurse antheistist with me to vet, Cab put his head on our kness and just laid there. Very peaceful and dignifieid. Very much loved, went with us everywhere.....Pets our our family too.
I have been on Neurontin for my fibromyalgia and had bad reactions to it as well. The Utram (Tramadol) I can only take 1/2 tablet of about every 6 hrs. The oxycodone and hydrocodone are absolute no-no's for me.
People that have bad pain for anything (cancer, bad arthritis, etc) that have the same type of issues I do, will find it difficult to get treatment that allows them to remain comfortable. My mother has had many back surgeries. She has rods and screws and 4 levels of fusions in her back. She's bent over almost double. She's got enough arthritis and osteoporosis in her back she sometimes breaks things just sitting wrong. She's got a spinal cord stimulator implanted to help with pain. She takes oxycodone and oxycontin daily and she's still in pain. I shudder to think what would happen if I had her back, because I couldn't take the medication she does. I think I would lay in my bed and cry and hope Dr. Kevorkian would come by with his cocktail.
I lived with horrible pain for 2 years (I still have fibro, so deal with pain on daily basis, but this was worse). I had a syndrome called frozen shoulders. It was in both of my shoulders. Both of them were literally frozen to my sides. If anyone accidentally jostled me, or tried to pull them up, it was agonizing. One time I was trying to cook dinner, and some grease spattered me, and I instinctively tried to jerk back, and the pain was so intense that I fell to floor vomiting. That was before my intolerance to narcotics. At that time, I was taking 2 vicodin 4x a day. At night, I was washing it down with a drink, and it still wouldn't touch the pain. Horrible. At one point, I put a gun to my head. But I couldn't do that to my family. I knew it would end eventually - I just had to wait it out. If I was terminal and going through that? I'd expect my family to understand that I didn't need to suffer for them.
In general, about the Kevorkian approach - I ethically favor the position of not removing ordinary care and absolutely not hastening death by any primary deliberate means, but consider it very permissible to omit burdensome care that limits quality of life with the intent of prolonging it. Some people do better without some interventions - in some studies, patients switched to hospice or comfort care live longer than those doing "everything possible." "Everything possible" to prolong life should never be required. And giving enough medication to manage pain or psychiatric distress even if it shorten life is also permissible.
I do think that assisted suicide is too easy to abuse - one it is an easy solution and cheaper than thoughtful, top-notch medical care or physical assistance, and there have been horrid examples of people in states where it is legal being denied "experimental" cancer treatment (in quotes because it actually wasn't, except form the point of view of the insurance company who wanted to deny it) and getting letters that reminded them that assisted suicide would be covered if they wanted it. And I have seen people with disabilities whose quality of life given appropriate support would have been excellent offered withdrawal of tube feedings instead. Doctors and nurses and even the general lay public vastly underestimate what people can do using technology - I've hear people assume a feeding tube in place mean a person will be unable to SPEAK, and a ventilator meaning a person will be bed-bound.
And on here, we all know that sometimes QOL for caregiver and caregivee can both really suck - but we also know about greed and desires to see things end before potential inheritances are used for care. Respect for life ultimately matters to all of us, and the Kevorkian approach was not respectful of the value of life and did not seek non-lethal solutions in many of his cases.
And end of life does not always mean a matter of days..... it can be months.... One of my charges only lasted 5 days, another ,3 months....so please talk with the Dr about your concerns and any questions you have... the Hospice nurses are also able to answer any questions you have..... Utilize the staff of the Hospice, that is what they are there for... not just the patient, but the family as well..... sending you hugs while you are in this part of your journey.
I am not Catholic, but I do feel that suicide is a bad thing. I do feel, however, that refusing treatment is completely okay. Sometimes it sickens me to see a person of advanced years unable to get out of the bed to poo, yet being given drugs to prevent high cholesterol or osteoporosis. And don't get me started on giving mammograms or pap smears to a 90-year old. I think it is totally okay for a person who is ready to cross the bridge to quit taking medicines and refuse treatment of any kind. I think that family members often keep trying to keep their elders alive because they fear looking like they didn't try hard enough.
I call what I have an allergy to keep the docs away from me. It's actually an intollerance. It causes more pain than it cures, and it's with all types - synthetic and non-synthetic. Anything that acts on the opiod receptors in the brain. I can now take tramadol, but only 1/2 tablet. If I take a whole one, I get the same reaction. Even though it is not an opiod itself, it binds itself to the same receptors in the brain. Lucky me. And it makes no difference how the medication is given - IV, Patch, oral, whatever. I will get horrible, horrible pains in my abdomen that will lead me to the emergency room. Screaming type pains. I was able to take vicodin, but not codeine for years, then I developed that sensitivity too. I now have Fibromyalgia and can take very little for the pain, and live in fear of not being able to take anything if I get cancer. I will have to have my hips replaced within the next couple of years, and I don't know how I'm going to handle that without painkillers. Maybe let them keep me unconscious for the first week while they work my hips for me???
yesterday edna told " that woman " that as far as that goes shed just as soon bobby be here as sharon kay .
it makes me wonder who " that woman " was , and how much chatter like that it would take out of edna to have MPOA changed with one court document .
cappy may already be mpoa and not even know it . edna is not comfortable with PIA and everyone can see it -- from the moment i intervened and took edna to er 8 months ago with pneumonia ..
You may not be allergic to the synthetic ones like oxycontin. That works just as well as morphine and can be given in the same way. I don't know if it is possible but they may be able to do an allergy skin test to see how you react.
His cancer was stomach cancer, which had spread throughout his body, including his brain. He had been unaware of any of it until he'd gone to emergency and been admitted. The last day, the day he died, he'd been there for 16 days. They'd done a pretty good job of keeping him comfortable. The last 5 days he'd been unconscious because of the morphine. They didn't give him longer than a week. When I walked in that morning, however, he was awake and agitated. His sister was there, and told me that they'd been talking. He wasn't talking then. He couldn't. She was happy that he was awake. I believe she asked the asked the staff to let him wake up so she talk to him. Then he grabbed his head and started screaming. And kept screaming and screaming and screaming. Until he died. His sister and I were both sobbing.
That haunted me for a long time. When my mother told me that she wanted to stay with my Dad, that she had to be with him when he died, I discouraged her from doing it. I didn't want her to have horrible images in her head if his passing wasn't peaceful like I did when Jeff died. Mom wasn't going to listen to me, but I think Dad heard me, because he did it while we were gone anyway. He always did protect Mom.
I sure did wish for something to take the edge off that night - stronger than alcohol, anyway. Unfortunately, I'm allergic to all opiods, which scares the heck out of me. How are they going to control MY pain? How will hospice help ME? Kevorkian is definitely on to something.
in central indiana i think most of our trash goes to a big incinerator in indy . smoke scrubber technology and the likes evidently makes the output pretty acceptable . steam is made , electricity produced from the steam i think .
heres a nice change . most of the motor oil in your parts store now is 5 bucks + a quart . valvoline will sell you completely recycled and restructured oil for 3.30 a qt . go usa
i havent a reason in the world not to trust the recycled oil .
Aint modern medicine wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope you still pocess the necessary facilities. I have hung on to mine. (Surprise every new docter) not planning on using it though.
been thinking about mom , hospice , a lot today , what with cuz trying to limit my access to edna . people have flaws . there is no perfect caregiver . parents just choose the kid with the least self interests imo .. edna only had one kid ..
good kid , but wouldnta been my first choice ..
i have a fond memory tho . as hospice and sis were preparing to have mom taken from her bedroom at home there was a little burst of more laughter than oughtta come out of a deceased persons bedroom . them b*tches were in there destroying the leftovers .
meh ..
it reminded me of the time when i first started staying with mom , i asked her about the plan if i were to find her with dangerous low blood sugar . i told her that barring the proper knowlege , id probably inject her azz full of pancake syrup. grrr , same snort , mom says " the pancake syrup is sugar free " ..
so much for any quick thinking i might ever do ..
when mom was knocked out from comfort meds at end of life , sis and i discussed letting her return close enough to conscienceness for communication purposes but below pain or agitation state . sis said that hospice nurse did not want mom anywhere near conscienceness , it would be cruel to let that happen for any reason . we both had to agree with the nurse on that after thinking about it for a moment . we realized that we were possibly being nudged towards administering the meds ourselves so no one could later howl about how hospice dispatched our mom . well , good thinking on the part of hospice if that were the case . the death by morphine overdose / organ failure from dementia , became a family decision . it was an azzload of liquid morphine , to be increased as needed to keep mom unconscience , with no max limit set ..
later as the three of us kids chatted i jokingly accused oldest sis of killing mom . she sheepishly said " so you didnt have to " . the three of us just grinned rather wryly at each other ..
screw terminal agitation . the hospice air bed brought for the terminal phase was , in looking back , an inflateable " playpen " designed to keep a terminally agitated person from clamoring out of bed and hurting themselves . watching them clamor to escape their dying organs will convince a compassionate person to make with the comfort meds pretty quickly ..
you drop some meds and sit back and contemplate if your indeed killing them or if your keeping them comfortable while organ failure kills them . the latter of the two thoughts wins out . the " common sense / compassion one " ..
Most MDs see the death of a patient as a failure on their part and many relatives want " to do everything they can " for their loved one. What the patient wants or needs are frequently ignored in the relatives denial of reality. They can not be blamed for that it is part of the grieving process. No one educates us about death. It is final, the end of life and something to be dreaded. Why can we not celebrate it as a joyful ocassion (not because the old witch has finally left us in peace to get back to our lives) but to honor the achievements of the person who has just died and remember their good qualities as well as the bad ones and find it in our hearts to forgive them so we are able to move on with our own lives. We are full of joy when a new baby comes into this world and take extaordinary measures to keep them alive. Maybe that is also something we should consider while we are thinking about quality of life. I am not going to open that pandora's box as it has no place on this site.
We all know Capt you face life with good humor and compassion for others even when facing great adversity yourself. You don't sit home asking for handouts and you are out pounding stone when others would have taken to their beds. No, cutting Edna's bangs does not count as great adversity unless it results in jail time for elder abuse. well back to the cooking chanell. I canned peaches today!!!!!!
What did I learn from this? I am sorry to say not too much at the time but when I started working for hospice so many years later and was given the means to keep my patients comfortable at the end of life I had no problem being generous with their medications.
Assisted suicide? I know a family who did just that when their loved one decided the time was right. Adults and children gathered at the bedside for an evening of family togethernes and were able to say their final goodbyes. The loved one simply did not wake up in the morning.
Suicide has such a harsh sound to it. I wish there was a better word to describe ending ones own life. Mine and my husband's wishes are written and our children know what we want. Recently I saw a new Dr who turned out to be 83 years old. After being diagnosed with dysphagia and asthma I was prescribed two steroid inhalers which I was reluctant to use because I felt the steroids might impact my heart conditions. He pulled his chair closer and said "Now Veronica I am just a little bit older than you " patting my knee "Now what do you want quality or quantity of life?" I smiled back and said "I was a hospice nurse I choose quality" he nodded and told the nurse to go and find me some sample inhalers.
My stepmother had colon cancer and had surgery and chemo. The chemo did a lot of damage to her body and she siad she wished she had never had it, The last ten years of her life were miserable as she became able to do less and less for herself living alone.
I have arranged for many animals to be euthanized. It is sad when it is a small one but to see a horse fall to the ground as the drugs take effect is something else but always the right decision.
So when my time comes I hope I am still able to make the decision to leave under my own steam but if not I hope someone who loves me will guide my hand.