Quote:
Originally Posted by 75Sv1
Wow! Something middle of the road. Even from Berkley CA. A big double Wow.  It would be nice if some politician got it. I think the majority of Americans understand it, but the extreme or even moderates of today in both parties are no where near the center.
Tom |
Berkeley, Berkeley, Berkeley. It's a town. A cute town. But, enough complaining, thank you for your kind words.
My old man spent the last week of his life being tortured at some unknown but significant expense to the taxpayer. Diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma (sometimes referred to as non-favorable diagnosis lymphoma). The doctor told my mother it would probably be best to just let him go. I wasn't there at the time, probably couldn't have stopped her anyway, but she thought he was saveable. He was 77, never smoked or drank, strong as an ox.
A day after starting chemo, he was in misery. Didn't even seem to recognize old friends. I spoke to him by phone the day before he went in, his words were slurred but he was still intact, mentally anyway.
They had to put mittens on him so he wouldn't pull his catheters out. He was cussing at my mother to give him his pocket knife so he could cut the mittens off. After about 6 days of that, he died.
Hospice care would have been a much, much better way to spend his final days, and would have cost a good bit less, no doubt. I sorta wish someone who knew would have said, "No, we're not going to torture the old fellow."
CBS had a good piece on 60 Minutes about useless mega $$ care in the final months of life, courtesy of Medicare. Good piece. But from Rs, we hear "DEATH PANELS!"
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/19/60minutes/main5711689.shtml