Comments on: The Death Of One Loved By Many http://www.agraphia.net/the-death-of-one-loved-by-many/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-death-of-one-loved-by-many Medical Tragicomedy Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:21:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: izzy http://www.agraphia.net/the-death-of-one-loved-by-many/#comment-833 izzy Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:09:56 +0000 http://www.agraphia.net/?p=816#comment-833 I think I should take up this occasional cigarette habit. The last hours and days never seem to rest easy on anyone's mind...often we seem to land up making fraught decisions when perhaps letting go is the fairest but the hardest decision to reach...it's tough. I think I should take up this occasional cigarette habit. The last hours and days never seem to rest easy on anyone’s mind…often we seem to land up making fraught decisions when perhaps letting go is the fairest but the hardest decision to reach…it’s tough.

]]> By: X http://www.agraphia.net/the-death-of-one-loved-by-many/#comment-832 X Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:33:05 +0000 http://www.agraphia.net/?p=816#comment-832 I do the same thing with the cigarettes I do the same thing with the cigarettes

]]> By: MG http://www.agraphia.net/the-death-of-one-loved-by-many/#comment-831 MG Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:22:38 +0000 http://www.agraphia.net/?p=816#comment-831 "Medication may be mercifully administered to me to alleviate suffering, even though it may hasten the time of my death." --Clause from a sample living will “Medication may be mercifully administered to me to alleviate suffering, even though it may hasten the time of my death.”

–Clause from a sample living will

]]> By: Resident Anesthesiologist Guy http://www.agraphia.net/the-death-of-one-loved-by-many/#comment-830 Resident Anesthesiologist Guy Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:13:26 +0000 http://www.agraphia.net/?p=816#comment-830 I've never found the decision towards withdrawing care and allowing a patient to die an easy one. Sure I believe that people need to be allowed to die, and often a lot sooner than others, but the deliberate nature that we, as physicians, have with pain medications, reduced fluids/ nutrition, etc seems contradictory to what we believe we're supposed to do. It was troubling to see how a dying patient was given increasingly larger doses of narcotics in an ICU when I was an intern. It's still hard to be the one to increase those doses as the upper level resident, because you feel that you're killing the patient. It gets a little better, but it still doesn't set well with me. I’ve never found the decision towards withdrawing care and allowing a patient to die an easy one. Sure I believe that people need to be allowed to die, and often a lot sooner than others, but the deliberate nature that we, as physicians, have with pain medications, reduced fluids/ nutrition, etc seems contradictory to what we believe we’re supposed to do. It was troubling to see how a dying patient was given increasingly larger doses of narcotics in an ICU when I was an intern. It’s still hard to be the one to increase those doses as the upper level resident, because you feel that you’re killing the patient. It gets a little better, but it still doesn’t set well with me.

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