I think your question about families butting into health care is a really hard one. Not only from the point of the nurses and doctors who are attempting to do their best, but from the point of the family and patient. Personally I've had doctors do everything from mis-diagnosing me (one diagnosed my allergies and B12 issues as depression and tried to give me anti-depressants) to missing diagnoses that were waving big flags saying "LOOK HERE" (like, don't you think you should find out just why my white blood cell count is so high? Maybe it is linked with some of the other things I'm complaining about?) So I don't trust doctors, nope, none of them. Lots of my friends have had similar problems. On the other hand if I am in ICU with a broken bone or heart attack and the staff is competent then my family and I should definitely let the pro's do their thing!! End-of-life issues are also horribly complicated. Here in the USA doctors will automatically do FAR more than make a patient comfortable, they will do all kinds of insane things like putting a feeding tube into an 85 year old who is suffering from advanced dementia. There too I feel family and personal wishes trump the nurses and doctor. Sigh. No easy answers.
It was almost 90 degrees F in Ukiah this week. Beautiful with the trees just leafing out...
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-04-21 03:29 pm (UTC)End-of-life issues are also horribly complicated. Here in the USA doctors will automatically do FAR more than make a patient comfortable, they will do all kinds of insane things like putting a feeding tube into an 85 year old who is suffering from advanced dementia. There too I feel family and personal wishes trump the nurses and doctor. Sigh.
No easy answers.
It was almost 90 degrees F in Ukiah this week. Beautiful with the trees just leafing out...