Wow I don’t understand why the hospital did not let your dad decide. He should have sued the hospital and doctors. I wouldn’t think your brother had legal standing with your father being competent.
Wow I don’t understand why the hospital did not let your dad decide. He should have sued the hospital and doctors. I wouldn’t think your brother had legal standing with your father being competent.
TT, lawsuits take years to resolve. My father knew he would not be here that long.
I was told by my doctor, after I was resuscitated, and I said I did not want to be resuscitated again should it happen again that at my age (I was 48) they would have ignored my directive and resuscitated me against my instructions.
So I guess it works the other way--they will do unwanted medical procedures to you if you are below a certain age threshold.
People have no idea what healthcare costs and if it's worth it. All day I have been on the phone trying to find out what out of pocket costs will be to see a specialist, recommended to me at my annual eye exam, for central serous retinopathy. As this is often a watch and wait condition I do not want to spend a lot on what may be nothing but observation. Despite a state law guaranteeing me the right to "advance disclosure of allowed amount or charge for admission, procedure or service" no one at multiple practices wants to tell me, not even the cost of the initial consult. We need pricing transparency so people are aware that the course of treatment with a less than 1% chance of success costs $500,000 or whatever the case is. Of course some will not care about costs but others will.
My father was a doctor. After his cancer diagnosis, he made the decision not to undergo further treatment and died shortly thereafter. He had seen how harmful, costly and ultimately useless those treatments could be in terminal illnesses. One might get an extra few months but the side effects were horrible. It is such a personal decision but there is certainly way too much being spent on late in life conditions. I have put more than one doctor on the spot by asking "what would you do" or "what would you advise your wife to do" when confronted with various medical conditions. I think our present medical system is flawed in so many ways...not to mention the things that go wrong when we are advised to get certain preventive tests. Just this past weekend, a relative went in for a routine colonoscopy and ended up in intensive care with aspiration pneumonia from the anesthesia.
If there were age limits (which seems untested, don't think anywhere does that entirely), I can't imagine most people agreeing to them before at least 80, some might say 90. So 77 is unlikely to fall in there anyway, or at a certain point why have Medicare (existing Medicare) at all?
If you want something to get done, ask a busy person. If you want them to have a nervous breakdown that is.
First, I am so sorry this was your Dad's experience.
Second, this is a PERFECT example of why a Living Will document is important. And a designee that is well versed by the patient in the exact desires as well, who can further support the Living Will wishes. And as well, it sounds like your Dad would have wanted and benefited from a DNR which seems appropriate for his health status.
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