I'm not 88 or 95 years old. I don't know what its like to be at that age. One thing I wonder about is why do a lot of the very elderly put themselves through all of these complicated medical procedures? Like being resuscitated and going through a hypothermia therapy. The risk of TPA. Being on dialysis. Taking a chance on a major operation. Is it because their children want them to? Are they afraid to die? So many people are uneducated about health care. They don't realize that they may survive the procedure but it is the recovery process that will kill them. They will develop complications. Just being in a hospital environment exposes them to so much risk. The chances of them making it are minimal.
I hope by the time I reach that age, we have started to deal with the fact that we can't continue to keep our very elderly alive with medical care that will only make them suffer in the end. I hope, but I doubt it will happen. We want to live forever
1 comment:
I agree 100%! Just recently, we spent about an hour poking this poor woman to death trying to get a femoral line established for dialysis. It took four of us to hold her down as her daughter waited within ear shot in horror. The patient died a few hours later. Was it worth it?
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