Supplied - CalleamanecerHave you ever asked someone “Hey, have you written down which life-prolonging techniques you would choose if you’re ever incapable of making the decision?”
This is a morbid topic, but you might have to start thinking about writing your wishes down, because our preparations for this worst-case scenario can relieve healthcare professionals and family of a very heavy burden
According to the Edmonton Journal, ill-equipped Canadians aren’t deciding what doctors can or cannot do, nor are they picking someone to relay their wishes to their healthcare providers if they should ever become terminally ill. The debate of whether Canada should legalize euthanasia, or assisted suicide, is also in question.
It is the patients’, family and doctors’ responsibility to ensure the livelihood of any terminally ill patient for as long as possible. But what if the patient is in a lot of pain? If a patient has no record of indicating his wishes, a sense of false hope can result between the families and the doctors that prolongs this situation.
If the case is considered hopeless, doctors may be even more motivated to prolong life with powerful treatments, because it’s easier than saying they’ve given up. I understand the difficulty of deciding between life and death for a patient as healthcare professionals, but their persistence on further treatments produces unrealistic expectations from the family. Furthermore, using more forceful treatment could lead to even more discomfort for patients.
The patient, as the owner of their own body, should choose what they do with it. That being said, I support euthanasia for terminally ill patients going through immense pain. As someone who has witnessed terminal illness before in the family, it’s absolutely devastating to see your loved one in pain. They can’t eat, can’t sleep and can’t breathe. People who have healthy bodies can only imagine their pain. At some point, when one cannot battle their illnesses anymore, we need to prioritize comfort instead of looking for alternate treatments.
Dr. Heather Ross, a cardiologist at Peter Monk Cardiac Center, has stated that “everyone deserves a dignified death — to be comfortable, to bring closure if needed to issues with family or friends, where caregiver and families aren’t abandoned and people ultimately do not suffer” (Edmonton Journal). Dr. Ross’ attitude towards end-of-life care expands within healthcare as shown by Dr. Goldman.
Dr. Russell Goldman, director of Temmy Catner Center for Palliative Care, stated that “If I had to give direction to someone who is making decisions for me, it would be, ‘I can go to the ICU for a little while, if you think I’m going to recover and get better. But if you think I’m not going to recover, and I’m not going to get better, if my quality of life is going to be so diminished, call it off, and call it off quick” (Edmonton Journal).
These doctors remind us that although we usually automatically choose to lengthen a life, we often forget that the treatments used can have a negative effect on the
patients.
Techniques of prolonging life include breathing machines, CPR, tube feeding and dialysis. Though, we must remember that they might not necessarily improve the patient’s health or leave them pain-free. Ribs break during CPR and “most patients on ventilators need to be sedated so they don’t try to pull the breathing tube out” because “the tube burns, it can feel as if someone is pushing a gloved finger down his or her throat” (Edmonton Journal). Families and professionals sometimes don’t have the courage to pull the plug, but as only bystanders of the pain, we must take the comfort of the patient into
consideration.
Patients, families and healthcare workers need to co-operate so they make sure that their foremost goal is fulfilling the patient’s wishes, whether it’s comfortable or not. If they wish to use all the life-prolonging techniques that exist, it’s the duty of the people around them to make sure they get that treatment. Consideration of comfort should only come in when the patient cannot respond with a firm decision, haven’t picked a representative or are terminally ill.
One of the hardest things to hear is the phrase “no hope,” but we all must accept that miracles rarely happen in the medical world and the one thing we are absolutely sure about in this world is death. This is why when a time comes where we must pick quality of life over quantity, we should always pick quality.
