Here is the link to the video we watched today in class:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/facing-death/
There are lots of good resources on the Frontline Facing Death website. See the Facts and Figures page, for example.
Some questions for your consideration. Not everyone needs to answer all of the questions; I'm trying to prompt a discussion. Here, just talk about your initial reaction to and any questions you might have from the video.
Watching the video was quite an eye-opening experience for me. As I stated in my introduction, I have been blessed to have had very few deaths in my immediate family, so seeing death in such raw and vivid detail was truly heart-wrenching. I connected with almost all the families and patients in the video, especially the father of three that was refusing to accept his death. I was surprised at how emotional I became watching his portion of the video - I could feel his desperation over his losing battle with cancer and his families overwhelming sadness over the loss of their loved one.
ReplyDeletePutting the emotional aspects of the film aside, it did raise some very thought provoking questions over end-of-life care and the means by which people may chose to stay alive. The costs of treatment in the last months of life is astonishing – 78% of the allotted money to treat cancer in the last year of life is spent in the last month; in the last two years of life, patients with chronic illness account for 32% of Medicare spending; a bone marrow transplants cost 1.3 billion dollars annually (and some patients opt to the procedure more than once)…the list of costs could go on and on. These facts have led some to argue that this enormous resource of cash could be better spent elsewhere – not over procedures that can extend life for weeks or months (not curing the underlying problem). While I can see the rationality of this argument, I believe that no one can put a limit on end-of-life care measures, until they are the ones who are facing an incurable diagnosis or have a family member that is doing the same. From my experiences with the elderly, I have learned how much living can go on at the end of one’s life. I also worry that if statutes are put into place to determine what care one can receive, there is no stopping what other things can be decided for the individual based on the national pocketbook. This class is showing me how many tricky issues can arise at the end of life and how many sides can be argued in favor or against them. Ending “futile” care is just one of many problems that face Americans today and help to place each individual’s morality at the center stage of their thoughts.
This video was was difficult to watch in way. At times I I became emotional because I could put myself in their shoes. Seeing the one man with his family and girlfriend was hard because it seemed like they all wanted different things for him. I think it would be difficult to understand what exactly the patient wants if everyone is saying different things. I could not believe how much money is spent for all of the treatment. I think this is a big issue with healthcare as to where they are spending the money. It's a difficult decision because you could spend a ton of money on someone and really that treatment may not help much, plus some of these patient's are at the end of their life. I think a question is should we use more of that money on children to help prolong their life? Even though if possible we need to help everyone we can. But could we benefit from this. There are many issues that deal with dying and there are many different perspectives that go along with death. I hope by the end of this class I will have a better understanding of all of the issues we face with this topic.
ReplyDeleteThis video was not easy to watch. It was rather difficult to see the man with leukemia fight for his life. You could tell he was not ready to leave his wife a widow. For some reason, his situation touched me the most.
ReplyDeleteAs Michelle mentioned, end of life care is expensive and I also wonder how the money could be better spent. However, I do not feel as if I or anyone else should really have a say in the matter just because each individual situation is different. Who would I be to deny treatment to someone who wants to live another day, month, or year?
from Megan Grieshop
ReplyDeleteInitial Questions about Dying
I would prefer to die in my home, in my bed with my closest family by my side. I determine appropriate care to be that the person who is dying is above all comfortable with their needs met such as being cleanly and meeting the needs of that person whether it be a drink of water or calling family. Just so the individual is well respected when their time has come. I personally believe that doing nothing is never appropriate, because doing nothing to me is termed as leaving the individual completely alone, never going to check on them, never assisting them in any way even if it is only to make them more comfortable. I see simply sitting next to an individual who is dying as doing something. I personally see an obligation to care for a family member that is dying, especially one that has played a part in raising you, I see it as a way for the individual to return the kindness and care that the one who is dying offered to them. I believe that family should work out a schedule to take turns caring for the individual who is dying so they are not alone and bringing that person peace in their hour of need should not feel like a cost for me. I would term a good death as a death in which one knows that their life was full and meaning full and their passing is peaceful.
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ReplyDeleteThis video was really hard for me to watch because I identified the most with the people with cancer. Seeing the man that was bald and horrifically skinny, walking with a cane brought back memories and emotions I thought that I had long ago come to terms with. Healthcare for paitents with cancer is really something that people only with insurance can afford. Its expensive to go through all the treatments, to take the many trips to the doctors and hospital, to pay for the medicine that will help you fight nasuea and so on. Its expensive to keep fighting a disease that wants to end your life. But if in the end you win that fight, the life that you saved was worth the time and struggle it took to get there. In fact, just to keep fighting is worth it, even if we don't all make it to the very end.
ReplyDeleteIf I was to choose a way to die, I would also choose to do it in my home, filled with my closest friends and family. I would want them to be talking and laughing about the good old times and in a way rejoicing that I was going on to a better life and leaving this world behind. While I would miss them dearly, I beleive that life is only one part of our journey. I beleive in heaven and hell and eternal reward, and that if we all live our lives to the best of our abilities, we will be rejoined with those we love, who have passed before us.
The video that we watched in class was very interesting and pretty much hit on what exactly goes on in a hospital setting. Which included having the doctors tell the families loved ones that they have done everything they can do for them and they are not going to survive more than a certain period of time. I thought that the doctor and nurses showed that they truly cared, by offering to call one of the loved ones work to have them get off work during their loved ones last few weeks. I thought that the movie showed how medical employees show compassion for the loved ones family members and of the dying patients. Also I never realized how expensive medical care can be toward the end of someones life. However I believe I understand why that is the case.Doctors want to work and find ways to treat the patients if they have hopes of continuing life. In most circumstances the patients are not ready to die, which can increase the medical fees extremely.
ReplyDeleteFrom Ozzy
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this video, I have no idea how these nurses deal with this every day and continue to be strong. I guess they become sort of immune to it after a while. I’m not saying it’s still not difficult for them but I feel like they have successfully come to terms with death. As I stated in my introduction blog, I know that end of life care is expensive. Before then I had no idea that it was that expensive though. I figured intense surgeries would be more expensive but when we got the medical bills, they proved otherwise. I am however surprised by how much one bone marrow treatment costs. The whole donor situation is fuzzy. To an extent I believe that children should receive the donor organ before an elderly person because they have a longer life ahead of them but there are issues with that. Overall though, I think that if your health is poor and there is someone else on the list that needs that same organ that is in better health, I think they should receive the organ. I have experienced this first hand with my boyfriend’s uncle. He needed a lung but his health was poor so they wouldn’t give it to him. I love him yes, but I also agree and he agrees that it is better to go to a more health person that will get great use out of it. This is whole thing is controversial though.
The video was "easy" to watch for I have encountered so much death in my immediate family that even though I felt for the patients and their families, it was not nearly as hard as others may have taken it for I HAVE been in the families' spot and watching others just doesn't seem as rough. The part that stuck out to me the most was the money. I am a firm believer in not sustaining life if there is no more "life" in a patient (i.e. no brain waves, the only reason the patient is breathing is because a machine is moving air in and out of their lungs, etc). I feel that it is not fair to keep a patient on life support if he/she has no chance to wake up and live a "normal", fully-fucntioning life for it is stopping him/her from moving on to whatever after-life he/she believes in and also unfair for the patient's family. It is unfair to the patient's family because they are having to watch their loved ones wither away to nothing and being given false hope that the patient may wake up and be able to live a normal life even though it is clear there is no brain waves (meaning that the body, if removed from the machine will not be able to live for the "controller" is not alive). The money comes into play in this sense because if the patient's family is wanted to keep him/her alive and all the patient's finances have been exhausted it either falls on the family or sometimes it will end up falling to the government to pay which is not right because the government should not pay to keep someone a live who will not be able to contribute to society again. Perhaps this is harsh, however, it is true...if the brain is dead (meaning no brain waves, heart not beating, not breathing on own, etc), the person is dead and keeping them "alive" because of a machine is a waste of money! This video is a great example of that because of the girl who was on life support for over a year before she was pulled off and then they stated the millions of dollars spent is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteThe frontline video was definitely an eye opener. It made me realize that death is always so black and white. I never knew that someone could be on life support for so long. I always thought that when someone was going to die, the family would just pull the plug. I felt almost as if some of the families were being selfish, in different ways. The family who kept there mother on life support for over a year should have made the executive decision to let their mother go to a better place. Of course it is easier for me to say this, because I have never been put in that situation where I had to decide to pull the plug on a family member. I feel the government should make a timeline on before death care. So much money is going to these patients who have very slim chance of surviving instead of for patients who could actually benefit from research that could be done with that money. This video is a great way to realize how much money is actually spent on this type of care daily.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what everyone else has posted. The video was very depressing but a very realistic view of end of life care. The ending of the video was what depressed me the most, they all died. I feel much of what we see in the media and in movies are happy miraculous endings. I had hoped that the patients in the video would all survive and was utterly shocked at the end when every single one of the patients died.
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