the thing that gets me in what i see is that SO SO much of what is done (and paid for by someone somehow) is just craziness - ruling everything out to prevent a law suit, treating things because that's just *what you do* and not looking at the big picture. not to mention stuff that's completely pointless and redundant! which just reminded me of something, remember when banjo had all those GI problems and we were in and out of the ER? at one point they wanted to do a rectal exam and guiac even though they were intending to do another more exact (and expensive) test that would have ruled out/in the same illness (all of the potential diagnoses are blurry right now). and when i asked them if there was actually any reason to do it, since they were still going to do this other test, the doctor admitted that really there was no fucking point other than that *that's just what you do*. of course a rectal exam and guiac isn't a big money pit, but it's just an example of how procedures are done without any weight being given to their consequences/costs.
back to stuff-i-see-at-work rather than as banjo's mom.... when i hear the real deal with all this "death panel" stuff i'm like BRING IT ON AND CRANK IT UP. these are discussions that should be happening! people need to think about and talk about what they would/will want! maybe they should make people think and talk about this stuff on a yearly basis. i don't know. i just know that i spend a lot of time looking at people and wondering how they could live in those conditions rather than have palliative care... and then wondering if anyone really truly ever found out what they wanted. and, while i'm babbling, did you see the daily show interview with... betsey whoever? i saw the TV version, which i guess is unedited but just cut off when they ran out of time. the way stewart was reading it it gives people MORE of a chance to say that they DO want life sustaining treatments. but people just read it as pro-DNR etc even though it is pro-DISCUSSION.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-08-26 09:11 pm (UTC)the thing that gets me in what i see is that SO SO much of what is done (and paid for by someone somehow) is just craziness - ruling everything out to prevent a law suit, treating things because that's just *what you do* and not looking at the big picture. not to mention stuff that's completely pointless and redundant! which just reminded me of something, remember when banjo had all those GI problems and we were in and out of the ER? at one point they wanted to do a rectal exam and guiac even though they were intending to do another more exact (and expensive) test that would have ruled out/in the same illness (all of the potential diagnoses are blurry right now). and when i asked them if there was actually any reason to do it, since they were still going to do this other test, the doctor admitted that really there was no fucking point other than that *that's just what you do*. of course a rectal exam and guiac isn't a big money pit, but it's just an example of how procedures are done without any weight being given to their consequences/costs.
back to stuff-i-see-at-work rather than as banjo's mom.... when i hear the real deal with all this "death panel" stuff i'm like BRING IT ON AND CRANK IT UP. these are discussions that should be happening! people need to think about and talk about what they would/will want! maybe they should make people think and talk about this stuff on a yearly basis. i don't know. i just know that i spend a lot of time looking at people and wondering how they could live in those conditions rather than have palliative care... and then wondering if anyone really truly ever found out what they wanted. and, while i'm babbling, did you see the daily show interview with... betsey whoever? i saw the TV version, which i guess is unedited but just cut off when they ran out of time. the way stewart was reading it it gives people MORE of a chance to say that they DO want life sustaining treatments. but people just read it as pro-DNR etc even though it is pro-DISCUSSION.
sigh.
ok that was a whole lotta babbling.