A friend recently shared with me an article from the February Wall Street Journal reporting that medical doctors tend not to pursue extreme life-saving measures when they are seriously ill. In fact, as a group they are far less likely than their patients to invest in aggressive treatments for cancer and other life-ending illnesses. Surprising, isn’t it?
The article’s author suggests several reasons that physicians might choose to go quietly toward death (when it is inevitable) rather than submit themselves to painful and expensive heroic or experimental measures. One is that medical doctors understand better than the rest of us that aggressive treatments may buy time at the cost of comfort and personal control. Another reason is that they realize that the odds of success are not those portrayed on TV or in movies. He cites a 2003 study that shows that only 3% of people who have CPR go on to lead a normal life, whereas 67% of television characters who have CPR are portrayed as fully healed.
The hard truth is that the medical procedures we take for granted are not necessarily as effective as we hope. The even harder truth is, simply, that death comes to us all, often at times that seem unfair, brutal, tragic, and unthinkable.
How do we deal with this? And is there any wisdom here that can guide our own choices when faced with awful decisions?
I think that focusing on what matters–what really matters–is our best hope. Apparently many medical doctors conclude that what matters is dying comfortably but without handing control over to institutions and procedures that cause pain out of proportion to the gain. I’ve worked with clients at the end of their lives who came to believe that having a good death mattered more than forestalling death by undergoing yet another ‘hail Mary’ procedure. And I attended an excellent presentation by an oncologist from Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh who argued that what really mattered was helping families to clarify and achieve their own goals when planning treatment for children with life-ending illness.
I believe that what really matters–more than anything–is using our time to maintain the healthiest, most life-affirming, most loving connections we can with those around us. Sometimes we do this by supporting each other to accept what is inevitable. Other times we may do this by fighting to the end.
Sobering stuff, I realize.
Here is a link to the article that got me started on this:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203918304577243321242833962.html