I do not see the need for this advice being written into the health bill.
I don't see the need for it and I wasn't arguing a need for it, in case that wasn't clear. I was arguing that it doesn't mean what breathless people are claiming it means--that the government will force you to give up and die. At worst it's annoying and expensive nannyism.
Others will accept death and refuse medical assistance other than medicine for comfort.
My mother didn't discuss her wishes, didn't do any planning, because she never thought she was going to die. I'm pretty sure that as she was breathing her last breath she didn't think she was dying. My father, OTOH, had a DNR in his pocket for at least a decade, long before he became ill. I'm my father's daughter. Different strokes.
first thing hospice asked for was the living will for their records.
Hospital workers do that, I think, in part out of self interest. They have to deal with the fallout when the patient hasn't expressed his wishes. Part of the fallout is on them and part of it is on the families. It is at best thoughtless of people not to think this through and express their wishes orally to their families if not in the form of a living will. Not doing so is foisting a terrible burden on people you are supposed to love. I wouldn't hesitate to call it cruel and callous.
the feedback i get is the majority of people who qualify for hospice refuse.
I had experience with caring from my father in home hospice. In the transactions I had with hospital social workers, I don't think they were sufficiently direct about the financial benefits of hospice for the patient. My father didn't get it but when I picked up on it and explained it to him, he jumped on it. Being from the depression generation, he was delighted to have all these nice folks come visit him, bring him all sorts of supplies and services, and it didn't cost him a dime. So if what you say is so, perhaps it's as much that the finances weren't explained as their refusal to believe that they're dying.
|
