DIY Death Panel
Saw the doctor today about my persistent cough. Diagnosis: somethin’ done shook my bronchial tree. She gave me an inhaler. I’ve never had an inhaler before. I feel like Nerdly von Geekburger. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to contain any form of narcotic. Or work.
I’d’ve settled for some codeine linctus.
Completely unrelated (but medical), I ran across this fascinating article at Small Dead Animals earlier. It’s about how doctors choose to die. The short answer is: as far away from a hospital as possible.
Guys who have seen it a thousand times don’t want any part of modern medicine’s lurid pull-out-all-the-stops end-of-life snuff theater. (Also, people who opt for home hospice over ICU care live longer, on average, with a much higher quality of life. Go figure).
Something the article didn’t make clear — from my experience of medical people (and I have a few in the family), if a condition is curable or even satisfactorily treatable, they’ll grab all the modern medicine they can get. They aren’t anti-medicine. They’re anti-the-horrible-things-we-do-to-the-hopeless-as-they-fade-away.
Even if the topic gives you the willies, I highly recommend you read the article. And then put some future bureaucrat out of a job by making arrangements for yourself.
December 6, 2011 — 12:04 am
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