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do doctors know best ?
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i am not a big advoate of prescription drugs however have found myself in a situation where other people that it is appropriate to guess what your wishes would be if such a scenario occurred ..ie ...if your only chance of survival was a life support machine ..would you want it ..personally no ..nature takes care of its self |
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crazed ..can i adopt you through the site officially ??
on a serious note though ..none of my wishes were respected ...i was on drugs that kept me asleep for a week and i do wonder why we dont have the private option ..on a regular gp visit ..to answer how we would like to be treat should such a scenario occur |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"See too many people kept alive by too many drugs for too long in my line of work. If someone has lost their quality of life then they should be allowed the dignity of death, in my opinion  "
I know some people who needs drugs to stay alive, but it doesn't affect their mobility or their mind. So all is good In that respect. Its the ones that knock you out of this world is the "problem". |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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no chance, I see far to many people in my line of work with zero quality of life to have learnt when to call it day, the day I ever get told I have Alzheimer's I will top myself there and then before i'm to far gone to do it |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"crazed ..can i adopt you through the site officially ??
on a serious note though ..none of my wishes were respected ...i was on drugs that kept me asleep for a week and i do wonder why we dont have the private option ..on a regular gp visit ..to answer how we would like to be treat should such a scenario occur"
Why am I worried about that first bit of your post  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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No doctors dint know best been given a certain drug that's highly addictive now told I have to be taken off it as it's knackered my immune system why was I not I told this before being put on them? Surely it should of been my choice? |
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By *inaTitzTV/TS
over a year ago
Titz Towers, North Notts |
Depends very much on the specific circumstances, really.
My Granddad was kept alive beyond his time. Not in hospital or anything, just by being on enough tablets to make you wonder how he wasn't rattling every time he moved. Whilst I treasured every moment, he had had enough by the end.
One day he announced that he was 'F***ing bored.' That took us all by surprise as apart from once during the war and with good reason, no one had ever heard him swear  |
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By *nnyMan
over a year ago
Glasgow |
"I think life is precious and should be preserved, but surely it's up to the individual?
thats the point its not ..my family know i would never want to be artificially kept
alive and yet i was"
There's nothing to compel a hospital physician to allow you to die but it'll help if you've explained your wishes to your GP in advance and had it recorded in your hospital notes.
There's still the problem that docs are likely to pay heed to a close relative who contradicts your wishes. |
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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago
Somewhere in North Norfolk |
In this case it sounds less like the doctors thinking they know best and more like your family ignoring your wishes.
That said, doctors have legal and sworn responsibilities that don't always allow them to adhere to the patient's wishes. A Do Not Resuscitate request may be respected but unless you need resuscitation, making the decision to let you die would be extremely dicey ground for a doctor, especially when it's in opposition to what the family want.
Doctors are often in a difficult situation, especially when the patient is not capable of exressing their wishes. They are often sued by one side or the other when the patient and the family disagree about care. They also run the risk of being struck off as a result of a bad decision, thus losing the career they've studied for for many, many years, and their livelihood. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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People have the right to have a living will and/or an advanced directive which can state your wishes.
I agree that sometimes doctors do try to play god and to keep people going. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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its a difficult subject which touches everyone as we will have seen someone we love suffer with various illnesses, however for me, i have to believe that i can trust a doctor to know what's best. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I think life is precious and should be preserved, but surely it's up to the individual?
thats the point its not ..my family know i would never want to be artificially kept
alive and yet i was"
So are you saying that you regret being treated. If you hadn't been what would have been the likely outcome. Could you have died or had lasting effects from a brain injury. Surely if you made a full recovery you're happy with that outcome.  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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My Mum has spent more time in hospital in the last 18 months than she has at home. She can't go out without the aid of a wheelchair, struggles to do simple tasks and is now going blind.
She is on endless medication and when it fails they try another. Now some could cope and fight throught it which makes treatment easier but my Mum mopes and has just given up, so I do wonder why they are still pumping her full of drugs to keep her alive for that bit longer. She has no real quality of life.
Her illness is not curable, it kills many after 10 or so years, she has had it for over 20 years, she has enough but doctors want to prolong life that little bit longer regardless of quality.
I'm more resilient but if I get to the stage where I can't wipe my own arse then I'd want out. If I was an animal I'd get put to sleep or let nature take it's course.
I do think sometimes doctors keep their patients alive and pump them with drugs as an experiment. My Mums illness is rare and not understood.
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I think it depends on the circumstances of each case. When I was 20 I was asked by doctors to make a decision switch my dad's machine off. It was something we had discussed years before after visiting my grandmother in hospital and all I could go on was him saying "Don't ever let me end up like that"
He had pancreatic cancer so there was no hope of recovery.
Since then I've known two people to be in a coma and on life support but the difference was that this was after accidents and both are now relatively ok.
I guess what I'm saying is that every case is different, there is no 'one size fits all' solution.
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I have a DNR set up! I made the choice that if I couldn't have a standard of life where I could look after myself I wouldn't want to be here. I feel although some people live on medical intervention it just wouldn't be for me nor fair on others having to take care of me. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I think life is precious and should be preserved, but surely it's up to the individual?
thats the point its not ..my family know i would never want to be artificially kept
alive and yet i was"
Why do you want to adopt me through the site officially? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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from an early age, I have expressed my wishes to all my family members and they have promised to carry these out. my wishes are very simple, if I am being kept alive artificially and have no quality of life, then the doctors can have any part of me they need, ie organ donation, and then switch the machine off..... I would rather help others than be kept alive |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I have a DNR set up! I made the choice that if I couldn't have a standard of life where I could look after myself I wouldn't want to be here. I feel although some people live on medical intervention it just wouldn't be for me nor fair on others having to take care of me. "
Exactly the way I feel, I'm healthy at the moment but if I ever lost the ability to look after myself I'd get a DNR. My Mum had a DNR until my sister talked her out of it |
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"People have the right to have a living will and/or an advanced directive which can state your wishes.
I agree that sometimes doctors do try to play god and to keep people going. "
I had exactly this discussion whilst watching the programme about Stephen Hawkins last night; motor neurone disease with an advanced directive and living will that precluded intervention other than palliative care who changed his/her mind at 1 second to midnight and decided that he/she wanted to be resuscitated etc. The outcome was entirely as expected but the individual, family and professionals involved were subjected to an enormous amount of physical and/or emotional trauma; sometimes it really is best to allow nature to take its own course. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I think life is precious and should be preserved, but surely it's up to the individual?
thats the point its not ..my family know i would never want to be artificially kept
alive and yet i was"
Sometimes its hard to listen to your head when your heart says something else, even though you know the wishes of someone else if you know the outcome could mean death its hard to not try everything offered before you give up |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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It's quite simple OP, IF you do not want to take drugs DON'T see a doctor and you wont get any.
GP or Hospital any doctor has to do his best to maintain life that's what they do.
Also anyone finding you in need of a doctor will call one, or they face the prospect of being charged under UK law.
So if you wish to let nature take it's course find somewhere quiet private and lockable where you avoid putting anyone in the situation of having to call medical help.
Bottom line is if you are starting this thread whilst in a medically induced coma on a life support machine, big to you, you have done something remarkable, if however you are now mended then the doctors with their interventions did a good job, you have some more life, go enjoy it. |
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"Doctors dont always know best as sometimes they dont even have ears as they dont listen "
Good doctors have experience and take the time to listen. They then present the options and allow the individual to make an informed choice; unfortunately the options available are not the ones that you might be expecting or want to hear; e.g. individuals ignore, or choose to ignore, warning signs such as a persistent cough, blood in the urine or faeces, changes in skin lesions, unexplained weight loss and fungating breast lesions.
Pancreatic carcinoma usually presents late and is inoperable, metastatic(disseminated/spread) carcinoma tends to be untreatable other than by palliative means such as radiotherapy for bone pain, motorcycle accidents often present with severe and untreatable brain injury.
Even with modern medical techniques and drugs, doctors cannot perform miracles ergo they are not 'gods' and, in my experience, I have never come across a single one who thought that he or she was.
Life is finite and the ways of dying are almost infinite; some of them are faster and less traumatic than others, some are painless, but death is inevitable and the majority of doctors will be working, in the best way possible, for their patients.
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I think life is precious and should be preserved, but surely it's up to the individual?
thats the point its not ..my family know i would never want to be artificially kept
alive and yet i was"
Did you put it in writing or express it before you were kept asleep for a week? I'm sure you didn't, or did you?
How can anyone believe the hearsay of your relatives if they've nothing to prove that a young man who is likely to survive doesn't want treatment?
Do you realise the position a doctor is in if it is perceived that they have knowingly neglected a patient's needs?
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