Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Donuts and Terri
Spent the night on a Geri unit. The morning wake-up-and-feed-the-helpless routine was quite the zoo. Yet no one suggested that we park these people in a corner for a couple of weeks to quietly, or noisily, starve. I admit that I was a little surprised to find that no one had euthanized some of our patients while I was away. When I left the hospital I first went to use a free Dunkin' Donuts coupon given to me by the day RN (thanks again, A.)
On the way home I got into some interesting discussions. One was with a somewhat brain-damaged (2° MVA) but very functional friend who assured me that he is going to get 'DNR' tattooed over his sternum. That's my kind of Advanced Directive! Another talk was with a colleague who reminded me that this sort of thing goes on all the time without the fanfare.
Once home I brunched on the last of the leftover Kroger's rotisserie chicken (2 1/2 meals!), Diet Coke, salad, and some Purim goodies I missed yesterday. Even went out on the front step and smoked a cigar. Much more of a meal and a morning than Terri Schiavo's having.
I've looked at a bunch of the verbiage, imagery, and law surrounding this murder. I'm no slouch when it comes to patient assessment, chart reviews, and medico-legal matters. My friends, and my enemies, we have crossed the divide. We now have a precedent leading to overt euthanasia. Not 'assisted suicide'. Not 'enthusiastic over-administration' of narcotics. Not 'end-of-life' care. Euthanasia. When the day comes that a judge may declare your life valueless, when they bring your 'hot-shot' of morphine or phenobarb, it will be too late for you to say much. On that day, you may even discover that your Living Will/AD doesn't carry the weight that you thought it would.
Previous FASTAC 6 posts on Terri Schiavo:
terri-picking-up-speed-on-slippery
because-terris-case-is-too-important
observation-about-terri-schiavos-case
terris-death
On the way home I got into some interesting discussions. One was with a somewhat brain-damaged (2° MVA) but very functional friend who assured me that he is going to get 'DNR' tattooed over his sternum. That's my kind of Advanced Directive! Another talk was with a colleague who reminded me that this sort of thing goes on all the time without the fanfare.
Once home I brunched on the last of the leftover Kroger's rotisserie chicken (2 1/2 meals!), Diet Coke, salad, and some Purim goodies I missed yesterday. Even went out on the front step and smoked a cigar. Much more of a meal and a morning than Terri Schiavo's having.
I've looked at a bunch of the verbiage, imagery, and law surrounding this murder. I'm no slouch when it comes to patient assessment, chart reviews, and medico-legal matters. My friends, and my enemies, we have crossed the divide. We now have a precedent leading to overt euthanasia. Not 'assisted suicide'. Not 'enthusiastic over-administration' of narcotics. Not 'end-of-life' care. Euthanasia. When the day comes that a judge may declare your life valueless, when they bring your 'hot-shot' of morphine or phenobarb, it will be too late for you to say much. On that day, you may even discover that your Living Will/AD doesn't carry the weight that you thought it would.
Previous FASTAC 6 posts on Terri Schiavo:
terri-picking-up-speed-on-slippery
because-terris-case-is-too-important
observation-about-terri-schiavos-case
terris-death
