Death Panels Good

[talon]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/health/24brod.html

Death panels are a Good Idea, far, far better than ostrich-it is, burying your head in the sand denial.

" Also last week, a study<http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa1000678> in The New England Journal of Medicine<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_england_journal_of_medicine/index.html?inline=nyt-org> reported that among 151 patients with newly diagnosed metastatic lung cancer<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/metastatic-cancer-to-the-lung/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier>, those who received palliative care, which is care focused on symptoms, along with standard cancer<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/cancer/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier> therapy had a better quality of life, experienced less depression<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/depression/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier>, were less likely to receive aggressive end-of-life care and lived nearly three months longer than those who received cancer treatment alone. "I wrote a book on end of life care and what to do for the survivors after death several years ago. Since I published it, I've heard from many people who've had to tend terminally ill family and friends about how useful this book was for them. This says to me that people crave information about what happens in those final months, weeks, and days - what their options are, what the progressive signs are, and how to cope with it all. So many people have embraced my book.

This is why I fail to understand why there's such outrage at "death panels" - people are desperate enough for this information they are willing to buy and use and derive benefit from a book written just for Numenists.

That's a sad commentary on the people who are against death panels. They want to make things more difficult, more stressful, more miserable, and ultimately more harmful for everyone - the dying patient and the loved ones supporting the dying.

When I've tended dying co-religionists in hospitals, I've often been accosted by others there on the same mission and asked for advice and information. They want to know what to expect, what to do, how to do things, and who to contact. They don't want platitudes and comfort, they want information.

No one can predict when death will actually come, not any closer than a day or two, but there are lots of options for providing care for those with terminal illnesses. As the article says, people with Alzheimer's or emphesyma can live for years, but they still need information on how it progresses and what their treatment options are. Palliative care isn't an alternative to other treatments, it's an important concurrent treatment plan.

Embrace the death panels for they speak what we want and need to hear.