The New York Times article noted: “Although most of us claim no desire to die with a tube down our throat and on a ventilator, the fact is, as Katy Butler reminds us in “Knocking on Heaven’s Door,” a fifth of American deaths now take place in intensive care, where 10 days of futile flailing can cost as much as $323,000… .”
“The flow of money in health care has created many specialists (‘partialists’ might be a better term) to address each organ, but few people to minister to the emotional or spiritual needs of the dying person or family. Family members who might have kept vigil or heard the dying’s last words had to abide by visiting hours. “Often there were no ‘last words’ because the mouths of the dying were stopped by the tubes of respirators and their minds sunk in chemical twilights to keep them from tearing out the lines that bound them to earth.”
“Butler imagines a day when we might have an ‘811’ number that will bring ‘a flying squad of palliative care and hospice doctors and nurses to the home to provide reassurance to the panicked family and pain management to the dying, as an alternative to a brutal final tour through 911, the E.R. and the I.C.U.'”
Click here to read the full The New York Times book review “Knocking on Heaven’s Door.”
****
Doctor, Did You Wash Your Hands? ™ provides information to consumers on understanding, managing and navigating health care options.
Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H., is Clinical Professor, Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Adjunct Professor, Baruch College ( C.U.N.Y.), Rutgers School of Public Health, and Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration.
This blog shares general information about understanding and navigating the health care system. For specific medical advice about your own problems, issues and options talk to your personal physician.