But nothing is going to change.
I'm talking about all the discussions and work attempting to reform and revise our health care system...a system that has had cost escalating faster than any other segment of the economy...a system that very few users find empathetic or understanding or effective - in spite of all the crap spouted out about it being the best in the world. In spite of all that dissatisfaction nothing is going to really change because of two facts.
- As a society we are afraid to die and are unwilling to accept death as a natural part of life.
- The medical business has taken the first fact and turned it into a gold mine.
But who, when their own life is on the line a loved one's is on the line, is going to say no don't spend that ultra expensive care to keep me or my loved one alive? Not many of us that I know. Not even myself. Not when we have the alternative. Should I have gone through all the expense related to donating a kidney to my sister? Did it really make sense from sociatal economic standpoint? No. But I never even questioned it.
If you are a professional, a drug company, a hospital, All the dollars in the industry are to be made in expensive tests, expensive procedures, expensive care that extends life a few months. And knowing that people will use the expensive tools if they are available, they make more and more. And the industry makes more and more money.
We could totally change the economics of the healthcare system if we would all allow people to die sooner with less dramatic care spent to add that extra month or two. But it's not what we want nor what we will accept. And those who make money off of it know it.
It is a rule of politics that the tacit will of the populace prevails. It may not be the expressed will but the will that causes people to act or acquiess. In the case of the USA, we'd rather go bankcrupt than accept a moment left of our life no matter how unpleasant thos last moements are or how much they cost.
5 comments:
There is some nuance and wiggle room to the truth you say here. For example, most of us are very ignorant about healthcare and the benefits of certain procedures. I heard an interesting discussion on NPR with a doctor when his mother was dying. Her doctors had recommended a certain procedure be done to make her more comfortable. To most people- end of conversation. Make her more comfortable? Sounds good to me. The doctor-son, who knew something about it, questioned the practitioner further. What are the other ramifications of the procedure? How long will it work? How much longer is she going to live (she did not want to be extended uneccessarily)and is it worth all the additional trauma of another surgical procedure? Ultimately he was able to determine that it wasn't worth it, and decided not to have the procedure performed.
I don't know that your organ donation is comparable to other extreme deathbed care. How many years did you give your sister? many more than a few months.What kind of quality of life does she enjoy? Pretty darn good. That's not the same as keeping someone in intense pain and barely conscious on respirators for an additional month.
What I mean to say is that everyone should be able to make an informed choice as to how long the lives of themselves or their loved ones should be prolonged- different people have different thresholds. And our current system is designed to make people live as long as possible- whether they want to or not.
I never really looked at it that way, but I agree with what you say. Seems to me that as a society, we should be working harder on reinforcing healthy habits in our children so as to prevent there being so much need for extreme measures in the later years.
Yes, there are some topics we don't discuss. Like spending huge amounts of money on end of life care. Another non-discussed topic is over population of the world with all its ramifications. Pretty interesting.
I often wonder how they are going to deal with the costs in Europe - do people accept death here more gracefully?
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