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Discussion Forum : News and Current Events : Cancer doctors dodge the death talk

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ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Cancer doctors dodge the death talk

I saw this on CNNs news page this morning. I felt gratified to see some professionals are finally seeing what Christians have known all along: terminally ill people should be told they are in a terminal state (of course, all of us are, but some are more obvious then others).

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/06/15/cancer.talk.ap/index.html

This article makes a statement: "people crave these conversations, because without a full and candid discussion of what they're up against and what their options are, they feel abandoned and forlorn, as though they have to face this alone." And people tend to think that confronting reality is what kills...Wrong. Knowing you are facing probable death is relaxing. You change gears, approach life differently and get ready for its passing. It gives the rest of the family opportunities to say "Good-bye" and you will never regret that. That alone will come back to comfort you after the demise of your loved one.

After observing our daughter's experience with glioblastoma, being in and out of hospitals, talking with doctors, nurses, my perspective of ministering to terminally ill patients has taken a radical turn, a 180 degree turn. I have seen first hand the truth of Ecclesiastes 7:2: "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart." There is something holy, sacred in being with a terminally ill person who is ready to go to be with the LORD. Persons who minister professionally have wonderful opportunities to minister to this kind of person. Methinks if were a younger person I would seriously consider a career in this field. The opportunities to minister are great.

An added benefit to ministering to terminally ill persons is that it changes your own perspective of life: what is important and what is not: what has eternal value and what does not. Being with a terminally ill person will do more to challenge your outlook on life than anything else I know.

Just thought I would share this because it just might encourage [i]someone[/i].

Blessings,
ginnyrose


_________________
Sandra Miller

 2008/6/16 7:39Profile









 Re: Cancer doctors dodge the death talk

When my mother was terminally ill with cancer hospice took care of her in our home the last days of her life and did a wonderful job along with all our family members. After that I though "wouldn't it be nice to work for hospice and take care of the sick on their death bed", until I saw what happened with, Terry Shiavo. I could never withhold water from a patient even if they asked me to themselves.

 2008/6/16 7:52
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re:

Quote:
After that I though "wouldn't it be nice to work for hospice and take care of the sick on their death bed", until I saw what happened with, Terry Schiavo. I could never withhold water from a patient even if they asked me to themselves.



Now this is the epitome of cruelty, if you ask me!

ginnyrose


_________________
Sandra Miller

 2008/6/16 7:58Profile









 Re:

Quote:

ginnyrose wrote:
Quote:
After that I though "wouldn't it be nice to work for hospice and take care of the sick on their death bed", until I saw what happened with, Terry Schiavo. I could never withhold water from a patient even if they asked me to themselves.



Now this is the epitome of cruelty, if you ask me!

ginnyrose



I don't know if I would last long there if I did. I would be giving them water and feeding them ice chips all the time.

 2008/6/16 8:30
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re:

Quote:
I don't know if I would last long there if I did. I would be giving them water and feeding them ice chips all the time.



Rebecca, I was thinking the same after reading your post...and then wondering what they would do to me if caught? Not that it matters, but it is something one may have to consider knowing that possibility could be closer then we like to think.

You know what? People have become so ambivalent about these issues. I remember years ago, perhaps 20 years, there was a novel written where the writer presented the concept of euthanasia/suicide as a duty and people were mortified. I had a friend who burned her copy because she was so upset with such a radical, wicked idea. I told her this is a very real possibility in our future and that it could very well effect our generation. Now she was shocked, for sure!

So, you have on one hand physicians refusing to discuss terminal issues with their patients and on the other working actively to kill a patient.

I have heard the old people talk about how some doctors will give their patients lethal injections..illegal, certainly, but nobody is fussing. If I recall Dr. Bernard Nathanson wrote about this in his book "The Hand of God". (Dr. Nathanson was the Jewish doctor who worked hard to legalize abortion and later did a complete turn around on this issue and since professed to have become a Christian, being baptized into to the Catholic church. A radical change for a man who was responsible to have aborted 55,000 babies!)

Have a blessed day!
ginnyrose


_________________
Sandra Miller

 2008/6/17 23:10Profile





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