#but I really think refusing my grandmother a procedure she wanted that relieved her pain would be incredibly cruel

[nerdgirlnarrates]

Recently I was talking to another med student and shared that before my grandmother died, her heart failure had gotten so bad that her doctors couldn’t effectively diurese her and she ended up needing several thoracenteses. The other med student suggested that these procedures were too aggressive and my grandmother’s doctors should have let her die instead. And I’m confused, because these procedures were very much palliative in nature: it is painful to have a pleural effusion preventing you from breathing well. She needed surgery to address the valve issues causing her heart failure, but she was not a good candidate for surgery, so she had already foregone curative measures. Also, my grandmother did not want to die of a pleural effusion. I’m not saying her quality of life was good--it wasn’t--but she didn’t want to essentially drown to death. And I’m kind of upset at the notion that her doctors should have forced her to die that way. That’s not humanity, peace, or dignity in death. Maybe I’m misunderstanding something, but the conversation has left me unhappy.

#I honestly hope I'm missing something #but I really think refusing my grandmother a procedure she wanted that relieved her pain would be incredibly cruel #also not sure how we're bypassing the issue of her very much having capacity and consenting to the procedure #idk this philosophy that this decision about her life #both its quality and quantity #should be taken away from her #makes me queasy #medblr #med school #med student #medicine #palliative care #end of life #my content #my text posts