For those with advanced illness, hunger is rarely, if ever, a source of discomfort. However, a patient will be affected by dehydration long before suffering any ill effects from the lack of nutritional support. The general impression among hospice clinicians is that starvation and dehydration do not contribute to suffering among the dying and might actually contribute to a comfortable passage from life. The medical evidence is quite clear that dehydration in the end stage of a terminal illness is a very natural and compassionate way to die. In fact, physiologically, dehydration in the dying patient can reduce rather than increase pain and other complications, for example, less fluid in the lungs and therefore less pulmonary congestion, makes breathing easier. Published studies of healthy volunteers report that total fasting causes hunger for less than 24 hours. Ketonemia occurs and is associated with relief of hunger and an accompanying mild euphoria.I should save this under "Potentially Useful Knowledge". But everything is.
Monday, November 08, 2010
Fasting to Death
The father of a relative decided to die. He had been a writer in Yiddish and Russian and a most interesting person, but I am so impatient that was unable to maintain a long conversation with him. He was nearing 100, very lucid and suffering from the treatment of his diseases. He fasted for a week or so and then took painkillers to end his life, which he did. Learning about fasting, I found that...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
My sister's father in law decided to die recently. He was dependent on kidney dialysis and was miserable. It was a very brave decision on his part and the right decision. He discontinued the dialysis and in a short time he was dead. I hope I would be brave enough to make that decision. Given the state of technology, it will be increasingly possible to keep people alive but with a very bad quality of life (the ultimate being those like Sharon who are "alive" but with no life at all - what is the point of keeping a sack of meat alive?)
My wife's stepfather is alive but he has no quality of life. He is nearing 90 and his mind and body are both deteriorating. My mother in law insists on keeping him alive at all costs , including considerable mental/physical cost to herself - she spends all her days and nights caring for him as if he was a small child and it taking a toll on her own health. I tell my children (jokingly) to shoot me if I ever am in this condition. I hope I would have the courage of those other men and take matters into my own hands but in a situation like Sharon's my children would have to intervene. The medical system does not mind keeping vegetables alive - they make money off of this. It is up to the family to be pro-active and not allow these absurd situations to go on. Often the families suffer from magical thinking and hope that the person will wake up again if they pray enough. Our technology has far outrun our ability to cope with such decisions.
K
Our technology has far outrun our ability to cope with such decisions.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that, a lot of people have living wills or medical powers of attorney that expressly state that they do not want to be kept alive as vegetables. What really enables the magical thinking about mortality is all of the free/subsidized medical care that they elderly receive. When someone has to pay for their own treatments they usually, but not always, have a more realistic appraisal of their own health. You wife's parents may have enough money to pay for the endless care your father-in-law might need, but most people don't at the age of 90.
And thus magical thinking about economics leads to magical thinking about the rest of life.
When my mother died (she had liver cancer and the last night had stomach bleeding), I was asked if I wanted artificial life support, etc. I said no and called the Chevre Kadische. As for me, I expect a big bomb that will instantaneously disperse the atoms I am made of.
Often living wills end up being disregarded - as I said before the institutions have economic incentives to keep providing care and they "refuse to overrule" the wishes of the family when the patient cannot speak anymore, wishes that they themselves promote or at least do not quash. As you say, if people were actually paying for this stuff out of their own pocket, they might feel differently. It's easy to wish for miracles when someone else is paying the bill.
For some reason the Catholic Church seems to be one of the principal promoters of the "life at all costs" mentality. Judaism certainly places an extremely high value on life, but there is a point where you have to apply a rational assessment of costs and benefits both to the individual and to the society. Quality of life is more important than life itself. If each day is a living hell of pain and suffering or a vegetative state without any real possibility of recovery, then death is preferable. I don't know why they insist on keeping Sharon plugged in. We all have an alloted span on earth and someday it must come to an end.
J did absolutely the right thing for his mother - this was positively a mitzvah to end her further suffering. She had lived a full life and her job here was complete. When my sister's father in law decided to die, he felt that he was being somewhat selfish in abandoning his son, grandchildren, etc. and asked their permission, which they gave because it was the right thing to do to end his suffering. I happened to be visiting at the time (it was the break-fast meal after Yom Kippur) and it was heartbreaking.
I hope an pray that J is wrong and that he will die peacefully in his sleep of old age when he is 120.
K
The Catholic Church pushes the "life at all costs" mentality in order to reconcile its dual positions of opposing abortion and opposing capital punishment. Some of the more gullible elements of the Catholic community want to push to save all of the little children while still remaining friends with the liberals who oppose effective punishment of violent criminals. Neither the liberals, nor the conservatives in the Catholic Community realize that there is a third position that uses the common Protestant-Catholic fight to end abortion to end Protestant opposition to the Roman Catholic Church. In reality the RCC has always been a false partner in the fight to end abortion else it would have excommunicated such liberal swine such as Ted Kennedy decades ago.
In short, the anti-abortion movement is a fraud used to import Mexicans, build friendship with Protestants who should know better and squelch all anti-Catholic talk as being a hindrance to "saving the children."
And yes, China really does have 1.8b people.
I agree. Anyone with a brain knows that this particular Catholic doctrine is stupid, what more can be said.
My great-grandmother passed this way in her 90s. If I had to guess, I'd say our bodies have built-in protocols for death just like any other aspect of life.
Post a Comment