Has medicine and technology gone too far?????

[micro]

A very multifaceted question. With many answers even as I ask it. Speaking personally.........medical technology rocks....or I would not even be alive('nother story')

But beyond the micro world.....

does our care and medical care of our patients sometimes extend beyond the beyond.....

like when is enough enough......

in the case of a multiple end-stage organ failure dx patient.....

.........carcinomas.....beyond the point of no return.........

because someone other than the patient cannot let go......., even though the patient is saying let me go.................

Is it $$$

Is it the oath that "we" all take ...........

What is it.........

Sometimes.....I have just seen enough is enough.....and it is so sad..............

but, yet.........

there is always at least two sides to a story..........

micro is just chillin today...........

thoughts anyone.........

[adrienurse, LPN]

Too often I see things done to my poor little old people that make me cringe. It's a case of "okay, just because we can do that _____, should we really be doing it. "Because we can" is never a good reason to do anything. These people need to all take a good look at themselves and wonder why they can't just make let a person who is going to go, go peacefully. I believe in being honest to my patients. Too often I'm the one delivering the bad news that their loved one is unconscious and cheyne-stoking when they're still waiting to hear the results of such and such test on the off chance that there is "something" that can be done. Some doctors and nurses feed into this inability for family to believe that this is the end.

[micro, RN]

"We will make it better"

"They have to get better"

"Make it better"

"Better"

what is better.....

tough stuff we see and deal with..........

from the nursing aspect..........

and when it touches us personally.........

It is tough to be the one that delivers the news of the imminent or just "passed" when all hope has been put out there.....

micro and out for now.....

because others words more eloquent than mine.....

keep on keepin on all

bbrn and adrienurse....and all

[adrienurse, LPN]

Well another night shift is gone and I have ushered yet another frail demented resident up to the great beyond. The family made the point of thanking me personally for calling them in, in the middle of the night when I knew he was starting to go.

I'm more than a little frustrated with my co-workers. First there's the MD who I ususally get along with but is just not good at giving "the news"to the families. When they need to be prepared for the fact that the inevitable is going to happen, she hems and haws about "well I can order some tests....." when the person is in renal failure and he's poor and all the other staff know he's gonna go. Then there's the co-workers who were there before I came on for the night shift. Did not really talk to the family, still maintaining the hope that something magical will show up in that bloodwork. By the time 0400 rolls around, the family really has no idea that their father has deteriorated so much. So I have to deal with their questions -- because the inevitable is coming fast.

Ohh......sorry for venting. What can I say, this is my life.