Too Much Suffering

Published

People ask me how I can work for hospice with all that death. Well I work in the hospital too and let me tell you, I sometimes much prefer dealing with death than the suffering that happens at the hospital. Those people are not dying any less because they are in a hospital. I am sick and tired of watching people being kept alive and in excruciating pain because family or doctors just can not have a meaningful conversation about reality!

I wanted to grab someone today and say, "You know what water boarding is! Well that is how your love one is dying right now, hours and hours of water boarding"

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Amen to this. We have such a warped view of death and dying in this country (I guess I'm assuming you're in the US, too.)

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I don't think death is a wonderful thing, but everyone dies. You can't keep people alive forever. The doctors for sure should know better! Some of them just can't get out of the cure mode. Leaving your patient to suffer without adequate medication because they were too sedated is just cruel! Why not let them be sedated! You wouldn't operate on someone who was conscience, why would you make them suffer death that way?

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I'll never forget the Christmas I coded a 100-something year old Alzheimer's patient because his family wouldn't sign the f***ing DNR. His sternum and ribs pretty much disintegrated and his torso looked swollen and bruised. His family was screaming and crying in the halls and they were a nightmare. A real bunch of jerks, and no it wasn't all grief. They were rude and cussed loudly in the waiting room.

His family could've avoided this crisis if they just signed the DNR.

This was a patient who didn't know where the heck he was or who the heck he was. The poor little skinny man in a diaper. He deserved better. I held his hand after we stopped and said I was sorry. I went into the bathroom and cried for twenty minutes after that.

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That's awful. Hopefully the code ended quickly and the patient was already dead and did not feel anything. One of the worst experiences I had was when my lovely 94-year old godmother was coded (successfully unfortunately) and kept alive in the ICU by her daughter for weeks. The hospital refused to give her TPN, thank god, and the daughter went on the warpath. I just had to remove myself from that situation. I think that one of the reason so many ex-ICU nurses come to hospice is for exactly the reasons you are discussing.

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Yep! I know exactly what you mean!

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DNR's for Alzheimer's patients are immoral. Ditto for feeding tubes and life support. ...what are we feeding and supporting at that point? My grandmother had several strokes, dementia, feeding tubes, the whole 9 yards....you know what happened? She was miserable and cursed us all out, repeatedly. She had said, in no uncertain terms, that when God called her, to let her go. Too bad the POA didn't get the memo. I still have nightmares about her suffering. RIP Grandma....please

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Specializes in LTC, Sub-Acute, Hopsice.

I'm hoping you mean that NOT having a DNR for an Alzheimer's pt is immoral...I get that feeling from the rest of your post.O:-)

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