There Are Limits To Medical Technology
Jack D. Gordon, President
Hospice Foundation of America
[Note: Mr. Gordon served as Chairman and CEO of HFA until his death in
2005.]
We live in a day when the promise of medical miracles constantly surrounds us. But in spite of remarkable machines and techniques, there are limits to medical technology. If physicians would accept this as fact they would better serve their patients, particularly those with a terminal illness or disease.
Physicians are trained to aggressively treat in order to "cure," and may view death as a personal defeat or as a defeat for medicine. When confronted with an incurable illness, many are likely to continue to prescribe the only treatment they know.
But how can they cure if cure just is not possible?
The physician may tell a very ill patient that this radiation or that chemical technique or surgery will let them live longer, because it may have "worked" for a prior patient. But that can never be known because there is no way to tell if the patient wouldn't have lived just as long in hospice care, where pain is kept under control and the patient is kept more comfortable.
Some of these treatments may be appropriate for some people. But for many, the effects of the diagnosis and treatment are worse than the disease, and for those people, honesty and candor about the progression of the disease are necessary so that they may make an informed decision on all options available to them, particularly the hospice option.
Too many people with incurable disease are not referred to hospice, where their needs as terminally ill individuals can be met. For some people dying is simply the end of existence. For many, it is a time of serious spiritual and emotional work. In either case, by keeping the patient free of pain, hospice permits one's individual needs to be met, which helps ensure dignity to the end of life.
Many physicians believe that a referral to hospice is "giving up." Nothing could be further from the truth. Hospice is very aggressive in controlling pain and discomfort, which allows the patient to sense the surrounding presence of love, not machines.
That's a victory, not a defeat.
Tell us what you think.
