The Republican "Deathers" have been going about lately spewing their sewage about Obama's alleged Death Panels. That's all you hear on MSM, talk radio, and Fox. They are working themselves up into a frenzy about a subject I dare say most of them know absolutely nothing about.
I have been on a true death panel. A panel charged with the task of deciding the life or death of another beloved human being. This is serious business folks - a business like no other a person can be a part of or in our case - forced to be a part of.
This is my first diary and probably my last, but it is from my heart so please bear with me and follow below.
My wife received a phone call from her mother one night about seven years ago. My wife's father Melvin had suffered what appeared to be a heart attack. The ambulance had been called and she of course wanted us to come ASAP.
When we arrived the ambulance was still in the driveway as the EM T's were working frantically to stabilize him before he was transported on to the hospital. He went into cardiac arrest twice on the way to the hospital but was revived each time by the EM T's. After his arrival he was diagnosed with a major heart attack and was taken immediately in for surgery. He received a triple by pass and was stable by the following morning.
After a few days he regained consciousness and was joking around and getting back to his old self. A couple of weeks passed and he was released to go home. He was doing great and taking daily walks and seemed to be on the mend.
Melvin was a carpenter by trade, had huge calloused hands, and was literally tough as a boot. He was a pillar of the family and my best friend. We called each other several times a week and shared many of the same beliefs about politics and life in general, and I was extremely glad to have him back.
We had welcome home "get togethers" and the family seemed to be getting back to normal. About three weeks after his return home however, we received a call again from my mother-n-law. Melvin was running a high fever and she wanted us to come over if possible. We took him back to the hospital to have him checked out, not expecting the worst by any means, and thinking he had probably contracted a virus or something.
A few days and several tests later we were informed that he had contracted staph infection and it was the bad one - MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus Aureus).
Well, to make the long story shorter - Melvin would never leave the hospital again. The infection destroyed his internal organs, he eventually lost consciousness, and all his life functions were being operated by machine.
One fateful night and three months later, three daughters, a son, his wife, and myself were at his bed side when his doctor stopped by. He informed us there was really nothing more that could be done at that point and there was no chance of recovery.
My wife asked the doctor what he would do if it were his Dad lying there. He hesitated briefly and then replied, "I would let him go." We agonized about it and discussed it for a couple of hours and then a unanimous decision was made - Melvin had suffered enough.
His breathing machine was turned off and in a few minutes - he was gone. Melvin was sixty seven years old. It was a horrific evening for us all, but what happened next caught us completely by surprise. Some members of the family who had not kept up with his daily degeneration felt that we had acted prematurely and had actually "Killed" Melvin. It created problems with his siblings and just turned into a big family mess.
In contrast to this story and a few years later, my ninety year old mother was committed to a nursing home after a years long battle with severe osteoporosis. A few days after she was admitted the administrator came to her room and met with my mother and the family. A "living will" and an advance directive were discussed. My mother, who's mind was still sharp as a tack, was adamant about not wanting any kind of life support whatsoever - not even a feeding tube and this was all put into writing and signed by her.
A couple of years later the time would come when she needed life support to sustain her but of course her wishes were honored. This took the pressure off the family. We all knew this was her wishes and what she wanted and her transition from life to death was much smoother because of it.
To sum up - the proposed legislation in the health care bill dealing with end of life counseling will prevent the kind of "Death Panels" I was involved in. It can take the burden off the family and reduce suffering by providing an end of life road map that honors the wishes of the patient. Had Melvin been given end of life counseling at some point during his hospital stay perhaps everyone involved would have been spared such a heart wrenching experience.
I would also ask that if you are truly ignorant about such things as have been discussed here then please quit yelling and disrupting at these town hall meetings. Try to listen and learn, and get your information from someone who has been down this road - not some TV or radio pundit.