When patients get sick and seek medical
attention, they expect doctors will help them get back to “normal”. Contrary to
what many television shows depict, many ICU patients are those with chronic or
incurable diseases; often in the terminal stage.
When you walk through the ICU what you
actually see are patients connected to ventilators, dialysis machines, numerous
IV pumps and restraints to prevent them from removing all that equipment.
Families seldom see their loved ones attempting to remove their endotracheal
tube, or grimacing
as nursing staff adjust those tubes that have been placed into the lungs or
stomach, or when they are being treated for bed sores from prolonged
immobilization.
Patients too often suffer in vain attempts to
prolong life, because of the mandate to “do everything.” Death and dying does
not happen to us, but to someone else”. We have a “replacement mentality” and
therefore “Americans not only don’t want to die, they are unwilling to accept
the reality of death”. Fact is we all are going to die.
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