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Topic:
Why Doctors die differently
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Terminius_Est
Title: Moon River
Posts: 894
Registered: 2002-2-27 06:08:05
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Why Doctors die differently
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203918304577243321242833962.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read
Years ago, Charlie, a highly respected orthopedist and a mentor of mine, found a lump in his stomach. It was diagnosed as pancreatic cancer by one of the best surgeons in the country, who had developed a procedure that could triple a patient's five-year-survival odds—from 5% to 15%—albeit with a poor quality of life.
Charlie, 68 years old, was uninterested. He went home the next day, closed his practice and never set foot in a hospital again. He focused on spending time with his family. Several months later, he died at home. He got no chemotherapy, radiation or surgical treatment. Medicare didn't spend much on him.
It's not something that we like to talk about, but doctors die, too. What's unusual about them is not how much treatment they get compared with most Americans, but how little. They know exactly what is going to happen, they know the choices, and they generally have access to any sort of medical care that they could want. But they tend to go serenely and gently.
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Jezza_Belle
Title: =^.^=
Posts: 2,771
Registered: 2001-2-24 02:29:30
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Why Doctors die differently
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I think most people faced with 5-15% odds would choose to live the rest of their time in peace, not in the agony that is cancer treatment.
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( - Y - ) These ones are not real, just FYI.
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Why Doctors die differently
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Jezza_Belle posted:
I think most people faced with 5-15% odds would choose to live the rest of their time in peace, not in the agony that is cancer treatment.
Excellent point. I didn't read the article but I wonder where the break points are percentage wise for doctors behaving like the general population.
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Jezza_Belle
Title: =^.^=
Posts: 2,771
Registered: 2001-2-24 02:29:30
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Why Doctors die differently
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Aerlinthian posted:
Jezza_Belle posted:
I think most people faced with 5-15% odds would choose to live the rest of their time in peace, not in the agony that is cancer treatment.
Excellent point. I didn't read the article but I wonder where the break points are percentage wise for doctors behaving like the general population.
I'm sure they are much more willing to accept the inevitable simply because they see sickness and death regularly so it's not a shock to them that it could happen... They also know the truth about treatments, and recovery chances, as well as quality of life in the long run.
I'm not sure I would have chosen treatment if my odds had been bad, or if my only option was to continue having treatment for the rest of my life (however long). There are TONS of cancers that don't get "cured", they go into remission, and you keep coming back for maintenance treatments forever. I don't know how I'd feel about living like that.
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-Accident-
Title: Waiting to happen
Posts: 660
Registered: 2000-8-24 09:49:04
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Why Doctors die differently
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Jezza_Belle posted:
I think most people faced with 5-15% odds would choose to live the rest of their time in peace, not in the agony that is cancer treatment.
I don't know about that necessarily. This guy was 68 years old, odds are his kids were grown, if he had any. If it happened to me right now, my kids are ages 6 and 7. Getting even just a couple more years with them would be huge and that could be well worth the agony IMO.
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I realize now I do not fear death. I fear my daughter will not be free when I die.
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Reapist
Title: Official ACF HIOFI Poster
Posts: 4,367
Registered: 2001-12-20 03:56:16
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Why Doctors die differently
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You know the urban legend about the guy that strapped a rocket engine to his El Camino and on a curve in Arizona it kept going straight and smashed into a cliff face? Well, I think I would get the Predator tune on my Challenger so the computer didn't shut the car down at 176 MPH then also get a Paxton Supercharger and Nitrous. Then I think I'd find that same desert road and see how fast my car could go.
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Referring to illegal aliens as 'immigrants' is the same as referring to shoplifters as 'shoppers' - Dorvinion
I'd feel bad for Satriani but he got himself into it. - allmightybob_MLF
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jonus156
Posts: 906
Registered: 2005-10-12 11:53:45
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Why Doctors die differently
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-Accident- posted:
Jezza_Belle posted:
I think most people faced with 5-15% odds would choose to live the rest of their time in peace, not in the agony that is cancer treatment.
I don't know about that necessarily. This guy was 68 years old, odds are his kids were grown, if he had any. If it happened to me right now, my kids are ages 6 and 7. Getting even just a couple more years with them would be huge and that could be well worth the agony IMO.
this. if i got cancer 20 years from now im 95% sure i wouldnt get treated id just make the most out of the time i had left
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Gaevren
Title: Wat do?
Posts: 1,181
Registered: 2004-9-15 09:29:36
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Why Doctors die differently
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-Accident- posted:
Jezza_Belle posted:
I think most people faced with 5-15% odds would choose to live the rest of their time in peace, not in the agony that is cancer treatment.
I don't know about that necessarily. This guy was 68 years old, odds are his kids were grown, if he had any. If it happened to me right now, my kids are ages 6 and 7. Getting even just a couple more years with them would be huge and that could be well worth the agony IMO.
Agreed. At this point in my life I'd take just about any opportunity offered to me in order to spend more time with my kids and family. But at 68? I'd probably do the same as the doctor did.
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There are no automatic doors, just very polite ninjas
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JD_HOGG
Posts: 2,846
Registered: 2008-3-18 08:04:21
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Why Doctors die differently
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Jezza_Belle posted:
I think most people faced with 5-15% odds would choose to live the rest of their time in peace, not in the agony that is cancer treatment.
Could be that. Could also be the realization that he'd spend everything he has to get that extra 10% chance and chose to leave his family some money instead. Things probably look at lot different when you aren't the guy getting paid to give someone that extra 10% chance.
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myxomatosis8
Title: amateur zookeeper
Posts: 800
Registered: 2001-7-14 23:45:21
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Why Doctors die differently
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68? Forget that isht, I'm not going to be racked with nausea and have my QOL destroyed to maybe get another couple months or years in that condition...
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