What should a person do when he finds out that he is terminally ill?
In life, we have seen a lot of patients struggling in the ward, under the double torture of disease and medicine, many patients are emaciated and emaciated, in this case, Lao Du, who is over 80 years old, shows the world another choice.
After the cancer was detected, Lao Du did not be pessimistic and disappointed like other patients or seek all medical means to prolong his life, on the contrary, Lao Du chose to see everything, refused treatment, and did not want to spend the last period of his life in the ward.
In the last period of Uncle Du, Uncle Du chose to eat beef noodles every day and play mahjong with his old friends, insisted on refusing chemotherapy, and showed the world another option for cancer patients.
Is it right or wrong for an octogenarian to face the advanced stage of liver cancer and decide to go through the last period of time in style and face death calmly?
Lao Du is a teacher and started his retirement life after retirement.
Lao Du is optimistic and cheerful in life, and his daily hobby is to eat beef noodles not far from home and play mahjong with a few good friends.
One day Lao Du suddenly felt uncomfortable, Lao Du, who had always been in good health, began to have a high fever after that, Lao Du's daughter Du Hui (pseudonym) saw this scene and hurriedly sent Lao Du to the hospital.
After a series of examinations, the doctor finally told Du Hui that Uncle Du had liver cancer. This news can be described as a bolt from the blue for Du Hui, but Du Hui, who knows his father's character well, knows that once he tells his father, he will not be honestly treated, so he told his father that it was just a minor illness and let him be hospitalized for a period of time.
But Lao Du was tired of the boredom in the ward, and under Lao Du's repeated requests, Uncle Du changed from the intensive care ward to the ordinary art of war, and in the end, Du Hui, who couldn't resist Uncle Du, could only choose to let Uncle Du be discharged.
After being discharged from the hospital, in order not to increase the burden on his children, Uncle Du insisted on taking the medicine himself. It was also in the process of taking the medicine that Uncle Du discovered the fact that he was actually suffering from liver cancer, and in the face of this bad news, Uncle Du inevitably fell into a period of confusion, but remembering his wife who still needed to take care of himself and the boredom in the ward, in the end, Uncle Du still insisted on his decision: resolutely not to go to the hospital for chemotherapy.
For a period of time after that, Uncle Du did not have a sad face like other cancer patients all day long, on the contrary, Uncle Du felt that he could eat and sleep, and he should eat and drink like no one else on weekdays, or go to his favorite beef noodle restaurant all day long, and then call a few friends to play mahjong together after eating, and Uncle Du's hearty laughter can often be heard.
During this period, due to the aggravation of his condition, Uncle Du was sent to the hospital twice before and after, but the boring environment in the hospital made Uncle Du insist on refusing to stay in the hospital, and he was unwilling to accept chemotherapy and other treatments to lie on the hospital bed all day, so he asked to be discharged every time he only stayed for a period of time, and lived as usual after being discharged.
Such a chic life lasted for 2 years, at this time Uncle Du's cancer progression has reached a very serious point, the cancer pain on the body is tormenting Uncle Du all the time, at this time Uncle Du was sent to the hospital again, may feel that his time is running out, Uncle Du did not ask to be discharged this time, but in the last period of time Uncle Du asked not to undergo additional treatment, until he left quietly.
Survival is the instinct of life in nature, but Uncle Du faced death calmly and calmly accepted the arrival of death. Before the illness, Uncle Du did not choose to use medical means to continue the broken life, but ensured the happiness of his last days.
We can't judge whether this behavior is right or wrong, but it makes us see that the last option of life is not to lie in the ward and rely on drugs to continue life, but to spend the last happy time according to our own ideas, which is not another choice.
Is euthanasia good or bad, and why does the mainland prohibit euthanasia?
When faced with the threat of death, we all seem to be Xi to the difficulty of survival, and the will to survive is always praised by us, but for some patients, is unintentional persistence really good for the patient?
And when faced with this problem, you will unconsciously think of a technology: euthanasia. For many patients with advanced malignant diseases, the last stage of life is really worse than death, and they have to face the continuous torture of pain every day, coupled with the physical and mental destruction of drugs and medical treatments, and it has become the desire of many patients to leave naturally with dignity.
And letting the patient leave without pain is what we call euthanasia. The technology of euthanasia is not difficult, but until now, only a few countries have allowed the existence of euthanasia, such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and other countries. However, euthanasia is banned in most countries around the world.
The mainland is one of them, and in mainland law, only suicides committed by individuals who want to commit suicide and the entire process is carried out independently will be judged as suicide, and assisted suicide with the consent of the patient's family or even the patient himself will be guilty of intentional homicide.
As early as 1986, there was a case in the mainland where a doctor assisted a patient in euthanasia, and its attending doctor was arrested on suspicion of intentional homicide, although after five years of appeals and ethical discussions, the doctor was not given criminal responsibility, but it is not difficult to see that the mainland has not allowed the implementation of euthanasia.
As for the reasons for the ban, it is relatively complex. First of all, most people in the mainland insist that life is the most precious, and that a person's life is only once. For many patients, giving up their lives may be just an idea for a certain period of time, but once euthanasia is performed, there is no chance of recovery.
Although the execution of euthanasia can indeed help some patients who are deeply affected by the pain to end the pain, it may also make some patients who have not reached this point easily give up their lives, especially for some patients with major depression, which is very risky.
Secondly, the ethical problem is that giving up life itself is not accepted by the Chinese, and for medical personnel, giving up life is also inconsistent with the concept of saving lives and helping the injured. In China, where filial piety comes first, most family members are reluctant to give up treatment, even in the face of difficult treatment.
In this case, there may be a situation where the wishes of the patients themselves do not match those of their families, and in combination with the above-mentioned cases, some patients have not reached the point where they must give up, and ethical issues will become a huge obstacle to the implementation of medical measures.
Finally, the implementation of euthanasia may become a loophole for some people to commit crimes, and the legalization of euthanasia requires very sophisticated legal documents, but the rapid development of modern society and the situation are also complicated, at this time, euthanasia may become a criminal tool for some people to seek personal gain.
Because of this, although euthanasia can indeed help some patients suffering from the disease to end their suffering, the mainland has not legalized it.
Advances in Medicine, What is Hospice Care?
However, although the mainland has not legalized euthanasia, it does not mean that the mainland has done nothing to alleviate the pain of patients and understand the feelings of patients.
As the name suggests, hospice care is aimed at patients at the end of the disease in the final stage of life, to give them care to alleviate the pain of patients, maintain the dignity of patients, so that terminally ill patients are no longer simply desperate, lonely, and passively waiting for death to come, but can meet the arrival of death with dignity and preparation in the last period of time.
The core purpose of hospice care is that when a patient has inevitably reached the end of life, and any treatment for the patient can no longer prevent the arrival of death, and even bring additional harm to the patient, we often adopt palliative care, that is, it does not delay or promote the patient's process, but the main purpose is to alleviate the patient's pain and enhance the patient's mental and psychological satisfaction in the last period of time.
In the book "On Death and Dying", psychologists divide the psychological state of a person before death into five stages, that is, from denial and isolation, to anger, to negotiation, to depression, and finally to acceptance. This is especially evident for terminally ill patients, who not only destroy the patient's body function, but also disintegrate the patient's life, psychology, humanity and dignity in all aspects.
In hospice care institutions, medical staff will take care of the life and rest of the terminal, reduce the patient's pain as much as possible, enhance the patient's mental pleasure, give the patient as much companionship as possible in the last stage of life, reduce the patient's fear of final parting, and let the patient leave with dignity.
However, there is one thing that needs to be stated again: this is not to advocate that cancer will start to "rot" when it is detected, with the advancement of medical standards, many cancer patients can also get corresponding symptomatic treatment, which can alleviate the pain of patients to the greatest extent!
And the five-year survival rate of many cancer patients is also prolonging, for example, the five-year survival rate of cancer in mainland China has increased from 30.9% to 40.5% in the past decade...... Patients can consider many aspects of whether they should persist or not, and end-of-life care, as we just mentioned, can also help us to be more comfortable in the final stages of life.
bibliography
[1] Xu Qinglin, "Hospice Service Referral: Connotation, Mechanism and Influencing Factors".2023.10.07.
[2] Liu Yan, "The Local Practice and Ethical Dilemmas of Hospice Social Work: A Case Study of Terminal Cancer Patient Case Service".2023.08.25.
[3] Yu Lewen, "Research on the Legalization of Euthanasia".2022.06.02.
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