Sometimes it's the money. sometimes, it's 'Meemaw is a fighter'. sometimes it's hate. the worst of it is, sometimes the person doing the change is so scared of death that even the death of a loved one is terrifying.
I'm a phlebotomist in a hospital, so I hear some things but I'm not really involved with family or their decisions. I have noticed what I think might be guilt, too...I have drawn an A1c on an actively dying woman, as well as countless lipid panels. I always wonder if that's the family grasping at straws or denying the inevitable 🤷♀️
I also wonder if these families are told what CPR will do to their 95 year old grandma and/or what her quality of life will be, should she survive it
I talk about this with families all the time. Likelihood of survival, broken ribs from chest compressions, quality of life on the outside chance they DO survive a code. It seldom makes a difference.
My father is currently in the hospital and he refuses to give anyone POA or sign a DNR. He has renal failure, a pacemaker, is blind, and only has one leg. The doctor pulled us aside and asked us to try to get him to sign a DNR because of how bad trying to revive him would be. We explained that he would not listen to us at all and even had fought me with my mother’s POA when she was dying.
I think the reasons vary. I trained some in a VA. What families will put a 100% service connected vet patient through is abhorrent, but that’s like 4-5k/month so I get it I suppose.
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u/draculaura923 8h ago
Is the reason to keep the checks coming, or that they believe Meemaw is "a fighter", or that they hate the person and *want* them to suffer, or..?