I found out later from the internist that Joan’s echocardiogram showed her “mitral valve was wide open” and that she was in complete heart failure. He was not able to treat her because of her weight and low blood pressure and that essentially, fluid was “pouring into her lungs”. In other words, Joan was dying, just like she said. After a brief discussion, I was able to convince the internist that her pain did indeed warrant something stronger than Tylenol and she was started on Morphine. She went home with Hospice care the next day. Is there a lesson to be learned in this? I think sometimes we get so involved in practicing medicine that we forget to practice dying as Plato advised. Sometimes, that‘s all it is, just dying. Not depression, not failure to thrive, just the end of a great and wonderful existence that doesn’t need to be treated, but instead celebrat
I found out later from the internist that Joan’s echocardiogram showed her “mitral valve was wide open” and that she was in complete heart failure. He was not able to treat her because of her weight and low blood pressure and that essentially, fluid was “pouring into her lungs”. In other words, Joan was dying, just like she said. After a brief discussion, I was able to convince the internist that her pain did indeed warrant something stronger than Tylenol and she was started on Morphine. She went home with Hospice care the next day. Is there a lesson to be learned in this? I think sometimes we get so involved in practicing medicine that we forget to practice dying as Plato advised. Sometimes, that‘s all it is, just dying. Not depression, not failure to thrive, just the end of a great and wonderful existence that doesn’t need to be treated, but instead celebrat
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