Comments on: A drop in cardiac deaths http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2007/05/drop-in-cardiac-deaths.html Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:18:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Anonymoushttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2007/05/drop-in-cardiac-deaths.html#comment-74590 Anonymous Sat, 05 May 2007 17:46:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2007/05/a-drop-in-cardiac-deaths.html#comment-74590 Life should not be measured in years lived. I have several relatives who are still alive, but who effectively passed away several years ago with dementia of various types. <br/><br/>They are physically and mentally debilitated, not oriented to person, place, or time, and don't recognize family members as well as our pet cat. <br/><br/><br/>Although they were solidly middle class, even affluent in the eyes of Uncle Sam, their assets have been spent down over the years and they are now on the Medicaid dole. <br/><br/>I do not desire to exist in this status, effectively in unaffordable suspended animation limbo until the day I finally suffer a bowel infarction and sepsis, a massive GI bleed, a broken hip and pulmonary embolus ( or fall and cerebral hemmorhage if anticoagulated), pressure sores and sepsis,or "multi-system failure". <br/><br/>Most doctors I know are frankly ignorant regarding their own health status. They often die of acute stroke, heart attack, advanced cancer, trauma from risky nonprofessional pursuits, or neglected infections. They don't linger, and they expire in a much more cost-effective manner than their patients. In my opinion they set the bar for cost-effective health care and quality of life. Life should not be measured in years lived. I have several relatives who are still alive, but who effectively passed away several years ago with dementia of various types.

They are physically and mentally debilitated, not oriented to person, place, or time, and don’t recognize family members as well as our pet cat.

Although they were solidly middle class, even affluent in the eyes of Uncle Sam, their assets have been spent down over the years and they are now on the Medicaid dole.

I do not desire to exist in this status, effectively in unaffordable suspended animation limbo until the day I finally suffer a bowel infarction and sepsis, a massive GI bleed, a broken hip and pulmonary embolus ( or fall and cerebral hemmorhage if anticoagulated), pressure sores and sepsis,or “multi-system failure”.

Most doctors I know are frankly ignorant regarding their own health status. They often die of acute stroke, heart attack, advanced cancer, trauma from risky nonprofessional pursuits, or neglected infections. They don’t linger, and they expire in a much more cost-effective manner than their patients. In my opinion they set the bar for cost-effective health care and quality of life.

]]> By: Anonymoushttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2007/05/drop-in-cardiac-deaths.html#comment-74571 Anonymous Fri, 04 May 2007 20:19:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2007/05/a-drop-in-cardiac-deaths.html#comment-74571 In the end everyone's got to die of something. Transient successes with preventative care may forestall death on the cardiac front, but then something else will get the patient, perhaps cancer. But oncology care is getting better, so perhaps they will get a chance to swing the pendulum back to their cardiology colleagues. In the end everyone’s got to die of something. Transient successes with preventative care may forestall death on the cardiac front, but then something else will get the patient, perhaps cancer. But oncology care is getting better, so perhaps they will get a chance to swing the pendulum back to their cardiology colleagues.

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