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How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016)

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131–140 of 300 posts

Re: How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016)

#131
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are other reasons people want to get abortions, such as knowing they can't provide for the child or give them a safe/stable household. Adoption is rare, and the foster system in most countries absolutely ruins kids. So those aren't good alternatives.

I'd hope someone would know fairly early in the pregnancy if they will be able to provide for a child or not. (i.e. before the baby can feel pain, is basically a complete human being, etc.) That's why there's so much interest in defining limits around abortions. Late term abortions are pretty much described as horrific by the vast majority. There should be room for political agreement here.

Most abortions are as soon as the woman knows she's pregnant. Very, very few are late term, and, as a sibling mentions, those are almost universally due to health risks (possibly also a major change in financial status, relationship, etc).

To be clear, you are right that a late term abortion is pretty horrific. They're also -traumatic-. No one is -intentionally- waiting around to get an abortion; there isn't room for political argument here because anyone who finds themselves pregnant at a late stage and doesn't want to be is already in the case of "reasonable exception". A medical complication, a change in financial status to where she can't support it (when before she thought she could), etc.

No one is finding out they're pregnant in the first trimester, and then just can't make up their mind until the third, and we as a society need to set a date she has to make up her mind, or force her to keep it against her will. That's a made up justification, and as we continue to see, the same forces that make that justification don't even stop there.

Re: How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016)

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too bad we can't ask unwanted babies if they would rather have been born into a bad life. This isn't directed at you, but I have had countless conversations about this very topic. The detriments are greatly overstated. I've found usually people are talking of these things outside looking in in an ideological vacuum, and not an experiential one. Let's take societal outcomes for african americans, as an example. What p…

If society wants more babies, the path is easy: provide financial help for couples and single mothers. The way it currently is, abortion is very attractive.

Yep. Carlin had this right; it's not being pro-life, it's being pro-birth. From birth until they turn 18 and can join the military, fuck 'em.

Re: How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016)

#133
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holy crap those numbers are awful. Personally I'm slightly on the side of pro-choice, but we really need to educate people more on birth control.

Bafflingly, the same political forces that oppose abortion also oppose both birth control and sex education.

And homosexuality, despite it not resulting in children. And welfare. And mandatory paid maternity leave. And...basically everything that would actually ensure children are not a burden on the parent.

Re: How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016)

#134
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't be so quick to decide this now -- consider your options at the time, if such a thing arises. It may not be so cut & dry as "terminal" and there's a huge amount of variability in how cancer diagnoses go. In the meantime, take the best care of your body you possibly can :)

Even if the cancer has a very high survival rate following chemo, if the only way to save my life involves losing my hair I will refuse treatment and let myself die.

Cancer survivor here. I did chemo. My oncologist says I had the worst go of this treatment she’s ever see .

My hair grew back. After just a couple months I felt great again. It was worth it.

Re: How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016)

#135
post #64

What ticks me off no end is the folks who (often successfully) fight against physician assisted suicide. Dementia is the interesting test case, but I think should still be allowed. With all the talk about 'controlling our bodies' in terms of abortion, and I can see both sides of that one, your own life is the one thing you really own. To have that control taken away is the worst kind of insult by the state.

I think the core problem is giving out a "free pass" to kill people. Very few people (at least in my experience) think that assisted suicide itself is bad, but the abuse potential is massive. And the action is, by definition, irreversible. Plus, the people that need this are (quite obviously) unable to make this happen on their own. So this comes with the additional moral qualms of whether this is really what the wan…

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Re: How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016)

#136

The important difference between physicians and non-physicians in relation to death is not that doctors understand disease mechanisms. It is that doctor's are familiar with death. Ordinary people aren't as familiar with death, and don't have a wide range of responses to it because society hides it and pretends it doesn't exist. The main place regular people encounter death is on the news as a statistic of war and cri…

Due religious reasons I'm contemplating my death quite often. Not daily but I try to do it at least weekly. I don't say it has made me comfortable about being mortal but compared to people around me I seem to have more casual relationship to it. Like the other day my boss asked me if I'll come to the office next week and with smile on my face I answered, that yes I'll come if I won't die during weekend. He got quite confused.

Remembering that you'll die someday, and not just some distant day far away but literally any day or moment gives a good perspective to everything in your life and makes you focus on things that truly matters.

Re: How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016)

#137
To me, this reveals the Christian roots of modern medicine.

To me, these weeds are to be uprooted: Christians willingly inflict suffering unto others, as they believe it is the natural state of human being and must be increased in servitude of their God, especially near death.

Re: How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016)

#138

To me, this reveals the Christian roots of modern medicine. To me, these weeds are to be uprooted: Christians willingly inflict suffering unto others, as they believe it is the natural state of human being and must be increased in servitude of their God, especially near death.

Christians are more generous than the general population, so your tripe makes no sense.

https://www.hoover.org/research/religious-faith-and-charitab...

> The differences in charity between secular and religious people are dramatic. Religious people are 25 percentage points more likely than secularists to donate money (91 percent to 66 percent) and 23 points more likely to volunteer time (67 percent to 44 percent).

https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/philanthropy-magazine...

> In study after study, religious practice is the behavioral variable with the strongest and most consistent association with generous giving. And people with religious motivations don’t give just to faith-based causes—they are also much likelier to give to secular causes than the nonreligious.

https://givingusa.org/just-released-giving-usa-special-repor...

> People who are religiously affiliated are more likely to make a charitable donation of any kind, whether to a religious congregation or to another type of charitable organization.

> Religiously affiliated households give as much or more to other types of charities as non-religiously affiliated households do.

Re: How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016)

#139

To me, this reveals the Christian roots of modern medicine. To me, these weeds are to be uprooted: Christians willingly inflict suffering unto others, as they believe it is the natural state of human being and must be increased in servitude of their God, especially near death.

Christians are more generous than the general population, so your tripe makes no sense. https://www.hoover.org/research/religious-faith-and-charitab... > The differences in charity between secular and religious people are dramatic. Religious people are 25 percentage points more likely than secularists to donate money (91 percent to 66 percent) and 23 points more likely to volunteer time (67 percent to 44 percent). ht…

I’m not referring to giving or philanthropy, I’m referring to the ”suffering erases sins” mindset perpetuated by Christians.

It is Jesus’ final message.

Sin does not exist, they made it up to make themselves and others suffer.

Have you considered that some people are so keen on giving away their fortunes because it makes them suffer more, and thus makes them think they are now cleaner in God’s eyes?

Re: How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016)

#140

This doctor clearly has a vision for how he feels end of life should be, and then implies all (most) doctors share this and non-doctors should follow and doctors should be more vocal about the implied belief. I'm a bit warey of his assertion that all doctors think the same way as him though. He relies pretty heavily on his experience and a few anecdotes. I wonder if there is any actual data on how doctors view "futil…

As a physician, I think it comes down to circumstance and goals of care. If I was in my forties and had several young children, I'd want everything done to be able to see them again. Even if I knew it was "futile".

This is why palliative care is so important. All of our goals in life are vastly different all the time, even cycling every week.

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