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

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

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of an interview with neurosurgeon and author Henry Marsh who had prostate cancer. He described how he's arranged to end his own life should he get alzheimer's or dementia as he didn't want to waste away. But he explained that he has access to knowledge and things ordinary people don't.

I looked into this recently and it seems like it is basically impossible to pre-arrange assisted suicide for alzheimer's or dementia. Even in countries which allow death with dignity. I find it very strange because it’s so common and I’m sure many people would prefer DWD in those circumstances.

shouldn't finding a way to kill yourself be pretty easy, even without legal DWD? you can overdose on OTC meds, or get a knife, or (in America) pick up a gun.

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

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard the term "load-bearing" used outside of the civil engineering world until the more recent versions of Claude suddenly decided everything was "load-bearing". Did you internalize Claude terminology, use Claude to write/translate your post, or lead Claude into temptation by being the OG? Asking out of genuine curiosity and not at all trying to throw shade.

No. I do use the term.

I'm curious where you picked it up originally. I've been mystified why Claude started using it so much.

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

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard the term "load-bearing" used outside of the civil engineering world until the more recent versions of Claude suddenly decided everything was "load-bearing". Did you internalize Claude terminology, use Claude to write/translate your post, or lead Claude into temptation by being the OG? Asking out of genuine curiosity and not at all trying to throw shade.

I have heard it in the way that Claude uses it going way back. Since I have to use Anthropic models for work, and they use that term prodigiously, it's been added to the list of "perfectly fine phrases that have been ruined" to me. It's really frustrating too because I don't know what other phrase I would use.

I don't suppose you recall where you picked it up? I really am curious on this, regardless what all the downvoters happen to think. The linguistics that surface in the training mixed with the system prompts is really interesting. Annoying as well, but still interesting.

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

#54
post #35
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of morphine available to the patients on hospice that I have known has made it very clear what the actual intent of those scripts is. Granted, my sample size of 6 isn't great, and 3 were in terrible pain so it made sense for them, but they had ALL the opiates. . . One had liquid injectable morphine in case he couldn't swallow. He had no issues with swallowing and wasn't in pain. I wanted to ask the doctor…

Open secret. Cowardice of the system, society, that doesn’t allow practitioners to discuss this. Leads to scary grey areas, actually.

> Cowardice of the system, society, that doesn’t allow practitioners to discuss this.

This depends on where one lives. Where I am (New Zeland), the arguments getting it into law were pretty grim.

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

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard the term "load-bearing" used outside of the civil engineering world until the more recent versions of Claude suddenly decided everything was "load-bearing". Did you internalize Claude terminology, use Claude to write/translate your post, or lead Claude into temptation by being the OG? Asking out of genuine curiosity and not at all trying to throw shade.

"Load bearing beliefs" is a thing in the podcast/YouTube world at a minimum. Perhaps you're not as online as some other folks (probably a good thing!).

I watch a lot of tech adjacent YT videos mostly. I really haven't heard this being used. So weird the different bubbles we all live in and just don't realize. Is the usage recent or historic? What contexts is it used in? Is it common in American English, British English, or one of the several other groupings?

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

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked into this recently and it seems like it is basically impossible to pre-arrange assisted suicide for alzheimer's or dementia. Even in countries which allow death with dignity. I find it very strange because it’s so common and I’m sure many people would prefer DWD in those circumstances.

shouldn't finding a way to kill yourself be pretty easy, even without legal DWD? you can overdose on OTC meds, or get a knife, or (in America) pick up a gun.

> DWD? you can overdose on OTC meds, or get a knife, or (in America) pick up a gun.

Someone with sound mind is likely to worry about what’ll be left for loved ones to clean up.

And someone suffering dementia/Alzheimer’s may well forget the plan.

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

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked into this recently and it seems like it is basically impossible to pre-arrange assisted suicide for alzheimer's or dementia. Even in countries which allow death with dignity. I find it very strange because it’s so common and I’m sure many people would prefer DWD in those circumstances.

shouldn't finding a way to kill yourself be pretty easy, even without legal DWD? you can overdose on OTC meds, or get a knife, or (in America) pick up a gun.

None of these things guarantee death and if you fail they come with some awful complications. Overdosing on Morphine is probably the easiest, most humane way to die.

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

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

These ideas seem to be at odds with one another. I'm reasonably sure you can't harvest organs from a resuscitated person in a vegetative state, coma, severely brain damaged, whatever.

Do you mean technically or legally? Legally you need to be dead for the hospital to recover organs. But technically, the amount of time you need to be without oxygen to go into a persistive vegetative state is much less than the viability window of your organs. The time between death and viable organ recovery varies on the organ itself and how soon the body was chilled. Heart and lungs must be transplanted within 4-6 hours but other organs and tissue can last much longer. It also depends on how you die: starving to death several days after having your feeding tube removed may make your organs unviable but dying shortly after being removed from a ventilator could still produce viable organs.

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

#59

On the spectrum or go gentle vs fight, I'd have to say, now is the time is history where "fight" makes the most sense. This is not abstract for me. I have not one, but two forms of cancer. Both were considered incurable when I was diagnosed. Both have treatments now that, IN SOME PEOPLE, lead to remission. I still don't know which group I am, but I'd be dead from either one by now, if I hadn't elected to treat. New t…

Pancreatic cancer caregiver here.

It's a battle, not a boxing match, that you're fighting. No shame in a battle chant or maybe even a battle cry.

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

#60
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the US have the concept of DNR (Do Not Resuscitate)?

There was a "culture war" (the rightwing government intervening due to religious reasons) in the 2000's involving a "DNR"-esque case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo_case

Let us not forget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Ann_Quinlan

And also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jahi_McMath_case

But it is disingenuous to invoke "rightwing government", when a Franciscan friar was sneaking into the hospital trying to feed a starving woman [Terri], who was so hated by her husband that he would take extreme measures to get rid of her.

I have found it quite elusive to get a DNR properly executed. I could do all the other Advance Directives from home, and I could get them notarized without issue. But in my state, a DNR must be printed on a special hue of orange paper, and shit, if that isn't the most difficult step...

Also there are probably at least 12 facilities where it'd need to be filed, because who knows where the EMTs would haul me off to, around here. There are so many health care systems, not to mention the BH ones, which are quasi-medical.

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