(Snippets from the frontline)
Hospice and end-of-life care
Signs of aging are not always easy to identify. Seeing wrinkles and gray hair in those around you is acceptable, but inevitably you will be confronted one morning by the bathroom mirror.
You hope these changes reflect a more dignified and scholarly look, but you know time is catching up when you can’t drive anymore, and your body creaks getting out of bed.
No one knows when they will cross the finish line, but the checkered flag becomes more apparent as we age. Fortunately at end-of-life, hospice has allowed alleviation of pain and suffering.
Forty years ago when I entered medicine, there was no such practice as doctors were afraid to provide strong drugs fearful of addiction, even with terminal cancer patients. As well, they did not want to appear to be practicing illegal euthanasia.
Simultaneously, there was a crescendo in business running the medical profession and not surprisingly, they found a way to exploit hospice at the expense of vulnerable patients and families.
Good intentions have come with abuse.
So turn up your hearing aids while putting on glasses, and protect yourself from predators who deceitfully benefit from end-of-life care.
Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D.
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