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@boris1gary wrote:

froth said -

It did also provoke thought.  Some of the thoughts I went away with: "it costs $50.000 a day to keep a terminally ill patient in ICU."

75% of taxpayer-funded medical care is spent on ppl with, on average, only 6 mths to live anyway"

 

======================

 

the 50.000 you mention would not be the real cost. The amount of profit made on medical equipment, parts etc is outrageous, the profit on the cost of a lot of the medication is also huge - take away just those two things the real cost would be a lot lower. I remember some years ago one of the newspapers, think it was the telegraph, put the same question in regards to premature babies - was the cost justifiable, thankfully the horrible ideas put forward by the rag weren't picked up by the public or the medical profession. Surely human life should not be compared to the dollar.

 

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Yes but define "life".

In this case an aged person close to death anyway living in a vegetative state being kept alive by artificial means at huge cost to the taxpayer and huge profit to the pharmaceutical and medical equpment companies?

If that was me, I'd refuse it.

I don't think you quite understand what palliative care actually is. You can have palliative care at home.

ok.

My dad received pall. care at home which was pain relief as well as a special bed and a personal carer was available if wanted. The Palliative Care people came to him. This was so he could die at home. [Didn't happen because the pager system failed and he ended up dying in hospital - palliative ward.] My mum died in a palliative care ward as it was impossible to care for at home due to her state. Ex MIL received pall. care at home which is where she died.

https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/Palliative+Care-1

What is palliative care?

A person receiving palliative care will have an active, progressive and far-advanced disease, with little or no prospect of cure. The aim of palliative care is to achieve the best possible quality of life for the individual patient, their carers and family.
Palliative care:

• affirms life and treats dying as a normal process;
• neither hastens nor postpones death;
• provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms;
• integrates the physical, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual aspects of care, with coordinated assessment and management of each person’s needs;
• offers a support system to help people live as actively as possible until death; and
• offers a support system to help the family cope during the person’s illness and in their own bereavement.

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@bluecat*dancing wrote:

My dad received pall. care at home which was pain relief as well as a special bed and a personal carer was available if wanted. The Palliative Care people came to him. This was so he could die at home. [Didn't happen because the pager system failed and he ended up dying in hospital - palliative ward.] My mum died in a palliative care ward as it was impossible to care for at home due to her state. Ex MIL received pall. care at home which is where she died.

 

 

https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/Palliative+Care-1

 

What is palliative care?

A person receiving palliative care will have an active, progressive and far-advanced disease, with little or no prospect of cure. The aim of palliative care is to achieve the best possible quality of life for the individual patient, their carers and family.
Palliative care:

• affirms life and treats dying as a normal process;
• neither hastens nor postpones death;
• provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms;
• integrates the physical, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual aspects of care, with coordinated assessment and management of each person’s needs;
• offers a support system to help people live as actively as possible until death; and
• offers a support system to help the family cope during the person’s illness and in their own bereavement.

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Thank you.

refer to my post 7

Your post number 7 says that you would receive palliative care.

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@bluecat*dancing wrote:

Your post number 7 says that you would receive palliative care.

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Then why did you feel the need to explain it?

Where is that brick wall...............

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@icyfroth wrote:

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@boris1gary wrote:

froth said -

It did also provoke thought.  Some of the thoughts I went away with: "it costs $50.000 a day to keep a terminally ill patient in ICU."

75% of taxpayer-funded medical care is spent on ppl with, on average, only 6 mths to live anyway"

 

======================

 

the 50.000 you mention would not be the real cost. The amount of profit made on medical equipment, parts etc is outrageous, the profit on the cost of a lot of the medication is also huge - take away just those two things the real cost would be a lot lower. I remember some years ago one of the newspapers, think it was the telegraph, put the same question in regards to premature babies - was the cost justifiable, thankfully the horrible ideas put forward by the rag weren't picked up by the public or the medical profession. Surely human life should not be compared to the dollar.

 

---

Yes but define "life".

In this case an aged person close to death anyway living in a vegetative state being kept alive by artificial means at huge cost to the taxpayer and huge profit to the pharmaceutical and medical equpment companies?

 

If that was me, I'd refuse it.

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froth, I'm not going to define life - just that i find it  immoral (can't think of another word at the minute) to compare any life to "taxpayer';s dollars", I have my own personal views on euthanasia etc. Sometimes refusing treatment or whatever can literally mean starving to death, a very unpleasant way to go, I hear.

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@icyfroth wrote:

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@bluecat*dancing wrote:

Your post number 7 says that you would receive palliative care.

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Then why did you feel the need to explain it?

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Post 6 might explain 

I'd refuse palliative care also and have instructed my children accordingly.