Dr. Morris began his last letter on Obamacare with a lovely nostalgic picture of a beloved grandparent who died at 98, never having had a sick day in his life. He was very fortunate.
I too have a lovely memory of my maternal grandmother who lived with us, took care of my bachelor uncle and my single aunt as well as my mother and me. She was truly a surrogate parent.
My mother, widowed when I was three years old, had to work as seamstress in a factory for 45 years until she retired. My grandmother was intelligent, witty, affectionate and attentive, shopping, cooking tasty meals and baking cookies that were a treat. I cannot remember her ever uttering a cross word.
She was a plump, huggy person, an avid crocheter and knitter who sat at her ground floor apartment window watching our neighbors and later wittily telling imaginary tales about them. Beyond complaining about her rheumatism, she never seemed to be ill.
At 82, she suddenly fell ill and was diagnosed as having cancer of the liver. Our family doctor told us there was no cure, and advised us to take her home and keep her comfortable. My mother and my two aunts shared the 24-hour care that she needed and three months later, she died.
At that time, medical science had not advanced to the point of finding treatments for many cancers. Now much can be done to extend life and cure illnesses that, in that period, were usually fatal.
These advances have been miraculous in some cases, or have extended lives in many others. But in some cases these advances have come with ethical problems.
I am sure that most people are aware of situations in which grievously ill older persons are provided advanced care in the last months before finally expiring despite the most thorough and advanced treatments. During those painful periods for the individual and his or her family, the patient suffers greatly and the family and the patient have to make decisions about the extent of care.
Many families simply say that every possible treatment be used. In many cases, the patient spends many months in huge discomfort or even pain.
We justify our decisions because we love the patient and cannot accept the reality that although we want our loved one to live on, the end is coming.
I have experienced this with my beloved late husband, but with the empathetic help of a resident, was able to sign a “Do Not Resuscitate” order. When I was asked to do that for my mother, this decision was easier.
Dr. Morris, encouraged by his reading of the National Review, one of the most radically conservative publications, has chosen to attack Obamacare’s provision regarding decisions about end-of-life care, is part of the whole “death panel” bugaboo.
Our supposedly caring conservatives attack the idea of creating an opportunity for doctors and family to talk about what are really practical and humane decisions.
They will not admit that many treatments are not effective and must be evaluated by experts. They just will use anything to try to kill Obamacare. They never admit that the huge percentage of health-care costs that are incurred in the last few months of life put a huge burden on health-care costs.
This means that we cannot allot that money to the cost of caring for all our population.
When he quotes the British test case, he cannot accept a logical way of approaching health care for all. I should note also that we spend at least twice per person, compared with the rest of the industrialized world, with markedly lower outcomes and still do not cover 30 million people.
Esther Confino
New Hyde Park
