What you can learn from how U.S. doctors choose to die

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I came upon this insightful article regarding doctors, the choices they make regarding their lives and even their deaths. Unlike the general public who often makes choices out of fear, and are ill equipt to deal with their own mortality, many doctors forgo treatments they know are futile. Check this out; Enlightening!

 

 

What you can learn from how U.S. doctors choose to die

Thursday, January 12, 2012

From Charles Hugh Smith:

… Given my focus on health and the perverse sickcare system, I read the following article with deep interest. I am indebted to longtime correspondent Joel M. for forwarding it to me:How Doctors Die by Ken Murray M.D.

“Years ago, Charlie, a highly-respected orthopedist and a mentor of mine, found a lump in his stomach. He had a surgeon explore the area, and the diagnosis was pancreatic cancer. This surgeon was one of the best in the country. He had even invented a new procedure for this exact cancer that could triple a patient’s five-year-survival odds—from 5% to 15%—albeit with a poor quality of life.

Charlie was uninterested. He went home the next day, closed his practice, and never set foot in a hospital again. He focused on spending time with family and feeling as good as possible. Several months later, he died at home. He got no chemotherapy, radiation, or surgical treatment. Medicare didn’t spend much on him.

It’s not a frequent topic of discussion, but doctors die, too. And they don’t die like the rest of us. What’s unusual about them is…

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