Dear Mr. Loren -

My sincerest condolences to you and yours for the trials you endured. 

Unfortunately, it is a much too common story.  I originally majored in science with the (then) odd idea that there was no separation of psychology and biology, hence,  psychobiology or physiological   psych.

The research being done at the time in those areas was truly horrendous, particularly to an animal lover  and human rights advocate such as myself. 

Teaching just wasn't it though, and I wound up in nursing.  My brief time in pre-med should have been sufficient warning. 

They offered any number of classes in financial areas, (Making, saving, investing, malpractice insuring...) but nothing on prevention, vitamins, herbs, or nutrition, let alone alternative medicine.  The bottom line always seems to be the buck.  Was then, and is more so now
 

Despite all the many marvelous progressions, acceptance of alternatives, interest in "health foods", etc., the American Public still believes in little "magic pills" and elevates their doctors to sorcerers, with science and technology as their wands and totems. 

Because of the enormous profit inherent in the system we have, and the exceedingly greedy corporate interests, coupled with our irrational fear of natural death, a monstrous  blight has been created.  Furthermore, it is worse, more stupid, and more evil than you may know. 

Forgive my cynicism please.  After working a few years in a hospital, several more in nursing homes, and the last several in home health, I could relate true stories that would singe your eyebrows and leave the acrid aroma of sulfur in your nostrils. 

Why do folks demand that their loved ones be "kept alive at all costs" when it ain't them that's payin' the piper? 

Believe me, but it isn't usually the medical personnel on the floor who push that.

No, no.

The patients and their families are often the initiators, with the medical administration all to willing to comply... so long as there's juicy insurance and/or the patient is eligible for Medicaid/Medicare. 

Funny, how there seems to be a direct correlation between a patient's financial status and his "code" status.  If someone is worth more alive ( pensions, insurance, et al) they'll be a "full-code", but if there's  more to be gained after death, (inheritance, etc.) they'll be a "No-Code", aka  "DNR" (Do Not Resuscitate), and if  there's a possible lawsuit, things get mighty complicated. 

The patients and their families are just as involved in this miasma as the medical establishment is, with lawyers and insurers infesting the mess like barracudas at a blood bath. 

 

Do you wonder why nurses are dropping out in droves?  Even Ann Landers posted a letter to exhort nurses to quit writing to her; she was overwhelmed, and couldn't advise them. If any of us "came out" in any public way, with our observations, we might lose our licenses for violation of patient confidentiality, and likely be "blackballed" in our profession. 

Do you have any idea what it costs to keep someone alive, who really needs to go on? And it's not just the elderly.

The average disabled child  costs the taxpayers roughly a quarter-million dollars  annually.  Drug and alcohol abusers who bear children, along with  "stylish" over-aged mothers, are contributing heavily to the mushrooming  number of children produced who cannot live without constant medical care. 

More guilty still are the pharmaceutical conglomerates, who put out  scandalously dangerous vaccines and medicines. For example: Autism has increased by 348% in the last generation.  The drug companies are usually only liable for complications that arise within 3 days.  So they keep churning out their mercury-based vaccines and ill-researched  medicines, with impunity.

 

The  "alternative med" interests hawking herbs 'n spices, and vitamins-so-nices, can be just as outrageous as the drug companies. 

Remember L-Tryptophan? 

An easy example. It is difficult to calculate the number of people who go into cardiac arrest after using herbs to lose weight, or  have a stroke after popping a "special formula" to enhance their sexual prowess, or sink into diabetic coma after substituting some "enhancer" for their insulin. 

How many made the morgue, after misusing OTC's to avoid a doctor, or using unhealthy "health supplements"?  Mind you now, I regard ANY drug, natural or otherwise, as potential poison, and what passes for "standard medicine" is often no better than voodoo. Considering the extensive expense and extreme hazards of chemo, electro, radiation, and surgical treatments, I might rather do voodoo!

 

It all comes back to the American acceptance of medicine as magic.  If we weren't so willing to believe the unbelievable, accept corporate corruption in the name of capitalism, and relinquish personal responsibility for our own well-being, we wouldn't be in this miserable mess. Please know that most of your medical personnel are entirely sympathetic, and share your sentiments.  We are out here trying our very best, and are just as entrapped in this system as you were.

 

To have death with dignity, one must have life with dignity. This includes having a purpose and a plan.  The key is communication.  

Your website and your work could be very instrumental in helping to guide health care to its potential. We're all in this together, and it's going to be a long hard ride. 

Thank you for fighting for what's right.                               

 

Sincerely, Carole         

Dear Karl Loren;

    If you feel it will help, and won't hurt too many feelings, by all means, share it. 

After sending that, I thought I should've followed up with helpful suggestions.  Like, get a really thorough Living Will, such as that available at the Veteran's Hospitals- sign it with as many family witnesses as possible, inc. the danged family doctors and lawyers! (who are more apt to over-ride it than any medical facility)-make anyone with any interest in inheriting sign an agreement NOT to challenge it-and make MANY certified copies, sending  them out  to family members, as well as keeping copies in safe places.

Maybe even taking a small place on the driver's licenses, like they do for universal donor status, is possible. One should remember, that in the event of any lawsuits regarding the adherence to a living will, the medical folks MUST err on the side of caution, and keep that person alive the best they can.

The two most hideous experiences in my nursing career involved just these issues:

First, having to watch someone die, who was "alert and oriented X3", witty and delightful, but who chose to be a "No Code".

Second, having a woman who was completely vegetative, did nothing but moan piteously when moved (Q2hrs)suddenly sob coherently, "Please, Help Me! I don't want to live this way!".  I lost it.  I could barely see the glucometer reading for the tears that were soundlessly pouring out of my eyes. All I could do was pray to Our Lord, and any passing angels, to hear this patient's plea.

She had been suffering this way for nearly two years. I will spare you the nasty details of family and finances that allowed her to be in this condition.  It dang sure wasn't OUR idea.  Believe me, there are plenty of other patients to keep the hospital/home industrialists in Jaguars for years.

Even the administration isn't that desperate.  Certainly, not us out here on the front lines.

Please do KEEP ON DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING. I think it will go a long way towards educating everyone about life's not-so-nice realities in a constructive, and hopefully comfortable way. If I can be in any part, helpful in beneficial changes, I'm joyous!   

Thank you  again.                  

Carole        

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