I appreciate this posting as it touches home. The problem we have with the current healthcare model is that it does not incentivize practicing medicine with the heart. It is all about the bottom line: MONEY. There is no insurance out there that wants to pay for a physician's time when the patient is terminal whether he/she is under hospice care or palliative care (also known "end-of-life" care. Both options deny the physician the opportunity to influence "healing" for the patient and the love ones. It is not an aspect that it is emphasized in medical schools but also a direct effect of reimbursement practices. In our case, I was told to put my husband under Hospice Care. Why? Because three years ago he was told he only had 2-3 years to live. Today, his brain is fully functional, so I refused the offer from the start, not just because I did not like the "sound" of options, but because I know the psychological impact it would have had on my husband if he knew the healthcare system was already writing him off. So, he is still around us, paralized from the neck down, on a feeding tube, trache and night time ventilation. But he is at home, with his love ones and still actively participating in family life. Does his doctor call? Nope! The nurse does...Doctors do not do well when it comes to dealing with death and dying of patients, there is an implied sense of failure and most physicians do not like to fail, so they avoid it.
In contrast, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TMC) doctors embrace a different philosophy and the disease process is one of acceptance and preparation when all fails. Our medical model in the West has a lot to learn. Simple things like LOVE, COMPASSION, EMPATHY, HUMILITY coming from a doctor could help the patient and family heal. By the way, these traits along with Self-Care were discussed at a recent medical meeting I attended where most attendees were physicians. The message was clear, our current model is a disease-focused model not a patient centric one. We need to change the way we care for people. We need to go back to "healing" not just trying to cure disease.
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I appreciate this posting as it touches home. The problem we have with the current healthcare model is that it does not incentivize practicing medicine with the heart. It is all about the bottom line: MONEY. There is no insurance out there that wants to pay for a physician's time when the patient is terminal whether he/she is under hospice care or palliative care (also known "end-of-life" care. Both options deny the physician the opportunity to influence "healing" for the patient and the love ones. It is not an aspect that it is emphasized in medical schools but also a direct effect of reimbursement practices. In our case, I was told to put my husband under Hospice Care. Why? Because three years ago he was told he only had 2-3 years to live. Today, his brain is fully functional, so I refused the offer from the start, not just because I did not like the "sound" of options, but because I know the psychological impact it would have had on my husband if he knew the healthcare system was already writing him off. So, he is still around us, paralized from the neck down, on a feeding tube, trache and night time ventilation. But he is at home, with his love ones and still actively participating in family life. Does his doctor call? Nope! The nurse does...Doctors do not do well when it comes to dealing with death and dying of patients, there is an implied sense of failure and most physicians do not like to fail, so they avoid it.
In contrast, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TMC) doctors embrace a different philosophy and the disease process is one of acceptance and preparation when all fails. Our medical model in the West has a lot to learn. Simple things like LOVE, COMPASSION, EMPATHY, HUMILITY coming from a doctor could help the patient and family heal. By the way, these traits along with Self-Care were discussed at a recent medical meeting I attended where most attendees were physicians. The message was clear, our current model is a disease-focused model not a patient centric one. We need to change the way we care for people. We need to go back to "healing" not just trying to cure disease.
March 11, 2009 - 9:31pmThis Comment
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