Caveat Mortalis

Let the die-er beware!

Professor Susan Dunn alerted us to an important article in the NY Times.

Ira Byock, one of the most influential hospice physicians in the country, has a thought-provoking Op-Ed piece in the January 31, 2015 issue of the NY Times. See:  “Dying Shouldn’t Be So Brutal.” Here are some excerpts:

… modern medicine has yet to make even one person immortal. Therefore, at some point, more treatment does not equal better care.

Our health care system is well honed to fight disease, but poorly designed to meet the basic safety needs of seriously ill patients and their families. We can do both. We must.

People who are approaching the end of life deserve the security of confident, skillful attention to their physical comfort, emotional well-being and sense of personal dignity. Their families deserve respect, communication and support. Exemplary health systems and healthy communities deliver all of this today. But they are few and far between.

Those of us who have been on a quest to transform care have been standing on a two-legged stool. We’ve demonstrated higher quality and lower costs. Missing is the visible, vocal citizen-consumer demand. Without it, large-scale change will not happen.

Hospice has become an industry with over 4,000 programs nationally, and the quality of care has become uneven. Still invaluable, hospice is no panacea.

It is time to write a Safe Dying Act.