If you saw my post earlier this week, you know I wrote about how we had to put down our beloved golden retriever, Baxter. Baxter was 12, old for a Golden, when we had to say goodbye this week. The staff at Capeway Veterinary Hospital was fantastic as they gave my family the time to say goodbye.
Now to be honest, we didn’t have to say goodbye to Baxter. We could have prolonged his life for a little while longer but we had discussed how we didn’t want to put him through that. He had a cancerous mass in his stomach and he had stopped eating and really couldn’t walk anymore. That’s not Baxter. That’s not how he would have wanted to live.
Why can’t we do the same….
There have been many articles written about making that difficult decision about end of life. And I also discovered this week that there are blogs and articles that say…. If we can make the end of life decision for our pets, why can’t we do the same for our loved ones?
For some of us, we have seen a loved one suffer at the end of life. If you’re like me, you’ve wondered if that’s the way they would want to spend their last few days on earth.
I did some reading on the subject and found an excellent piece by Jessica Pearce for “Psychology Today.” While writing about euthanasia for our pets she discovered people saying, “I just wish we could be so compassionate with people.”
Survey says…
She notes: A recent survey of U.S. physicians found that 69 percent object to physician-assisted suicide. The primary arguments given are: pain medication has gotten so good that there is no reason for a patient to be in such pain that they would want to die; physicians might incorrectly diagnose a terminal illness; and it violates the role of the physician as healer.
Again I ask, would he/ she want to live that way?
By the way
Oh and if you or a loved one has a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate form) filled out, make sure it’s in a place where emergency personnel can find it. Just you telling a paramedic that your loved one has one is not enough. They need to SEE it. “My brother has it.” Not good enough. They need to SEE it. My wife, the paramedic, tells me sad stories where they aren’t given a copy so they have to work the patient. Her advice? Make copies and put it EVERYWHERE. At least put it on the refrigerator. That’s the first place they look.
Back to dogs
Earlier this year, a woman named Jessi Dietrich from Tennessee tweeted about the time she spoke with her vet and asked him what he found most difficult about his job. He said when he has to put an animal down,” she wrote. She said, “90 per cent of owners don’t actually want to be in the room when he injects them so the animal’s last moments are usually them frantically looking around for their owners.”
Then there was a Facebook post from a tired Veterinarian by Hillcrest Veterinary Hospital in South Africa.
Thoughts on end of life
I wasn’t there this week when Baxter passed but I have been there for one of our other dogs. It was tough. It sucked. But I held her paw until she was gone.
Priscilla and I have talked and cried this week. It’s so damn hard. I don’t know why we do this to ourselves. Well actually I do, we love our furry friends and what they bring to our lives. It’s too soon to think about another. Right now it hurts too much. The house is too quiet.
But we’ll see.
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