Working in a hospital has brought many questions to my mind, one being is life support worth it? I watch families day after day on an ICU floor where there loved one is hooked up to machines unable to communicate with them. Watching the emotional rollercoaster and the pain in both the family and patients' eyes is not something I would wish to have done to me. I would not say I would want to be a DNR which means do not resuscitate, but if I have to have every machine hooked up to me because everything is failing I would want to go in peace. I would probably be okay with CPR, or an LVAD, treatment but being hooked up to machines to sustain my life especially when I won't be getting better, I would opt out and go for the quality of life versus the quantity. I want to die peacefully, and not hooked up for months and staying in a hospital for my last days.
Life support is a temporary fix to problems that may or may not get better. Some forms of Life support are Ventilator, CPR, Diffibulator, LVAD, Artificial nutrition and ECMO. A ventilator is used when the patient is unable to breathe on there own, where a machine is pumping oxygen into there lungs. CPR stands for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, which is a basic first-aid measure where compressions and breaths are giving to the patient a chance of life while unconscious. A defibrillator is a machine using electrical pulses and charges to change a heart's rhythm. Artificial nutrition is seen in a "tube-feeding" product inserting nutrition into the body. LVAD stands for Left Ventricular Assist Device where it is used as a device to help pump the heart while the patient awaits a heart transplant. An ECMO patient is one of the last resort treatments because it is all machines to help the lungs and heart. The patient is hooked up to multiple machines at all times, and can only be moved for STAT, or emergency scans or operations while multiple people have to come and transport the patient.
I completely understand the emotions of taking a loved one off of life support, and how difficult it can be. As a reminder, you need to do not only what's best for the patient, but what they would want to do. Most people do not want to be last seen with tubes and machines everywhere. These things usually happen really fast, and emotion can fog a person's ability to make choices and thoughts. No one wants to be the reason they "Pulled the plug," but when is it time to call it?
Now that life support is explained and the type of treatments are stated, it is always a good thing to ask loved ones what they prefer. It is not something I would wish on anyone, but it is a reality and always good to talk about it and know what your family would want. Thinking for yourself, and what you want as well is very important and you should always know what you want to be done to yourself in a hospital situation. What would you do for yourself? What would you do for your family? What treatments are you willing to go through? How far are you willing to go?
