Broph, on Jun 23 2008, 07:37 AM, said:
Well, what about the case of Christopher Reeve? He decided that he would walk again one day, pushed himself too far and eventually died from his attempts. He probably would have lived a lot longer if he had lived with his condition, but that was his decision.
True, he might've lived longer. But there is no way of knowing for certain whether he would've or not..He might've simply died around the same time.
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Again, if you're talking about a patient who is awake and making decisions, they can always go to another doctor. But if a person has a terminal illness, the doctor's education and experience probably tells more than the patient can.
I'll admit I'm very biased when it comes to doctors...I lost someone very close to me due to a doctor's screw up, so I can't just agree whole heartedly that the doctor's word is law. And I've seen other doctors who were shall we say, less then intelligent.
Another one wanted to send my Grandfather home when he was on a morphine drip...cause the cancer had spread and he was in that much pain. The doctor said they were having a hard time controlling his pain at the hospital, and were thinking of releasing him to go home with prescriptions for morphine. Or something like that. I started seeing red as soon as I heard they couldn't controll the pain and were going to send him home.
Needless to say I tore that doctor a new one. I "explained" that if they couldn't control the pain here there was no way he would be able to do so at home..and would probably OD from taking too much morphine. And the look on this Doctor's face after I said that was down right scary...almost like he didn't even think of that possibility.
So you'll excuse me if I don't always believe the doctors.