Dying Well... The Art of Dying
Fifty years ago, a physician was admitted to the hospital with stomach cancer. He wrote down in his own medical chart that he did not want CPR or to be connected to a breathing machine. His wishes were disregarded — he underwent CPR numerous times and was connected to a breathing machine until he died. Back then, not only were people treated in ways they did not want, but many patients were also arbitrarily denied potentially lifesaving therapies.
Doctors decided who deserved to live or not: In one New York hospital, doctors put purple stickers on the charts of patients they determined would not receive CPR or other similar measures without the patients' or their families' knowledge. Decisions about life and death were subjective and opaque.
End-of-life care has considerably improved since then. Patient preferences now help direct physicians and nurses about what type of care they would want to receive. But 50 years into the future, we will look back on today and conclude that medicine was sorely lacking when it came to how we handle death.
Many in medicine, as well as patients and caregivers, continue to equate more procedures, more chemotherapy, and more intensive care with better care. Studies in patients with cancer and heart disease, the two greatest killers of mankind, show that patients receiving palliative care, which is an approach that focuses on quality rather than quantity of life, can actually live longer. While the goal of palliative care is to help people with a serious illness live as well as possible — physically, emotionally and spiritually — rather than as long as possible, some people receiving palliative care might also live longer since they avoid the complications associated with procedures, medications, and hospitalization.
In addition, while medical advances have moved forward at blinding pace, the ethical discourse surrounding many technologies has not kept up. Take, for example, cardiac devices such as pacemakers and mechanical pumps that can be placed in the heart. Many patients with terminal illnesses who want to deactivate these devices find resistance from the health system, since some continue to equate deactivating them with euthanasia. We need to continue to make sure that even as technological advances blossom, patients remain at the center, and physicians continue to honor their wishes.
And while the palliative care specialty has greatly improved end-of-life care, too often, palliative care has been used as a way to avoid the culture change needed by all medical specialties to better handle death. Despite its many benefits, many patients and physicians are scared of "palliative care" because of its strong association with the end of life. Some have been compelled to change the title of their practices to "supportive care." To many patients, the very name "palliative" implies that they will be abandoned, making them very reluctant to accept their services. The fact is that palliative care can, and should, be delivered to patients with serious illness alongside conventional care.
But the issues go beyond the name — one recent study showed that palliative care-led meetings with families of patients in intensive care units led to an increase in post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among family members. Palliative care specialists are often consulted in tense situations when patients are critically ill, and they often have no prior relationship with patients or their families, who might be unprepared to have serious discussions with them. That's why most of these difficult conversations should be delivered by the doctors and surgeons primarily responsible for treating the patients. One study estimated that by 2030, the ratio between palliative care specialists and eligible patients will be 1 to 26,000. Palliative care specialists cannot be entirely responsible for end-of-life care by themselves.
To emerge on the right side of history, the entire culture of medicine needs to be turned around. End-of-life care is not just palliative care's business. It is everyone's business, from emergency room doctors to primary care physicians. Physicians need to abandon outdated ideas that their role as healers is incompatible with helping patients die comfortably and on their own terms. Helping patients die well is as important as helping them live to the fullest.
The Art of Dying Well is to honor patients' choices. It is a common practice for medical professionals to extend patients' lives; it is their role and their job, and perhaps the most important part of their responsibility is to grant the patient dignity and go in peace, not treating every patient as an experiment.
When murdered and NOT according to the blueprint agreement, and lives are taken above and beyond the call of duty; the departing soul is basically aware that he/she has sold out the soul to have fame and wealth, and they came to collect. Usually, the soul is frozen and in shock, and would take 7 multiples of 7 earth years to thaw out, helps if there are other departed angelic light beings to persuade the recently deceased/murdered to let go of revenge and move on to the light. The murdered souls are usually stuck as the agreed-to exit time did not come yet, so the escorting angels will not be there.
Crime Against Humanity is not only limited to War Crimes, Genocides, and Vaccinations in the name of Profits.
Throughout the evolution of humanity, many wars and mass destructions have taken place. "Kill or Be Killed" has been the basis of many free will choices. Once someone is killed, one gets to move on to the afterlife; then life continues, learning continues with the exception of no physical... however, if the dying aspect is associated with horror, torture, unrelenting torments, this indelible stamp is ingrained in the psychological memory of the reduced exit frequency to live on in the afterlife and the new life on re-entry to the 3D plane.
During many wars, all soldiers signed up to be killed, or there is an absence of karma as it is agreed to. However, the torture of the dying in the most disgusting and disrespectful ways, robbing the dying of his/her last rites and dignity is a huge Human Error as well as Spiritual Error.
During WW2, Japanese soldiers captured POW as well as civilians to carry out horrendous degrading tortures in the name of scientific experiments and endless unthinkable war crimes. Japanese atrocities in World War II, including cannibalism, the slaughter and starvation of prisoners of war, rape and enforced prostitution, the murder of noncombatants, and biological warfare experiments.
Some of the inhumane tortures/experiments were seeing how long a person can live without food and water, is 5 days; and with only water is 60 days. Soaking hands and feet in boiling oil then in extremely cold ice water just to witness flesh bursting and falling off at the same time. Inserting extremely large objects into the vagina to measure how deep the birth canal can withstand; to a point of the stake/object coming out of her throat. Many so-called surgeries were done without any anesthetics where the body would be cut open while the victim is still with full consciousness and organs then pulled out; and if the victims were to faint, they are woken up with boiling water poured over the open wound so the screaming and screeching can be heard again and again. Prisoners were being eaten alive as they were first skinned and mutilated in every which way possible.
This is perhaps to satisfy the perpetrators to feed their demons and to feel less insignificant, more glorified arrogant. If killing is your job, just do your job and never include dehumanization as your reward.
How different are doctors who insist on the brutal treatments to extend patients' life for their own glory? Anytime where and when authoritarian decides to dehumanize anyone; it is with the intent to reduce the dying person's exit frequency to serve their own agenda; or perhaps to fulfill the pack's order.
The Art of Dying Well for others is to HONOR their choice.
The Art of Dying Well for the Self is to die with Peace and Dignity.