I was reading a random article in Atlantic magazine last night about two doctors who are making a series of short simple documentary films that aim to turn around our entire medical system’s approach to end of life medical care. Then I noticed that they live here in Newton and their movie studio is their living room.
Angelo Volandes and Arthea Delight Davis are two MD’s and a married couple who live in Newton. Their ten minute films are aimed at halting or slowing the overpowering forces in the medical system that tend to unthinkingly apply maximal medical intervention at the end of life, to the extreme detriment of patients.
The situations they’re grappling with are ones that nearly every one of us will face for ourselves, or loved ones at some point in our lives. Have a read here.
@Jerry. We should all thank these two Newton doctors. I’ve seen too much of this over the past 30 or so years. I’ve been a medical proxy for an elderly uncle and 2 friends. Fortunately, all of them passed away before they were subjected to any of this nonsense. But I also saw several elderly relatives who were kept alive long after all quality of life had been totally drained from them. I had no control over any of their health choices. One of them was a vegetable for 6 or 7 years following a massive stroke. The medical powers that be rushed him to the hospital to remove a leg infected with gangrene less than two weeks before he died. I also witnessed a cousin spend her last seven years in a nursing home after a massive stroke. She was on a feeding tube, almost totally paralyzed, and unable to talk for the entire 7 years. She wanted the plugs pulled after she had been there a few years, but others wouldn’t allow that to happen.
It’s funny this should appear now. Next week we are going to have living will drawn up. I can handle terminal cancer with hospice and family and friends in support. What I don’t want is to languish in a nursing home with dementia or a debilitating stroke. I know what I want and I want that choice to be mine.
Angelo and Aretha were our next door neighbors until just a year ago when we moved to our current home. They are wonderful people and helped Emily and I out tremendously when my mother in law passed. Their work is incredibly important, and I am very thankful that two such incredibly loving and caring people have dedicated their lives in this way.
Their work will affect us all.
Another Newton (and Ward 5) Author/Physician bringing attention to the end of life conversation is Atul Gawande. Well worth reading.
Everything Bob said.