End of Life

Aging is an inevitable natural process that every human being will experience it. The aging could not be stopped or retarded with any effort or power. Therefore the elderly should accept this process faithfully, with full responsibility and with high self-confidence. The only wise way to face the aging itself is to prepare ourselves consciously, either physically or mentally, in arranging our worthy life as an elderly.

We believe that most of the elderlies crave for an ending life in a peaceful, secure, and calm way. If it could be, the dying itself should be far from painful and suffered process, which would not create any pain or trouble for others. However, the fact shows that such ideal thoughts are very hard to be achieved. On the contrary, the elderly precisely face a tragic and terrible ending life.

No wonder, many issues, decisions, and dilemmas towards the end of life in the elderly will emerge that need to be well-managed. How an elderly should arrange their life in their old age, about consent to treatment, advance directives, the clinical aspects of care such as resuscitation and palliative care, the controversy of euthanasia and assisted suicide, as well as financial issues will be further discussed, as our all concern.

I believe that most people seek for a long-live life. More than a decade, probably? But have you ever think about your life in your 80^th or 100^th birthday? Will you able to walk, read, hear, and talk, to do any activities like what you do now? Or you’re just ordered to have bed-rest for the rest of your life? This is a thing I want you to know, to think, and realize what they called Quality of Life.

One of my Biomedical Ethics lecturers once told on his class the other day, about Terri Schiavo case. In Indonesia, some of you must’ve heard about Sukma Ayu who eventually passed away after experiencing a 3-month-coma. There are 2 kinds of coma; Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) and brain death. The last mentioned is the most legal definition of death because Uniform Determination Of Death Act in the United States attempts to standardize criteria of life is the function of brain does exist.

Two cases above are very difficult situation to both doctors and the patients’ families. Doctors claimed that they had done their best whereas the families still urged to save patients’ life. During their coma, both Schiavo and Ayu are using some of very expensive medical equipments; such as ventilator to help them breathing. This is why financial issues are often to be discussed; because there is no guarantee that patients will awake from their coma, meanwhile the families have to pay all medication cost. Isn’t that sad? Wasting a lot of money for something that you don’t even know how it’s gonna end.

Some people decide to have euthanasia or assisted suicide as the answer, since they can’t afford the treatment any longer. The controversy of euthanasia and assisted suicide are still debatable, based on human rights (of the patient) or for the sake of the families.

As for me, I’ll just take neutral stand. In my opinion; yes, patient still has right to live and to be treated by doctor, but the fact that patient doesn’t have quality of live keep bothers me. (E.g. to be considered as ‘alive’ by medical apparatus, I don’t think it’s a life) Yet I can’t deny that miracles can happened so that the patient will awake and in fully-health condition. But heyy, miracles are NOT happened to everyone!

Wake up and smell the coffee, people! Long-live life isn’t as good as in your dreams. I don’t want to live my life for hundreds of years with 3-times-daily medication, wheelchair, hearing aid, and without able to see the beauty of the world, using cellphone, traveling all over the world, updating my blog :p or even walking down the streets on my feet! God bless.

*Picture is courtesy of bartcop.com