Apr 09 2009
∞
“ My father had [a good death]. He was a systems engineer. In his 80s, he developed serious pulmonary problems, and he was very savvy about how things can go wrong in complicated systems, which hospitals are. To make sure that nothing was done to him that only technically extended his life, he made sure that his wife, doctor and hospital had copies of his medical directives. He didn’t have an extended period of dying because he avoided being put on a ventilator. My father died comfortable, surrounded by people who loved him. He was lucid till about five minutes before his death.
— Dr. Robert L. Martensen in “A Front-Row Seat as a Health Care System Goes Awry: A Conversation With Robert L. Martensen” (NYTimes)
