By Jessica Nutik Zitter, M.D.
Courtesy of wells.blogs.nytimes.com
Gary Waters/Getty Images
Sadly, but with conviction, I recently removed breathing tubes from three patients in intensive care.
As an I.C.U. doctor, I am trained to save lives. Yet the reality is that some of my patients are beyond saving. And while I can use the tricks of my trade to keep their bodies going, many will never return to a quality of life that they, or anyone else, would be willing to accept.
I was trained to use highly sophisticated tools to rescue those even beyond the brink of death. But I was never trained how to unhook these tools. I never learned how to help my patients die. I committed the protocols of lifesaving to memory and get recertified every two years to handle a Code Blue, which alerts us to the need for immediate resuscitation. Yet a Code Blue is rarely successful. Very few patients ever leave the hospital afterward. Those that do rarely wake up again. (Continue Reading “A ‘Code Death’“)
Dying & Death Talk 