Sharing in Tough Decisions: Guidelines for Making Medical Choices

By Kelly Michelson, MD MPH At two months old, when most babies are starting to smile, Anna* began getting weaker. Over the next several months, Anna would lose the ability to move her arms and legs, leaving only a few facial muscles functioning to express her thoughts. Anna had spinal muscular atrophy, a disease that affects children and impairs the nerves that tell muscles to move. Abandoned by her muscles, her mind would remain intact, able to develop, understand, and learn. Because Anna's muscles would get progressively weaker in the coming months, her parents needed to make a decision. They could either avoid surgeries and invasive technology like feeding tubes and ventilators to focus on providing comfort care, knowing that Anna would die in a matter of months. Or they could place Anna on a breathing machine permanently, enabling her to survive for years. Anna's parents took her home, allowing her to die comfortably surrounded by family and love--and that was the right choice for Anna and her family. But the next child in a similar condition I have as my patient may go home with a breathing machine and that will also be the right choice. As a pediatric intensive care unit physician, I witness and consult on these extremely difficult decisions regularly. And like the decision faced by Anna's parents, often there is more than one "best" choice. In a recent important statement, the American College of Critical Care Medicine, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, and...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news