Newswise, May 12, 2016 — Medical blogger Leon
Kraybill, MD, CMD, is a geriatrician at Lancaster General Health and a
Pennsylvania Medical Society member. In this blog, he writes about end-of-life care and his father’s
‘Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment.’
My father lay unresponsive on the emergency room cart. His
normally smiling 94-year-old face was blank. There was no response to my voice
or touch. His pulse and blood pressure were worrisome.
My physician brain instinctively realized that he was probably
dying. As a son, my heart cried out against the end of life for this vibrant
and compassionate man.
Earlier, he and my mother had navigated to services at their
long-term care facility. He appeared to fall asleep, did not wake up, and was
transported to the emergency room.
It is the phone call no child wishes to receive. I arrived to
find my mother at his bedside. Her face told me that she also recognized the
seriousness of the situation.
As a geriatrician, I work every day with individuals with
changing health. Discussions of disease, functional change, clinical decline
and end-of-life care are very common.
I routinely encourage people to consider health options, make
treatment choices, and share these through discussion and advance care planning
documents. It is easy to give these recommendations to others.
To read the entire blog,
To learn more about PAMED, visit its web site at
www.pamedsoc.org or follow on Twitter @PAMEDSociety. Members of the media are
encouraged to follow Chuck Moran on Twitter @ChuckMoran7.
Newswise, May 12, 2016 — Medical blogger Leon
Kraybill, MD, CMD, is a geriatrician at Lancaster General Health and a
Pennsylvania Medical Society member. In this blog, he writes about end-of-life care and his father’s
‘Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment.’
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