Dementia Support Group

Dementia is the progressive decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the brain beyond what might be expected from normal aging. Particularly affected areas may be memory, attention, language and problem solving, although particularly in the later stages of the condition, affected persons may be disoriented in time, place and person (not knowing who they...

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flowerA 01/04/2013

I just need to let off steam. Took Dad to Doctors as blood pressure all over the place and he has been feeling very giddy. I asked if Dad should be put on Warrifin to thin blood, stop stroke, Doctor said its up to him, as he is 89yrs is it worth keep going back and forward to hospital for blood tests. I could not believe he spoke to Dad like that, would he wont his Dad to have treatment, or just sit and die without any medical help.
No bed side manners anymore.
Anyone else had bad treatment.?
Take care, love to all for a happy New Year.

deleted_user 01/04/2013

That is awful and he should be reported. If its a large practice you should call the office manager and ask who owns the practice.

When my dad was very sick he told his doctor that he felt depressed. THis was not easy for him to do. I almost fell over when the doctor told him that if he still felt this way in a month he would think about giving him something. Well dad was dead less than two months later. We'll always wonder if those last weeks could have been easier for him if he had a doctor who was more compassionate.

deleted_user 01/04/2013

I can only speak from a different perspective. When mom was battling cancer, there was a point when she was very close to death. It was pretty obvious that the doctors wanted to let her die since she was in coma but dad refused to allow it. He got my sib to get on board and demand surgery. Mom had no advance directive yet!

They continued to force mom for procedures and surgeries for another 9 months. One day she was alone with me and shared that she was tired of having her parts replace with plastic one by one. She was bitter that someone had chosen to put her thru another year of suffering when she could have been already at peace.

Not sure how much this applies to your dad. But it did make me sad to listen to her talk about the constant running to hospitals, facing tests, changing medications, fear of bleeding out, not being allowed to shave her legs, rushing to ER and spending days on end waiting around while they decided if she'd be imprisioned in a semi private room with rotten food to get those blood thinnners balanced once again.

Once a therapy is started, it is hard to choose to stop it. Have you talked openly with dad about his wishes?

deleted_user 01/04/2013

Sunny you have a good point. But I think even if this is a case where no treatment is better, this should not be said to the patient. Or at the least it should be done in a gentle way.

jazzkeys 01/05/2013

I agree with Tigg, nothing mean should be said in front of the patient, empathy seems to have disappeared in the medical field.

deleted_user 01/14/2013

My Mom's doctors tend to say we are taking a non aggressive approach.or non aggressive treatment especially in front of my mom.

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