$$$ and life, which is more important?
This Tuesday was my last day of clinical. I encountered a pretty sad story, which was about a chinese man who just immigrated to Canada couple weeks ago. Shortly after he arrived, he was diagnosed with leukemia (cancer of the blood). His leukemia was at acute state which means that he has to recieve treatment asap. However, there's a law in Canada restricting new immigrants to buy health insurance or pay directly from their pockets for the costs of physician visit or hospital treatment in the first three months. Everyone can afford that if you only have a flu or a cold, but we are talking about $300,000 at least for the full course of treatment (about one month long) in my hospital. Do keep in mind that even the best treatment in the world comes with un-certainty. Therefore, we cannot 100% guarantee he can live after the treatment; but if he's not getting it, he will probably die very soon. To complicate the situation even more, this family doesn't speak any English and have no money at all. The son is unemployed, the daugther has just had a new born baby. His other offsprings do not live close.
When I saw him and his family that day, they were very distress. They told me that they were originally planning to fly him back to China because they can't afford the cost here. However, his health deteriorated very quickly and he wasn't able to go anywhere. I had my highest sympathy lying with this family. I found myself useless in such situation and I was adding more bad news to them, such as telling them a cost which they thought they would never be able to pay back in their lifetime. Working with this family make me wonder what would I possibly do if I were the daugther of the family? Would I be willing to trade my decent life for the living of my parents? Who knows if such trading can bring couple more years, couple more months or even couple more days of living? My value system always tell me that life is more important than $$$, because life is full of possibility. But when you come to the situation (such as this one) where you seem to be forced to quantify life, I found it hard to make a decision. Does anyone have a better idea to solve such ethical dilemma? Tell me your opinion.
When I saw him and his family that day, they were very distress. They told me that they were originally planning to fly him back to China because they can't afford the cost here. However, his health deteriorated very quickly and he wasn't able to go anywhere. I had my highest sympathy lying with this family. I found myself useless in such situation and I was adding more bad news to them, such as telling them a cost which they thought they would never be able to pay back in their lifetime. Working with this family make me wonder what would I possibly do if I were the daugther of the family? Would I be willing to trade my decent life for the living of my parents? Who knows if such trading can bring couple more years, couple more months or even couple more days of living? My value system always tell me that life is more important than $$$, because life is full of possibility. But when you come to the situation (such as this one) where you seem to be forced to quantify life, I found it hard to make a decision. Does anyone have a better idea to solve such ethical dilemma? Tell me your opinion.
posted by Christy @ 11:59 a.m.
2 Comments:
At 6:59:00 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
Exactly, that's a tough decision. Another controversy issue is whether we should let those, who has been in coma for years and is believed that the chance of recovery is near zero, to pass away "naturally". If I'm that person in coma, I will not be happy to see lots of money spent on a hopeless case like me rather than using the money to help save another person's life.
Janice
At 10:49:00 p.m.,
jftfaith said…
There are no right or wrong answer to any ethical dilemma. Sometimes, there may not be an answer too!
My heart also aches for a lot of the patients I've seen and talked to in the past few months. So I know how you feel...as I feel the same way many times...feeling that I am so useless...not be able to do anything.
Don't put too much pressure on yourself that you must always be able to give useful advice or help. Don't forget that nurses (or any other healthcare provider) are also human beings...and human beings' power are very limited. So don't feel unhappy/burdened that you can't do much! In many of these tough situations, the patients not only need facts (so that they can make informed decisions), but also...your support and that there's hope in any situation, no matter how hopeless sth may seem. Let them feel that they're not alone in the battle...
Don't forget to pray to the One who has the greatest power! God has His own timing and is in control.
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