End of Life

The day that my mother decided she was done fighting her cancer was when she was told that the brain tumors are growing faster than the doctors could shrink them. They gave her more options to keep fighting but she explained to them that Christmas was coming and she wanted to spend as much time with her daughters and granddaughters. She didn’t make it to Christmas but she was done spending money and time in the hospital trying to stay alive when she thought it was her time to go. End of life issues are difficult at best but

“Hospitals and doctors are paid only for what they do, not what they don’t do.” (Bennett, 2)

Cancer patients have to normally see several different doctors for their treatment against cancer. Most of the time these doctors don’t talk to one another causing multiple CT scans, blood drawn or urine collected all of try and save a patient’s life when time has ran out for them. Having the doctors working together would help cut the cost of unnecessary test and determine if making the patient comfort for the end is the better plan.

Insurance companies have different costs for test doctors do on patients so a CT scan for one patient could cost $800 or $3,000 for another patient and if the patient doesn’t have insurance they are looking at a bill that is close to $6,000. When families have for health insurance to cover for illness, they shouldn’t have to be caught off-guard with a 5,000 hospital bill because the insurance company doesn’t cover that type of CT scan machine that was used.

Concerns over the end of life will never die. But denial of our mortality is no longer an option. If we muster the courage to address the last collective phobia of the Western world, we may generate ideas for truly comprehensive health care reform and better living.