Posted on 01/21/2019 4:30:54 PM PST by Kaslin
The wife of a retired periodontist suffering from Alzheimer’s, Dr. Gerald Greenberg, has filed a lawsuit against a New York hospital claiming that doctors violated his last wishes. As the New York Post reports, Mrs. Elaine Greenberg’s husband was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in his fifties and by the age of 63 was completely disconnected from the real world. But shortly after finding out about his condition and while still in a sound state of mind he had drawn up a living will which effectively established a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order. When Dr. Greenberg fell seriously ill and was estimated to only have a few days to live, his wife spoke to the medical team and provided them with the living will.
One doctor ignored those instructions and kept Greenberg alive for more than an additional month, moaning in pain until he finally passed away.
A Westchester County doctor ignored an ailing Alzheimer’s patient’s last wishes by callously prolonging his painful final days, a new lawsuit charges.
“There are times when Gerry was crying. He was not a man who cried, but he was suffering,” Elaine Greenberg told The Post of her retired periodontist husband, Dr. Gerald Greenberg, 63.
Gerald had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s in 2010, and by 2016 couldn’t recognize or communicate with his wife and two sons, according to the family’s Bronx Supreme Court lawsuit.
But before being completely incapacitated, the Roslyn, LI, man wrote in a 2011 living will that he was to be given “comfort measures only, no intravenous fluids and no antibiotics,’’ if his condition became incurable, the suit says.
This is a particularly difficult story to write about for me because my mother suffered from advanced dementia and finally succumbed to it, but only after nearly a decade under medical care where she couldn’t recognize any of her family most of the time and couldn’t even communicate toward the end. She had no living will, and we all waited for nature to take its long, painful course.
Greenberg’s case should have been far simpler. I’ve written here on many occasions about end of life issues and I understand why many conservatives are opposed to assisted suicide and other end of life intervention choices. I may not agree, but I understand many of the objections. Personally, I believe that how we choose to face death, fully as much as how we deal with life, is one of the most personal decisions an individual or family can make and the government has no business being involved provided all facilities are competently run.
But Dr. Greenberg and his wife weren’t asking for assisted suicide or an intervention. She simply wanted the doctors to let her husband go as his time had clearly arrived. One doctor took matters into his own hands and denied Greenberg a death with whatever dignity remained to him. This should be considered malpractice in my opinion.
These are hard subjects to tackle, but the majority of us will either have to deal with them ourselves when the time comes or our lives will be touched by others who do. We all make our own choices in life. As free citizens we should be able to make those choices about death as well.
“You’re supposed to call the hospice and not the paramedics when there is a problem. “
Sounds like she was not under hospice care.
Thank you for your post. I see it your way as well.
We were told for dad to never call 911, but to call his hospice people should a time come. It must be difficult for people who don’t have hospice because it does seem like all caregivers and first responders are forced by protocol to do heroic measures. Which are wonderful for younger people in trouble. But not so for those whose lives have wound way down.
Exactly. There is not one person other than hospice who wants to risk being sued for not calling 911 for a seriously ill with dementia person in trouble. From caregivers on, everyone covers their assets by calling paramedics who then are forced to go all the way to save them.
Why? I do’t care about them. I’m not living in NY. I thought I told you that. The terms don’t apply to me and they don’t stop me from rendering an opinion regardless of the legal conditions.
Anyone we responded to who was incapacitated got treatment based on our protocols regardless of the family or the person's wishes if the proper paperwork requesting something other than that was not presented to us.
Did that week allow for distant grandchildren to say goodbye to grandma?
Only if the grandchildren wanted to say their goodbyes to an unconscious and unresponsive grandmother strapped with tubes and wires to machines that were keeping her alive. Is that the last memory that you would want your grandchildren to remember you by?
I am not making a judgement about what is right or wrong here. My crews and I did our job and had saw many similar situations. We are not god, but people can often be brought back from the dead. If it was someone who could go on to live a rewarding life that is fantastic. But I was also not about to celebrate a “save” that did nothing other than artificially prolong someone’s misery.
“Why? I do’t care about them. I’m not living in NY. I thought I told you that. The terms don’t apply to me and they don’t stop me from rendering an opinion regardless of the legal conditions.”
Dude, the doctor lives in NY and your opinion goes against the legal conditions in NY.
And absolutely everywhere I ever worked....from CA to OK...From the 80's to the 2000's we did EXACTLY what the patient wanted..
If those two things did not occur...,,then they did what they did.
Unfortunately, the majority of “saves” are not people who go on to have rewarding lives afterwards. One good thing is that the organs of people who were healthy until an unfortunate event took their life are sometimes better preserved for transplants because of our efforts to maintain blood flow and perfusion.
A friend and Vietnam Vet died recently. He suffered a series of strokes after several battles with cancer. The nursing staff in the local, rural hospital where he was kept took notice of the DNR on his wrist and persistently refused to intubate his trach, empty his urine bag, pick him up from the floor when he fell, or feed him. He died suffering from abject neglect. This is a far more common reaction to DNR status than extraordinary life saving measures.
That is sad and ghastly. Hospice might be a better option; one thing they don’t do is neglect.
If true, it had nothing to do with his DNR.
It only matters where the doctor lives if I live there too. I don’t.
You’re really wound up on this. Sure hope it doesn’t cause any permanent distress to you. Maybe you should try to get some rest.
Story sounds fishy to me....no “POLST’s” are done in New York area hospitals? When you arrive at a hospital in serious condition and have an advance medical directive the medical staff/physician fill-in a POLST while talking with the spouse/relatives about the plan of care and they sign it. Usually results in “comfort care” only...made comfortable with pain meds and basic care...(no monitors/CPR/trachea tubes/resuscitation, etc.). Just went thru this with my Dad over the Christmas season here in a CA rural hospital. Small hospital didn’t have a “palliative care team”, but did have a “comfort care” room for family to stay with the patient overnight (shower/bathroom/kitchenette/fold out sleeping couch available). The POLST is “physician’s orders” which the hospital staff follows.
“It is malpractice. Big time and the guy needs to be sued for enough to hurt really bad and / or lose his license.”
He followed the law. No malpractice there. You really are way off the mark.
Better bone up on the law or consult a lawyer.
It means if there is a situation occurs that would end life such as a stroke or cardiac event, no heroics or treatment should be undertaken. It does not mean pump the old guy with phenobarbital and morphine until he flatlines. As far as I am concerned, they should rot in H3ll for the implication.
A power of attorney is a legal document that allows someone to make financial and legal decisions for you.
And it goes without saying that these documents best be reviewed by a lawyer and certified. Can you just download a form from the internet for free? Sure, but as they say, you get what you pay for.
Disclosure: After my wife passed away last year intestate, I made darn sure I had all four of the above taken care of.
Doctors ignore both the living will and the power of attorney
Half-true. Advance directives are legally recognized documents and doctors must respect your known wishes, but doctors can always refuse to comply with your wishes if they have an objection of conscience or consider your wishes medically inappropriate. Then, they have an obligation to help transfer you to another health care provider who will comply.
When my brilliant Mom fell and broke her hip she had been afflicted by that hideous disease. She needed surgery. As she was being prepped, the surgical team met with me to go over the details of the operation. Without it, her remaining life would be agony. With it, she would be wheelchair bound. I was told that to do the surgery, I would have to release the existing DNR. I was shocked. That was the express purpose of the document. I shuffled the papers around but didn’t sign it. Later, I made inquiries. Apparently, by not letting her die during the procedure the hospital statistics would improve.
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