Denying the obvious spread of disease conflicts with what the patient perceives, and what the doctor knows. Even though the goal is to soften difficult news, the result of deception is isolation, confusion and suffering. This exacts a terrible toll on the doctor. However, for many physicians it is not clear what to say or what to offer when therapy fails. What has a physician to offer but false hope?It is hard to lie to patients who are dying. To look a fellow human in the eye and tell them “everything will be OK,” is painful. To give treatment that is unlikely to work is emotionally exhausting. To watch someone die having never been honest causes burnout.
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [3] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!
Links:
[1] http://sunriserounds.com/
[2] http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/04/physician-benefits-palliative-medicine.html
[3] http://twitter.com/lumigrate
[4] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/physician-benefits-palliative-medicine-james-c-salwitz-md-kevinmdcom#comment-2332
[5] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/physician-benefits-palliative-medicine-james-c-salwitz-md-kevinmdcom#top
[6] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/login?destination=node/1953%23comment-form
[7] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/register?destination=node/1953%23comment-form
Comments
What came to be named 'Lumigrate' a year into my creating the concept and heading into a live immersion in integrative medicine now serves as a platform for me and other professional who guide people to information they wish for their patients/consumers to have.
I was working this week with two cases which were very diverse in age and direction, and in one case I had subject matter for EVERY topic I was bringing up in my plan of suggestions for them to use with their team around them supporting them in their health, wellness, and career. In the other case, I found myself separately educating about the person's stated desire to not STOP but slow down the fighting of what was going on with their complex medical situation and embrace a more 'go with the flow' of things.
The person and family member acting as lead advocate had never heard of 'palliative care' and their previous medical team had not ever stopped to figure out why the person/patient was not going to their scheduled medical appointments and turning down interventions suggested to them. I am working with the incoming team, recruited by the family member who is not a medical industry savvy person in the past and who has very limited time due to career and immediate family demands on time and energy.
I have signed up with KevinMD and receive their e-newsletters routinely; this topic was one in the list of a newsletter that came in within hours of my wishing I had something like this on Lumigrate. So I created this topic to use it for this case at this time and it will then be here for my future needs and those of all who come to Lumigrate.com.
I trust that I have encouraged people to follow the link, and that KevinMD will appreciate that I am highlighting them in this manner and truly ENCOURAGING people to go to their site -- look around -- sign up for all the things you can do to stay connected with this powerful resource. And I do, when time allows, communicate with the sites to know of our support of them; many wonderful connections have come from my doing this in the past. In the mean time, I hope my explanation here will suffice and I hope that anyone with questions contacts me via Contact us. ~~ Mardy
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [3] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!