The device kept him alive, but was the pain and suffering worth it? - The Washington Post

"In countries such as the United States with ready access to new technologies, many patients have the attitude that if something can save you, why not try it? Opting out of available treatment is often seen as giving up. And doctors might equate nonintervention on their part to failure to help a patient.



Discussing other options can be difficult. A study presented at the 2014 Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions said that 52 percent of surveyed heart-failure clinicians reported feeling reluctant to discuss end-of-life options with patients, citing their own discomfort as well as the belief that patients would feel uncomfortable with the subject. Other respondents said that they didn’t want to make the family lose hope.



“You can’t stop it,” Robert tells Beverly, referring to his continuing medical complications, but she is determined. “Yes, I can!”



Unfortunately, the truth is that she can’t. She has not been able to control the infections, lesions or intermittent periods of confusion and clumsiness that Robert suffers, knocking glasses over in the kitchen and bumping into the furniture.

Would they have declined LVAD therapy if they had known then what they know now? Probably not, Beverly says. She reminds herself of their larger goal, which has not changed: Keep Robert alive. How could they have known for sure what would happen? What if LVAD therapy had both extended Robert’s life and improved his quality of life, and they had never given themselves the chance to find out?

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The device kept him alive, but was the pain and suffering worth it? - The Washington Post