Disease is Not Something To “Battle Against”
No winners or losers when we change our mindset about life-threatening disease
Retired MD David Mokotoff advises us not to say someone “lost their battle” with cancer or another disease, because it shames people and makes them feel they have failed. That advice makes a lot of sense to me.
There may come a time when you or someone you love decides against further medical treatments for a disease such as cancer. A patient has the right to say, “No radiation, no surgery or chemotherapy,” despite what medical professionals advise — or what their family wants.
To aggressively “fight” a life-threatening disease may mean steeling yourself against probable loss of quality of life and terrible suffering. For some people, it’s just not worth it.
In the HBO television movie “Wit,” which won the Emmy Award for best film in 2001, a patient named Vivian Bearing dies from ovarian cancer. A young doctor somewhat connects with Vivian, but his interest in her is more clinical than anything. An older oncologist treats Vivian dispassionately, like a specimen he studies in a petri dish.
Nurse Susie is the only healthcare professional who actually cares about Vivian, a character brilliantly portrayed by Academy Award winning actress Emma Thompson.
Despite all her academic knowledge, Vivian consents to follow chemotherapy protocol without first educating herself on what the side effects would be. She is not well informed, and she suffers for it. Toward the end of the movie, Vivian questions her decisions and reflects on whether hers has been a life well lived.
A renowned professor, with a PhD in English Literature, her purpose in life has been to teach poetry, and her intellect has meant everything to her. But by the time she nears end of life, she realizes what’s even more important: human connection.
To read the full 7-minute article, click HERE…