Palliative Care vs. Extending Life

This is a fascinating article and a must read. The doctor in the story had a specialty of palliative care—comforting the dying—and did a great job of it. She had the responsibility of taking the bad news—"you are going to die"—to people who were dying. When her turn came, she fought it with all of her might and caused herself immeasurable suffering in doing so. This is the dark side of modern medicine. It is able to prolong life, but we never talk about at what cost it does so. In her case, her life was prolonged by perhaps ten months, but at the end she was suffering terribly BECAUSE her life was prolonged and things got so bad even the strongest painkillers were of little help.

I've always felt that Christians should be the one's who cease their struggle the earliest. Why extend life for 6 or 12 months when I can go home to glory. "Don't keep me from glory, Doc. I'm going home. I want to go home!"