Decision Dilemma and Death
Mother had been unconscious for more than a day. The neuro surgeons didn't give much hope. Mother was too frail to withstand surgery and surgery doesn't guarantee a recovery. The notices pasted on the walls of the neurologists' hospital waiting rooms stress the fact the the treatment doesn't guarantee a success. (Fair enough. With such confidence level, I wish allopathy evangelists are sympathetic to alternate systems.) What appeared to us, her sons and daughter as an easy decision didn't appear to be so to many other families with their elderly in critical condition. The healthcare system and to some extent doctors avoid using the D word. Maybe because the common man doesn't accept death as a reality. All the elders in my family understood the inevitability of death. When my grandfather had a heart attack, he sent back the doctor named Easwaran. He said, "I don't need Dr. Easwaran, I'm waiting for the real Easwaran". Just a week befo...