Dehumanization the audience

I was mesmerized by a lecture by Mexican doctor Dr. Arnoldo Kraus at the Hay Festival in Cartagena, which emphasized the dehumanization of contemporary medicine that has forgotten the most important thing: the human being and the doctor-patient relationship.

Cold and distant questions from doctors in offices – for example: “What hurts?”, without greeting or asking who the patient is, how they feel, without getting close to the human being behind the pain – are common. Are going. It seems that doctors no longer have the time or desire to listen. They are not paid to listen and express advice. Many doctors just want to make money and, if they are surgeons, want to perform as many operations as possible. The more they trade, the more money they make. The same applies for exams, MRI, PET, because nuclear medicine is big business.

And not to mention pharmaceuticals. As Kruse claims, they manage to prostitute doctors. Many people offer money to doctors, who have forgotten the Oath of Hippocrates and put in the cupboard and prescribe quantities of pills of all sizes and colors to the patient, who takes them without question and does his The rest of his life is spent in sleep.

Krauss also mentions the loneliness of terminally ill people in clinics and hospitals, unable to be accompanied by family members, filled with tubes, monitored by nurses who neither know their names nor Take care of them. They are the “patient in the room.” They clean him, treat him trivially, move him around, and make sure he doesn’t call for help or disturb him. Medical technology can be terrifying. Machines have no feelings, they don’t listen, they don’t hold the mourner’s hand. In the United States, deaths occur in “aseptic” isolation clinics, filled with tubes.

Another compelling truth is that surgeons often know where to start, but they don’t know when or how to stop. They continue and continue with tests, chemo, radiation, false promises, knowing that their patients have no future. They don’t tell them the truth, they don’t return them to their homes with their families so that they can feel together, feel safe and be surrounded by love.

As long as your body functions, as long as you have autonomy and the ability to enjoy, you should live with dignity. But a “new old age” is being invented, in which there are beings who can no longer live their lives, but with the help of technology they are forced to survive and death is treated as a medical failure. Is seen.

Euthanasia and assisted death is an individual and inalienable right. Doctors must listen to their patients and be loyal to them, not just about their illness or disease, but also their human integrity. Specializations run even deeper. A person who has a “big toe” is not interested in the whole foot, especially in his pancreas or colon, if his emotional system is delicate, if he suffers from the kidneys. Just your toe.

Luckily, I have humane, exceptional, ethical and professional, rigorous doctors who listen to my ideas. But unfortunately they are less now. Fortunately, many doctors attended Dr. Cross’s conference and the applause turned into applause.

I want to survive, not last, and say goodbye with the people I love. Goodbye or see you later, I don’t know, but with love and dignity.