Newspaper Page Text
10A
JULY 3,1997 AUGUSTA FOCUS
Americans don’t take easily to death and dying
By Bob Sisson
The Columbian
VANCOUVER, Wash.
When paramedics wheeled the
41-year-old Vancouver manintothe
hospital on aJuly morningfiveyears
ago, his labored breathing was re
duced tosmall, slight gasps between
long pauses. His sister talked to
him, but he managed only to grunt
in response.
“I know what Greg wants,” his
longtime physician told her.
So instead of putting him on a
respirator that would mechanically
breathe for Greg McClure, the doc
tor ordered morphine. The drug
dripped slowlyinto McClure’s veins
and slipped smoothly through his
body to ease his hunger for air and
soothe him. It also slowed his respi
ration, and he died, as he had
wanted.
InSedro Woolley, MacMcGeorge,
73, chose a more violent end to his
life. Cancer of the spine, lungs and
lymphatic system pounded hisbody
with so much pain it was hard for
him to sit, lie down or even be near
people for fear they would touch
him.
Hospice supported McGeorge
and his wife. His doctor prescribed
increasing doses of morphine and
other medications to ease the pain.
But after amedication-induced stu
por of almost 24 hours, McGeorge
decided that wasn’t the answer.
On a February morning in 1996,
he kissed his wife goodbye and told
her, “Don’t come out; it will be
messy.” Then, while she went to
thestudy, he walked into their front
yard, behind their pickup, and
aimed a sawed-off shotgun into his
mouth and pulled the trigger.
Carl Chen, on the other hand,
went peacefully, the way he wanted
it. Two weeksafter being diagnosed
with liver and kidney failure, the
50-year-old Vancouver man simply
Looking for good times in a
glass is a bad idea
It’s ironic that many people
equate alcohol with good times. It
actually causes emotional prob
lems, exacerbates personality dis
orders and can bring separation
to families. And the physical ef
fects of drinking are more akin to
depression than elation.
But the misconception that al
cohol helpslift the mood can make
a celebration an opportunity for
even the casual drinker to overdo
it. That means more drunk driv
ers, more parents arriving home
late and incapacitated, more mari
tal discord and more abusive be
havior.
The effects of alcohol abuse on
familiesis devastating. And it can
stretch family life to the limits.
What are the long term effects of
alcohol on families?
¢Children learn tocope by with
drawing or emulating the drink
ing behavior of their parents.
Some children actually break off
from their emotions to smother
feelings. As aresult, interpersonal
relationships may suffer for the
rest of their lives.
eAlcohol often may cause
moodiness and uncontrolled emo
tions. This may lead to physical
and emotional abuse in the house
hold.
*Children of alcoholics often ex
perience low self-esteem because
of the unpredictable behavior of
the drinking parent(s). The child
feels powerless to control his or
her environment.
Stress and tension are part of
life. Things just get hectic. Some
people may turn to alcohol or
drugs to control their anxiety. The
real impact, though, is to stress
the body even more. What are the
physical effects of alcohol use?
*Alcohol converts to acetate
whenitentersthebody. This even
tually leads to liver damage.
*Hangovers, thought to result
from constriction and then ex
pansion of blood vessels to the
brain, may be debilitating, lower
‘energy levels and create an over
all feeling of malaise.
*Alcohol alters the brain caus
ingslurreq speech, slower reflexes
decided against any treatment that
might stretch his life for six more
months or a year. Then he left the
hospital and went home to die.
For the next five days, until he
slipped into a coma, his wife, two
children and close friends remi
nisced with him about special times
they’d shared. They talked about
how much they loved each other.
He died with them around him.
Music by his favorite singer, Cat
Stevens, played in the background.
Dying isn’t a subject healthy
Americans much like to talk
about
“It’s difficult for physicians and
familiesand everyoneinvolved, and
America doesn’t take easily to it, to
death and dying,” said Dr. John
Greves, a Vancouver cardiologist.
“It’s not in the American tradi
tion.”
But with debate over physician
assisted suicide for terminally ill
patients, dying has moved more
into the forefront of American con
sciousness. The U.S. Supreme Court
is expected to rule this month or
next on two cases — including one
from Washington — that seek to
make physician-assisted suicide le
gal.
It’s bound to generate even more
widespread debate, not only about
physician-assisted suicide, but
about ‘whether doctors know
enough about controlling pain and
treating patients at the end of life.
Greg McClure would not have fit
the criteria for physician-assisted
suicide, even if it had been legal
when he was alive. Patients would
have to be within six months of
death to ask a doctor to help them
die. While Lou Gehrig’s disease,
formally called amyotrophiclateral
sclerosis, has no cure and eventu
ally leads to death, no one knew
howlong McClure would have gone
on.
and unsteadiness.
*Very high levels of alcohol, or
continuous consumption at high
levels, eventually causes black
outs. A person may seem to be
aware while experiencinga black
out, but remember nothing the
nextday. Thisis particularly trau
matic for families who harber re
sentment, anger, even fear to
wards the drinker who doesn’t
know what he or she did. Some
serious side effects of blackouts
are coma and even death.
*The incidence of suicide rises
among drinkers. This may be re
» | th |
An- vou imagining the worst? Peer pressure is i powerful force for teenagers, espe
: cially during the summer when more free time can mean trouble. But there are
’ some things parents can do :
= Work with your teen to arrange productive summer activities with other adoles
cents you know.
= Decide, together, on the kinds of activities that are off-limits, regardless of what
friends may want.
= Discuss ways to say no.
= Always ask to meet new friends.
= Don't hesitate to communicate with your teen when you think a friend is out-of
line, but be prepared to listen.
= Provide a stable and supportive home environment.
‘ If your teenager seems to be influenced too much by others, you may want to bring
him in for an assessment. Sometimes just knowing you're aware of what's happen
ing, and ready to do something about it, will be enough to help your teen get things
straight. To make an appointment, call 1-800-CHARTER.
Beavia e
05l Behavioral Health System
3100 Perimeter Parkway / Augusta, GA 30909
Livingßetter
Once hisoverdose of pills left him
close to death, though, his sister,
Marcia Limoges, was glad his doc
tor knew what McClure wanted.
But she stops short of saying that
the doctor-ordered morphine drip
was physician-assisted suicide.
“It wasn’t done intentionally to
end life, but to support Greg com
fortably through the process he al
ready started,” Limoges said.
The doctor respected her
brother’s right to die, she added, by
not putting him on mechanical sup
port. He also respected McClure’s
right to be comfortable by giving
him morphine.
In fact, physicians often order an
intravenous morphine drip for pa
tients who are very close to death
and suffering severe pain or respi
ratory distress. Relieving those
symptoms is the physicians’ pri
mary goal, but they also know that
in some patients, death may come
quicker as a consequence.
“It’s a gray, wavy line. It may
take enough pain medication to
control their pain that they go into
a deep sleep” and die, said Dr.
Rebecca Corley, chief medical of
ficer at Southwest Washington
Medical Center. “We need to edu
cate our doctors that pain control is
essential and to use whatever medi
cationsit takes to control that pain.
That is very different from going in
with the aim you’re going to end
someone’s life.”
Corley, 44, is a lung specialist.
“I’ve had many patients who have
initially expressed their wish to die,
but once we got their pain under
control and treated their depres
sion and dealt with any personal
issues, I've had patients say to me
they’re glad they didn’t do it.”
Death also has come into her life.
Carl Chen was her husband.
He didn’t talk about physician
assisted suicide, but had he wanted
it, or if any of her patients would
lated to increased alcohol con
sumption coupled with depres
sion, isolation or loneliness.
There are ways to cope with
stress and tension without alco
hol. There are ways to enjoy your
self without using alcohol or
drugs. If you are worried about
yourself or a family member be
ing able to cope, call 1-800-CHAR
TER. Charter Augusta Behavioral
Health System offers no-charge
assessments, 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. We provide
treatment options to fit the needs
of each individual.
want it, she says she couldn’t do it.
“I'believe very much in a natural
death, and that you need to keep
the person as comfortable as pos
sible,” Corley said. “As a physician,
you can’t always cure someone, but
you can keep them comfortable,
and neither you nor the family has
any guilt associated with that.”
Limoges, McClure’s sister, said
she never could be a party to physi
cian-assisted suicide, either. She was
wellaware of what her brother went
through with Lou Gehrig’s disease
for 18 years, and how it destroyed
his once-strong body and his coor
dination so that he couldn’t dress
or bathe himself or even use the
toilet without help. His mother, in
the early stages of Alzheimer’s dis
ease, had to do all that for him.
Limoges had just hired a caregiver
for her brother when he took the
z eve Q
Eye Care Questions and Answers with Dr. Thomas Casella, Optometrist
Fireworks and eye injuries
ATLANTA
Independence Day and fireworks have a
special place in many hearts, but every
year someone, often a child, suffers a seri
ous eye injury.
Fireworks can blind, burn or abrade
the eye, but bottle rockets are particular
ly dangerous. They have an erratic flight
path, impact forcibly and can blow up in
your face as you are lighting them. The
bottles containing them sometimes ex
plode as well.
The Georgia Optometric Association says
if fireworks are to be used, please consider
these precautions.
—Adult supervision is essential.
—Wear eye glasses or goggles for protec
overdose of pills.
“Ifeel he had aright to make that
choice, but I, as an individual who
loved my brother, had a right not to
help him take his life,” she said.
“Physicians will have that right
too,” if physician-assisted suicide is
allowed.
She emphasized she was speak
ing as McClure’s sister, not as a
cancer nurse, her profession since
1984.
“I’'ve worked with many people
who are dying, and always sup
ported them. I have never had the
attitude of let’s get this over with.
That’s not where I come from,” she
said.
“Many are fighters to the end,
accepting their life is ending,” she
added, “and it’s almost a spiritual
process I hate to see short-cir
cuited.”
Casella Eye Center
Dr. Thomas V. Casella
767 Broad Street, Augusta, GA ¢ (706) 722-0817
Member, Georgia Optometrist Association
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Mac McGeorge believed he had
come to the point that he had toend
his life. The pain was too great. He
needed more and more drugs to
relieve that pain, so much so that
they left him out of touch with
reality. He could have existed four
or five more months in a drugged
state, but that wasn’t for him, Patsy
McGeorge said.
She wishes physician-assisted
suicide had been available for her
husband.
“He would liked to have been able
todie at home in bed with me there,
and if he could have had physician
assisted suicide, it would have been
alot easier on both of us,” she said.
“You don’t think it’s easy contem
plating blowing your head off, do
you? I mean, that took a hell ofalot
of courage.”
tion.
—Place a bucket of water nearby to put
out fires or douse those devices which don’t
work (duds). '
—Read the manufacturer’s label and fol
low the directions.
—lgnite fireworks outdoors and only one
at a time, e
—Dispose of used fireworks properly.
“The best cure for an eye injury from
fireworks is prevention,” said Dr. Nancy
Barr, president of Georgia Optometric As
sociation. “Consider attending a profes
sional fireworks show rather than takinga
risk with your eyes.”
Should an eye injury occur, please con
sult an optometrist immediately.