#Palliative medicine

[shadow27]

Three police officers showed up at Hays Medical Center to seize the 69-year-old vape and THC paste

HAYS, Kan. — Police raided a terminally ill Kansas man’s hospital room because he allegedly used a weed vape and THC paste to ease the symptoms of the cancer that will kill him within weeks.

On Dec. 16, Hays, Kansas police raided the hospital room of 69-year-old Greg Bretz, who is suffering from terminal cancer, after a hospital worker at Hays Medical Center caught him vaping marijuana, KSNF reports.

Bretz said he has been vaping, as well as eating THC paste with bread, to relieve symptoms of his condition since being hospitalized roughly three weeks ago. 

Bretz is in the final stages of terminal, inoperable cancer and told The Wichita Eagle that he most often lies “flat on his back” in his hospital bed and can’t stand up without being assisted. Bretz told the Kansas City Star that his doctor told him to use whatever was necessary to relieve his pain, including products containing THC — the active ingredient in cannabis.

Police told Bretz that his vaping device could potentially be a fire hazard, due to the presence of oxygen in the room. In many vaping devices, puffing activates the battery-powered heating device, which vaporizes the liquid in the cartridge or reservoir for inhalation.

Bretz was cited for drug possession and is set to appear in court after the new year on Jan. 2, 2023.

[dreamy-conceit]

When you get sicker, it's clear to us that your time is getting short. What do you want that time to look like? Would you be willing to risk spending your very last days hooked up to machines to buy you a bit more time? Or would you like to prioritise peace and comfort while your illness runs its natural course? Because with a serious illness, CPR won't change if you die, but it can change how you die.

— Matthew Tyler, MD, 'How I talk to patients about CPR' (TikTok, 11 October 2024).

Dr Tyler is board certified in internal medicine and hospice & palliative medicine, and runs How To Train Your Doctor.

[palliativepoetry]

I hope death is like

being carried to your bedroom

when you were a child

& fell asleep on the couch

during a family party.

I hope you can hear the laughter

from the next room

[stemlyns]

Podcast - Paediatric Palliative Care in the ED

This post accompanies the podcast 'Paediatric Palliative Care' recorded live at the Premier Conference 2024. Learn how you can best help children with life limiting illness and their families if they need your care in the Emergency Department.

Working in the emergency department (ED) is always challenging, but caring for children with life-limiting conditions adds an extra layer of complexity and emotion. In this podcast, Dr Timothy Warlow, a consultant in Paediatric Palliative Medicine at University Hospitals Southampton & Naomi House & Jacksplace Hospices, shares some top tips for how we can best care for these children and their…

[balajihospital]

Balaji Hospital | Radiology Specialists for Imaging Services

Balaji Hospital's Radiologist providing advanced imaging services for accurate diagnosis & treatment planning, utilizing advanced technology & techniques

[nerdgirlnarrates]

Recently I was talking to another med student and shared that before my grandmother died, her heart failure had gotten so bad that her doctors couldn’t effectively diurese her and she ended up needing several thoracenteses. The other med student suggested that these procedures were too aggressive and my grandmother’s doctors should have let her die instead. And I’m confused, because these procedures were very much palliative in nature: it is painful to have a pleural effusion preventing you from breathing well. She needed surgery to address the valve issues causing her heart failure, but she was not a good candidate for surgery, so she had already foregone curative measures. Also, my grandmother did not want to die of a pleural effusion. I’m not saying her quality of life was good--it wasn’t--but she didn’t want to essentially drown to death. And I’m kind of upset at the notion that her doctors should have forced her to die that way. That’s not humanity, peace, or dignity in death. Maybe I’m misunderstanding something, but the conversation has left me unhappy.

[grendelsmom]

Doing research for hours without a break isn't good for me. My mind is so mushy that I just spend five minutes completely in awe of the word Implementationsempfehlungen before I remembered that that's just a basic compound noun

[somuchtostudysolittletime]

23/7/23 // 12.37

Some quick pretty diagrams about vomiting before I go off to camp. Very excited for a few days away but not excited for how tired I will be by the end of it!

[quilavastudy]

Still thinking about that time I went to the city council to give my notice of marriage, and the registrar looked through my details and said 'oh! I recognise your name from death certificates!' 💀

[doctorweebmd]

okay i really AM working on the path to paradise. if all goes according to plan i'll have chapter 15 this weekend AHHHHHH

[meggettes]

my mom died a year ago

[girlhorse]

I dont hate these clients theyre usually nice but i do get frustrated when it seems they dont really understand that their animals are BAD about being handled. lol

[palliativepoetry]

I missed you quietly today. So quietly that no one noticed.

I missed you as I climbed out of bed and as I brushed my teeth; when I waited at the lights on the drive into work and as I heard the rain outside my window.

I missed you as I ordered lunch and as I kicked off my shoes when I got home; as I switched off the lights and climbed into bed for the night.

I missed you without tears or noise or fanfare.

But oh how I felt it.

I felt it in the morning, at lunchtime, in the evening and at night. I felt it as I woke, as I waited, as I worked. I felt it at home, on the road, in the light, in the dark, in the rain.

I felt it in every one of those moments, each one sitting heavier and heavier as the weight of me missing you kept growing and growing.

Yes, I missed you so quietly today.

But I felt it so loudly.

-Becky Hemsley

[intrainingdoc]

New on in-House, a captivating piece exploring the interconnectivity of dance and non-verbal communication in the ICU. The piece is authored by The Aseemkala Initiative - a group of brilliant activists presenting diverse dance-based narrative medicine.

https://in-housestaff.org/chinnamastas-do-not-resuscitate-order-using-classical-indian-dance-to-improve-intensive-care-unit-non-verbal-communication-2057

[balajihospital]

Balaji Hospital | Specialized Care Infectious Disease Experts

Balaji Hospital's Infectious Disease Specialist showcases specialized physicians managing & treating various infectious diseases using diagnostic techniques

[pwrn51]

Palliative Care Insights from Dr. Jared Rubenstein

  Today’s guest is Dr. Jared Rubenstein, a Pediatric Palliative Care Physician and Medical Educator at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas. In this insightful interview, Dr. Rubenstein shares how he became interested in Palliative Care, explaining what it involves and addressing the biases that exist toward it, even among medical professionals. As a…