tough choices

TOUGH CHOICES
in life we have to make tough choices
as a doctor  you are right there with your patients
sometimes when they have to make those choices

now as a physician you have to set outside your
belief systems sometimes
and be nonjudgmental

i once had a patient who was an engineer for the state
who developed cancer
a cancer that was luckily diagnosed early by accident
one that was easily treated and cured with the chemotherapeutic
agents available at the time

he chose instead to go another direction using diet therapy
sort of like apples steve jobs did
he was dead like steve jobs within a short period of time
both of whom may have be cured of their cancers

then i watched with interest the interviews with wendy davis
the democratic candidate to replace rick perry
thank goodness he will be gone one way or the other
no matter who wins

wendy davis and her husband had to make a difficult choice
to terminate a pregnancy of a malformed baby
from what i could tell the deformities were severe enough
that the fetus may not have survived the pregnancy and
would not survive delivery

they chose to do a later abortion to terminate the pregnancy

a very tough choice for a couple to make
one that i think my wife and i would have made also if we
had been in that situation

i had a patient once who because of her religious beliefs
chose to continue the pregnancy knowing the baby
would only live for a few seconds
it was traumatic for them and for us medical personal
to deal with it
the malformed baby with no hope for survival

a tough decision for both parents

over the years ive watched physicians across the political
spectrum with diverse belief systems
set those aside to help a patient deal with a very difficult
situation

there really are no good choices it seems sometimes for
things that happen

lets not be judgemental on any of these folks
unless weve walked in their shoes

the organicgreen doctor