The Long Goodbye Katy Butler Analysis

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Alive and Not Living? Through reading the essay-interview, "The Long Goodbye" by Sam Mowe, you become exposed to Katy Butler 's view on medical care and how she feels the decision-making process of end of life events should occur. Katy has experienced the death of her parents in two very different manners and used those struggles to explain her views. She believes that many people are kept alive past the point that they can live a meaningful life. Katy also expresses her opinion that palliative care is a necessity in these end of life situations so that more appropriate decisions can occur when death is near. This article also touches on how Katy Butler feels that with there being so much money in health care, personal care takes a back seat …show more content…

This experience also reaffirmed my belief in palliative care. Our society is one that pushes planning things out from a very young age. Through most of the things we are taught, planning is an integral part of all of it. We value success very highly and are taught to attribute success to planning an endeavor out well. In the article Katy Butler said, "it would 've been better if someone from a palliative-care program could have helped us weigh the pros and cons of what she faced. Then I could have been simply a grieving and supportive daughter." The one dying isn 't the only person who is affected by this whole process. As loved ones, we might be tasked to help with these choices. If we don 't happen to be medical care professionals how can we make the correct judgment? This lack of knowledge is one of the biggest reasons I see that palliative care should become a more common feature in these situations. As human beings, we rely on others to do what they 're good at so that we can focus on what we do. In a time when someone 's life is on the line, we should value and rely on a professional knowledge to make a judgment. As loved ones, we should be allowed to deal with our emotions for who we might be losing instead of wracking our brains with something we that our knowledge might be limited in. …show more content…

The quality of life during our final days, weeks, or months is something that should be precious to us and those around us. Being in a vegetative state and unable to recognize those around me would truly be something awful if it were to happen to me. Having someone to help me decide on which treatment course or management in my final time such as palliative care also seems like something I would highly value if my life were coming to an end. I also would want to be treated more as a person by the medical community rather than to become a statistic in their success rates. I don 't plan on having to deal with this situation myself for a long time to come, but I hope that these impressions I have will stick with me if and when the time comes for me to be a loved one losing someone I genuinely care

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