Life Matters Media co-founder Mary F. Mulcahy, M.D., published her research about the racial and economic inequalities in the U.S. health care system for PBS. She continues to spread the message of advance care planning.
Mary F. Mulcahy
She writes:
“Racial disparities and inequities in American healthcare are evident in daily life, but regrettably they are also prominent in death. In these final days of Black History Month, it is imperative to reflect on the final days of all African-Americans and the choices they have within our health care system. These are the choices they aren’t taking, and the phenomenon serves as a means of further disenfranchisement from the medical community at large.
“The National Center for Health Statistics reports that African-Americans in home health care and nursing homes are half as likely as whites to have an advance directive, such as a living will or a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order. This disparity leaves African-Americans at risk for unwanted medical procedures, unnecessary pain and family strife.”
Life Matters Media co-founder Mary F. Mulcahy, M.D., has shared her experiences treating the terminally ill for a new feature in the Atlantic.
Mary F. Mulcahy
When fighting cancer isn’t worth it
The war on cancer is a civil war. It is a battle of two armies, cancer and therapy, fighting it out within a common space. It is an unfair fight.
A recent article in the Washington Post describes a controversial surgery devised by a pioneering and big-thinking surgeon, Paul Sugarbaker. This surgical procedure, known as cytoreduction and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), removes metastatic cancer before bathing the abdominal cavity in heated chemotherapy. There are many who celebrate it as life-saving, some who loathe it as toxic, and others who debate its merits and shortcomings endlessly.
The stress and strife many caregivers face was the topic of TEDMED’s latest Great Challenge series. The streaming video featured health care professionals who pondered what should be done to manage end of life care options and address caregiver needs.
There are 44 million full and part-time caregivers in the U.S. responding to an aging baby boomer population that the health care system isn’t equipped to handle. Costs continue to rise, and in 2010, Medicare paid $55 billion for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients’ lives.
“We all know what the issues we’re dealing with are: the aging population, the health care system not being in a position to take care of everyone, people getting busier and living further away from other family members and a real need for better coordination of care in the marketplace.” said Alan Blaustein, the founder of CarePlanners, an organization which provides educational support to members. “The real issue at hand is that there’s nobody in the system who’s in any position to properly care-give or coordinate care for any member of your family,” so the responsibilities rely on family.
Education was a common theme throughout the discussion directed at both medical students and family caregivers. Blaustein insists students learn about caregiving, even though hospital settings don’t allow time for much talk with those managing the care.
Cheri Lattimer, director of the National Transitions of Care Coalition, offered practical wisdom for those just beginning the implementation of educational support programs for those caring for family.
Lattimer proposed that health professionals talk with “health literacy” to those looking for education and just starting to care for those with dementia. “We are talking in the health literacy that patients and consumers can understand. As providers of care we often go into medical terminology which can be difficult to understand.”
She also recommends educational programs with multiple individuals who are dealing with similar struggles- so they can talk to each other.
More and more young people are now taking on caregiving roles. “There are far more children who provide caregiving than we know. It has an impact on them, their schoolwork and their own emotional situations,” said Suzanne Geffen Mintz, the co-founder of the National Family Caregivers Association.
“Other countries have recognized this problem and developed youth-centered programs that allows kids to be kids. There is vast experience elsewhere that could be adapted here,” said Carol Levine, director of the Families and Health Care Project. Young adults, 18 to 25-years-old, are also overlooked and increasingly involved in family caregiving, she said. There is diversity in family caregiving, and varied caregivers have varied needs.
Life Matters Media co-founder Mary F. Mulcahy, M.D., has shared her experiences treating the terminally ill for a new feature in The Huffington Post. She continues to spread the message of advance care planning.
“Advance care planning is a dynamic process that evolves over time as a person’s health goes from well, to ill, to ultimately terminal. Less than 10 percent of people will die suddenly; most of us will experience a protracted life-threatening illness. Medical advances have led to few cures of illness, have prolonged the experience of living with chronic illness and have prolonged the process of dying. Add to this the fact that for the next 18 years, baby boomers will be turning 65 at a rate of about 8,000 each day, and it is clear that the role of advance care planning needs to be embraced,” Mulcahy writes.
Life Matters Media co-founder Mary F. Mulcahy, M.D., is spreading the message of the importance of advance care planning in her op-ed for Al Jazeera.
“Developing an advance care plan helps us prepare for unexpected events that render so many incapable of making health care decisions. They provide an opportunity to express what functional capacity provides us all with some standard of fulfillment. That standard is individual, but may require the ability to interact with loved ones, to attend to basic personal care, or to live independently. These are personal goals that we can define,” Mulcahy writes.
