June 23rd, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Expert Interviews
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When it comes to facilitating transportation for wounded military personnel and their families, US Airways tops the generosity list, providing about $1 million in complimentary plane tickets/year. Steve Craven, a volunteer pilot with Mercy Medical Airlift, sat next to me en route to a recent Red Cross volunteer recognition ceremony at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He told me about the great lengths that some airlines will go to to help military families in need. For example, United Airlines and Delta Airlines have both recently offered assistance with the transportation of military personnel to cancer centers of excellence. Sadly, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, and Southwest Airlines have repeatedly turned down requests for assistance.
According to Mr. Craven, his organization coordinates about 25,000 Angel Flights, 10,000 cancer-related flights, and 6,000 Iraq war veteran flights (via Air Compassion for Veterans) per year, with over 7,000 volunteer angel pilots nationwide. Mercy Medical Airlift also runs a National Patient Travel Center which acts as a clearing house/military travel agency for charitable ticket programs, air ambulance discounts, and special lift programs – including transportation to the NIH for clinical trials.
I asked Mr. Craven what sort of patients need the air ambulance service. He responded that often times elderly veterans or military personnel with terminal illnesses wish to die at home (rather than in a specialty hospital or facility) but are too sick to travel in a regular airplane. The air ambulance service allows them to fulfill their last wish and die with dignity.
Sometimes, military families have a very sick child and have exhausted their resources but need specialty treatment at an academic center. Mercy Medical Airlift makes sure they get where they need to go. Once there, the families often stay at Ronald McDonald House or Fisher House. We’re so grateful to our partner airlines who make it possible for military families to stay together in times of medical hardship.
I offer my thanks to US Airways for their generosity to military personnel and their families – as a rehab physician, I know how much it means to them to have their family with them in sickness and in health.
Secretary Robert Gates Addresses The Red Cross At Walter Reed
June 15th, 2009 by KevinMD in Better Health Network
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A 90-year old man with a pancreatic mass, almost definitely pancreatic cancer, was admitted to a hospital.
Surgeon Jeffrey Parks does the initial surgery consult on this terminal case, and recommends hospice care.
The next evening, he’s shocked by the “astounding amount of medicine [that] had been practiced” during the day:
Consults had gone out to GI, oncology, and nephrology. The GI guy had ordered an MRCP and, based on some mild distal narrowing of the common bile duct, had scheduled the patient for a possible ERCP in the morning. A stat CT guided biopsy of the liver lesions had also been done. The oncologist had written a long note about palliative chemotherapy options and indicated he would contact the son about starting as soon as possible. The nephrologist had sent off a barrage of blood and urinary tests.
It’s often said that we spend the most money in the world on futile care, often with little benefit to the patient. The preceding account was that phenomenon in action, replicated thousands of times on a daily basis.
A microcosm of what’s wrong with American medicine indeed.
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
November 26th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements
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Matthew Holt and Paul Levy have encouraged medical bloggers to join together around a common goal for Thanksgiving: to talk to our loved ones about end-of-life preferences. Now I know this may seem a bit morbid at first blush – but it is really important that each of us create a living will and durable power of attorney document. There’s no better time to discuss this than a holiday where we all get together with our families to enjoy one anothers’ company and our gratitude for what we have.
I used the Suze Orman site templates to create mine (I received a free CD Rom). It was really easy to do. Living Wills provide guidelines about your wishes for care in the event that you are unable to express your opinions. The Durable Power of Attorney document makes it clear whom you’d like to “call the shots” on your care if you’re unable to do so for yourself.
If you haven’t done so already, why not consider the following three steps over Thanksgiving?
1. Discuss the “Engage with Grace” slide with your loved ones.
2. Fill out living will and power of attorney documents at Suze’s site (or find another site online that has a good template that you can use to express your wishes).
3. Get those documents affirmed by a notary public and send a copy to your doctor to add them to your medical record.
Every person at every age needs to have an end-of-life care plan. Why not join with thousands of blog readers in settling this matter for yourself and your loved ones this Thanksgiving?
