Faith in Medicine Pt. 1

Are we commenting on a spiritual issue or healthcare ethics/right to die issu?

No hospital can say which faith is right and which faith is wrong.  Perhaps if the wife was approached by a physician and spiritual care together her mind would of been different.  From working in emergency medicine in the field and in the hospital I know that everyone is on an "eternal" clock.  

If the wife does not want to prolong her husband's suffering, what is her definition of suffering?  Is the patient posturing and she thinks that is purposeful movement?  Who are we to determine what is extreme and not extreme in the eyes of this patients wife?  Perhaps the staff should sit down with the wife and determine what is to be considered suffering.

Should we give up our faith? No, of course not. My thought about the faithful woman and her husband is that she has wonderful faith, but it is rather misdirected. We should have faith that He will do what is right. She is exhibiting faith that He will do what makes her happy. His plan is not known to us. Even when it hurts dearly, we need to have faith that His plan is best, and we should pray for His will to be done as family or caregivers. Likewise, I would like to comment to Kenny that we can never play God, intentionally or not. We cannot possibly provide interference in His will. This is why people do still die even with superb care. We should not see our efforts as interference. His will will be done.

I would like to share my own experience of faith and medicine. I was in the critical care doing my clinical rotation, and was presented with my first terminal wean. I prayed that I would not let my emotion get in the way of what was right, and that the best for her be done. I found soon enough that it was her time to go. We received the call to disconnect her ventilator, and between that call and the three minute walk to her room to do our job, our patient went peacefully to the Lord. Her heart simply stopped. That moment was comforting to me, and hopefully to the family when they saw that no one was taking her life. Her life was simply over. Faith is believing without seeing. We need to have faith that what is best will be done when medicine cannot cure. We need to spend more time praying for His will to be done, and less for what we are wanting. I have a testimony to this. I know that His hand is involved in our lives. We are all his children. He loves us, our families, and our patients. He is a merciful God.

I believe when it comes down to any situation where we think we are in control needs to be looked at again.  God is in complete control of all that goes on in this world.  

God gives us faith to sustain us through times when we can't see the outcome of things or prove them.  That's what faith is.  Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Without faith nothing in this world would exist.  You must have faith in something for anything to ever be.  Faith in God or faith in medicine, or anything else.  Faith drives people to greater things hoped for.

I believe the question was "Do we hold out for a miracle?"  I don't believe we need to hold out, I just think we need to open our hearts and minds as God speaks, then we will be moved to do the right thing.

The question of reality and letting go of our faith brings me to a question of the times we think a situation will end in a way that we perceive but then turns out into something totally different.  It goes to show you that faith in reality is not always 100%.  Faith in God is a mystery because we can't always know how the outcome will be, but one thing I do know is that whatever happens God uses it for his glory and we as mankind need to put faith in that.

Knowing God is for good and even though it may not seem that way in our eyes, our faith in Him should give us hope that will see us through any difficult situation.

I have had many experiences with 'miracle cures'. That is, the patient got better despite us. I have a setpoint in my mind of how long it should take for the cure to happen, then it becomes suffering. That setpoint is 14 days. If progress is not being made in 14 days, now it is suffering, even if if there is no deterioration.

We in respiratory care have a unique situation in medicine. We watch futile care day in and out. Our function in life sometimes becomes interfering with nature and actually playing GOD. We have no curative ability with our machines, merely a role in helping the body cure itself. To believe beyond that, we experience cognitive dissonance, knowing what is right and not being in a position to make it happen.

Looking at our role in this way-interfering with nature- changes mindsets and allows us to maintain our faith while not offending our own ethics. It also helps us explain to family that what we do actually interferes with God's will at some point. Withdrawing support is not playing God, it is stopping our interference.

I think we have to understand faith. I do believe in miricles. I have seen miraculas healings. but not every one is healed.

all of us will eventially die, unless Jesus comes back in our lifetime, so there is a time to let go of our loved ones and release them to God. If we believe (have faith) in Christ then death is not the end, but the doorway to eternal life with Him.

With that said, when we loose someone, it still hurts and we do miss them. If a person truly believes that God will bring a person through an illness, no matter how severe, then we should hold on to that hope and faith. And do what we can. If God has other plans, His will will be done.

But when we relize the time has come (Gods timeing, not ours) then do what we can to keep our loved ones comfortable, relieve pain and let them know we still care.

We must always pray. ask for wisdom, understanding, peace and, yes pray for healing.

about 18 years ago my mother in law was healed of cancer. thay found some tumors in her bowel. when surgery was done to remove it, the doctors could not find anything. nor could thay explain where it went. Last year she was found to have brest cancer. this time it was taken care of with surgery and she is doing fine.

november of 2007 my father in law took ill with several issues, the main problem being a "blood disorder" (?lukemia) the doctors never really labled it. he made it through a couple of bad times and on april 1 of 2008 was taken to the er. He died that after noon. we could have tried to talk him into "doing more" but he believed his time had come and so did we, so he was not put on a vent or taken to surgery.

on january 13,2009 my mother also left us. after 3 days in ICU she was not responding to medications. blood pressure droping, it was time to let go. this mornings paper has an obit. for a very dear friend who has spent the last few months in a nursing home.\

my point here is every patient is different. every situation requires some difficult desicions. keep faith and keep praying and make the best decisions that we can. If the patient is capable of makeing them, or already has expressed there wishes. then it sholud be followed, even if we don't agree.

pray for, and even with your patients and the familys.

I believe my father, mother, mother in law, and my friend are together now, with Jesus, probably talking about me.

Chris Gates  

Pray, Pray, Pray and NEVER loose Faith!  My husband is 39 and was in a similar situation. He had Cancer twice and the chemo and radiation damaged his heart and lungs.  He started feeling bad last March and in one weeks time he was in the hospital.

They stripped his pericardium, the sack that holds your heart, and while during so damage the phrenic nerves so both his diaphragms were paralyzed.  He ended up being a full code, was on full support for a week, gained over 100 pound of fluid from heart failure had severe pulminary edema,  the list goes on and on. He was a mystery to say the least; the doctors could not figure his case out! He was in CCU for 16 weeks; he was trached after three weeks. At one point his pulmonary edema and heart failure was so bad he could not lie down past a 30 degree angel or he would turn magenta, and that was on FULL vent support. He was literally drowning. Once they diereses him enough the edema was better, but the diaphragms were still paralyzed making him unable to get off the vent.

After 13 weeks in CCU I decided he needed to come home. I took home vent classes and was ready to take care of him.  In week 14 of our hospital stay his diaphragms showed some movement. At week 16 I took him home from the hospital with NO vent! They took the trachea out one week after we got home! This March will be one year since his surgery. He only has 30% of his lung capacity, and has heart issues, but he is home by the grace of GOD. He is here with us and is able to be a father to our two children and is the “core” to our happiness.

The doctor told me many times that they did not expect him to live, and if he did he would most likely be on a vent for the rest of his life. But we never lost faith!. When they would tell me these things I would pray harder…and it worked! He is a living medical miracle!

I say if you have faith, pray, if it is time to let your loved one go God will send you the message to set them free…Not the doctors.