No extraordinary measures: Doug Garr tackles the tolls of life support
As Doug Garr stood at his mother-in-law’s hospital bedside one day, all eyes were on him. Even though he was not the legal guardian, her immediate family wanted his thoughts on her last wishes.
Doug Garr is writing a book proposal, No Extraordinary Measures, on the emotional, legal and medical conflicts of interest with keeping loved ones on life support. Credit: Doug Garr
He studied the advance directive, a list of all the mechanics that could keep his mother-in-law alive. She was in a coma and it was highly unlikely she would wake up. Written next to the list of artificial lifeline procedures was the word no, in all caps.
“I realized they want me to read this, because nobody wanted to be the last one to say, this is the person’s wishes,” Garr said. “Nobody wants to be the one to pull the plug.”
Days later, Garr’s mother-in-law passed away.
Like Garr’s in laws, many people question themselves, wondering, am I doing the right thing by honoring another’s desire to die? That moment sparked the idea for Garr’s new book, No Extraordinary Measures, which will explore the legal, medical and emotional conflicts of keeping loved on life support. The healthcare system is complex in a way that many do not understand, Garr said.
“The hospitals are being run like hotels. It’s a capacity business,” Garr said. When elderly people are hooked up to life support, hospitals love that, because they don’t have to put the patient in intensive care. It’s also more money for the institution when the legal guardian keeps the patient on life support. Meanwhile, the doctors want to do the humane thing, but they can’t, he said.
In 2009, President Barack Obama told a town hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire that the health care reform would not set up “death panels” to judge life-sustaining care for the ailing elderly. It would also not “pull the plug on grandma.”
“But [Obama] doesn’t believe that,” Garr said. “We’re already doing it and we’re going to have to do it more.”
Garr hopes to finish the proposal this month. His book couldn’t be more timely with the passage Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act still fresh in American minds. Many of its mandates have yet to become a reality.
Garr is an author of several books along with more than 35 years of experiences as a journalist, editor and speechwriter. His books include, Between Heaven & Earth: An Adventure in Free Fall (Greenpoint Press, 2009) a memoir of his skydiving bum days, and IBM Redux: Lou Gerstner and the Business Turnaround of the Decade (Harper Collins, 1999).