Extremis

Had a real rough time with this one. I though about dying the entire time. Really jacked me up with a bad anxiety freak out. Solid watch though considering all things.

One of two takeaways for me. One is that this is a position that a lot of people have faced and will face in the future. Its uncomfortable to watch because it forces you to think of yourself in their shoes one day. I feel for the medical staff that are left to make decisions for the ones who cannot make those decisions themselves or don't have families.

The other is that the medical system in America needs a re-work. It makes you question if one of the factors that lead to many people finding themselves in this position is the failure of the system. $2000 for an ambulance? I too might delay my health if it means I might be too broke to live/feed my family.

Extremis was made for us to make a visit and bring out our deepest and most anguished feeling: death!

It's an important and worthy topic - honestly, more people should be aware of what these conversations are like, both so they can express their wishes to their loved ones in advance, and because it would probably lead to interesting reflections on what one wants out of life.

However I feel the execution of this short film leaves too much out. We're not told much about the preceding circumstances of any of the patients, some of whom only get about 45 seconds of screen time. What happened to the patient who was 38 and just became a grandma? She seemed pretty "with it" but was being put on a long term ventilator - why?

That said, it was instructive to see how the doctors debate these decisions. A lot of people will probably second guess some of the doctors (especially the curly haired white woman), but I actually feel better seeing that it's a bit of a committee rather than just one doctor. And there honestly isn't one right answer, which is why it's a debate.

I had to create an account just to write a review for 1. To criticise american medicine and to 2. Criticise these brainless reviews.

It seemed like many of the patients in the show were terminal patients whose steady decline of long-term ilnesses had lead them to the ICU. The show based a lot around the questions wheter to put the patient on a ventilator or not. In many countries it is quite easy to determine this - if a patient has the possibility of recovery to a meaningful state, they can be hooked to a machine while the body fixes itself and administered medicine works its wonders. This means for example that patients whose breathing function has declined because of a progressive untreatable disease gain nothing with ventilators. They would simply be put under anesthesia and they would die on the machine - one cannot recover to a state better than in which the person was before the acute sickness that brought them in the hospital. Many of the patients depicted indeed seemed chronically ill and the respirator does not offer to them any form of hope - yet they were put there for even months and they then finally died - not very ethical i would say.

Second about these comments criticizing the doctor for not giving more hope and trying to talk family members out of putting their loved ones on a ventilator. In response to one of these comments about key part of recovery being "hope". Thats absolute BS, key part is being realistic and managing expectations and not prolonging suffering. While there still is hope for recovery, treatment is continued of course. The doctor knew that these patients had nothing to gain and they would die on the tubes. A doctors job is not to give false hope but to clearly communicate to the family that the end is near and to take the best of it.

In short: ventilators are only for those who can get better. Terminally ill people cannot. Ventilator does not fix a heart, lungs, kidneys etc that are shutting down because of a long term illness. It can only give time for the body to heal after a sudden onset disease that is curable. Ventilators should be reserved for these people only - for the chronically ill they are a long kiss of death.