My group of friends includes people of all ages, races, interests and intellect. One of my favorite people is my cousin's widow Edith. Edith is 84 years of age, and for as long as I have known her, or about her, she has always had a mind of her own.
We had a nice long phone chat this last week, and one of the topics was about our health and medications we are encouraged to take. Since I consider myself a relatively young fifty-six, I know I look at things a little differently than Edith might see them.
She brought up the medication topic by saying that her doctor wanted her to take some meds for her cholesterol. Edith was brought up in a home where there they did not run to the doctor every time an illness occurred, and she tends to think in those terms even today. She has been going to a specialist for years now for the glaucoma in her left eye, mostly because of the pain.
She said that her general practitioner's office had sent her a letter recently in which he told her that he was going to have to tell her family that she had refused to take any medications that he had prescribed that would be preventative for heart disease. At first, I was shocked at her blatant refusal, but after talking with a friend and mulling it over, I am inclined to agree with Edith's decision. Her children know her very well, and how she looks at things like her own health and eventual demise. (This has nothing to do with money or insurance. She has both).
If this woman of 84 years doesn't want to begin a new preventative medication, is there any harm in that? How do you feel about it?
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Comments: 9
And what the heck is the Doctor doing, threatening to tell her family? For crying out loud, she's older than they all are. Aren't these things supposed to be confidential??!!
Blame the attorneys I guess!
There are privacy laws that should prevent a release of info, arent there?