bah

It's 10:20 PM and I haven't the faintest clue what I'm going to post about. I had a few loose ideas that I didn't bother to write down - usually I'm pretty good at entering any sparks that pop up into my phone so that I can think it up and write it out later. I didn't really do that today so I guess I'm just going to play it by ear.

The first thing that really entered my brain was that it's that time of year again to make goals. I do this thing at the end of every summer where I try to make attainable goals for the rest of the school year, kind of like the Five Year Plan or the Schlieffen Plan, though nowhere near as nefarious (I don't even know why those two examples popped into my head). The goals are usually the same: Keep Fit and Have Fun! Things like running every morning before class or playing ball 2-3X a week again, drinking 2L of water every day, praying before I go to bed, etc. etc. I know my study habits are pretty good now but I have a long ways to go on a stamina level and of course spiritually. Ellis and Sij have kind of been motivating figures as of late for this kind of thing so hopefully it all pans out and I don't end up faltering come exams like I usually do.

I was also just thinking about a client's right to refuse treatment. Mag just dealt with a patient who refused to be moved to a chair but was moved anyways by a nurse, and in her reflective journal she mentioned that a way she could improve would be to make sure that doesn't happen again. Obviously, a client has a right by the Code of Ethics and by law to refuse treatment at any time. We can't decide what's "best" for a person, even if it seems like a no brainer - doing so would remove an individual's autonomy and their right to choice. We regularly get patients in angiography that get wheeled there, are put on the table, and then panic and refuse to get the treatment done that day because they're scared. We usually don't say anything when that's the case, just wheel them out and call the doctor to tell them it's cancelled. It may be disappointing for a doctor's time and the taxpayers' money to be wasted like that, but it's just a part of maintaining rights for the individual.

Today, however, we received an incoherent elderly patient who was afflicted with Alzheimer's that refused treatment. CNS functions were kind of off (patient couldn't name where they were and what date it was), and it begs the question that at what point do you decide that the patient isn't capable of making decisions for themselves? When is it the Alzheimer's talking and not the person? Regardless, this one was pretty black and white and the moment the patient said no, they were wheeled out.

Ah, simple questions with such complicated answers. Questions like these probably will never get answered; the answer will never be binary.