My mother's life

[hsecln]

My mom is 89, had a stroke, diabetic, almost blind, living in a nursing home for 3 years.  Her pacemake is going out, it is to regulate her heart beat.  My mom did not want to have artificial means to be kept alive.  She just lays in bed hurting.  Our question is this, is the pacemake an artificial mean?  Her doctor says without the new one, she will be gone in 1 to 3 months.

[ireneo]

I'm sorry you're facing such a difficult decision. My Dad had a similar decision when his ICD was going out. It was either let it go and risk having a deadly arryhthmia or they could just put a pacemaker in to keep him as comfortable as possible. He had been in end stage heart failure for over a year by that time. He was still coherent enough to ask for the pacer. Strangely enough the heart meds kept his arrhythmia fairly well controlled and he eventually passed away from cancer.

A pacemaker is not too intrusive like feeding tubes and ventilators. Most of us dread that. If your Mom is not able to tell you what she wants, then really ask her doctor what would be the pro's and con's of the pacemaker. Would it improve her comfort level at all? If not, then maybe it wouldn't be worth it.

[lulama]

If your mother is responsive, and if she is coherent, can you ask her???......I know if I were in her position, I would say no pacemacker, just pain meds........and I am only a very few years away from that age..........if her mind is not good enough for clear thought, I think it would be irresponsible of a doctor to implant it.......just my opinion of course

[Wisconsin2007]

Wow, that's a tough question.  I think any responses here should be taken with a grain of salt, as they will mostly be opinion and conjecture.

I don't envy your position (though if you were to tell me today that I'd make it to 89 I'd be a happy guy).

I think I'll refrain from offering my opinion because this is such a personal issue and personal choice.

But if you are looking for the strictest of definitions, I don't think a pacemaker can be considered anything but artificial.  But I realize that that may not have been what was meant by "artificial" (i.e. ventilator, etc).

I'm sorry your mother is that ill and I wish you peace in this difficult time.