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R.I.P. Mendelson Joe
- Thread starter TK4
- Start date
TK4
Well-known member
Born 1944.
Birth name Joe Mendelson who ahead of modern data systems got tired of filling out forms for everything as Mendelson, Joe so he officially changed his name to Mendelson Joe. Back in the day, I used to use him in teaching as an example of the havoc you could create with data quality. Also a member of Mendelson Mainline.
Only vaguely aware of him but the "MAID" exit comment intrigued me as partner and I were talking about just that last night so thought I would follow it up.
He sounds like a very interesting friend to have.
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I think of MAID every time I see the lady across the street with Alzheimer's. How far off the cracker does the cheese have to be before you take your last nap? Who tucks you in and shuts off the light?
Only vaguely aware of him but the "MAID" exit comment intrigued me as partner and I were talking about just that last night so thought I would follow it up.
He sounds like a very interesting friend to have.
TK4
Well-known member
With Alzheimer's your body shuts down and you essentially starve yourself to death. Not a pleasant ending.
Put me in a canoe and shove me out into Lake Ontario.
I remember CC bringing his name up and then something about the clouds of blue smoke from his 2 stroker.
To qualify:
What sane person wants to die early?
What sane person wants to live like a zombie?
My dad had Lewy Body Disorder which is like intermittent Alzheimer's, good days and bad days. He spent the good days worrying about the bad ones.
Do you pull the plug on a good day saying nice words or on a bad day when words don't count?
A heart attack was convenient.
That's why the system needs a rethink. You should fill out the forms ahead of time. The forms could detail your personal threshold (eg. any three of these of this list, any one of this list with little hope of improvement). Something like two doctors could then sign off that you met your threshold and onward an upward. I think they have improved it slightly but I know of one lady that did the initial process but by the time the second portion came around (mandatory delay between the two to allow you time to think) she was not competent to sign. Suffered for quite a while before she finally died.
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Going sci-fi Mad Max here but what if people were given a specific date of demise?
It would shake up pension plans and life insurance.
I wonder if it would boost the economy as a lot of the elderly say if they knew how long they were going to live they'd know what to do with their assets?
Productivity??? No more "Tomorrow" excuses.
Priller
Well-known member
My grandmother was cursed with a hardy body but an Alzheimer-ridden brain,, so ended up living in a facility through most of her 80's, eventually dying at 91 (I think?). She was totally confused for at least five years, with a memory span of literally seconds. She was (understandably) a combination of angry, irritated and sad through that time, and eventually even stopped smiling when family would show up, the last sign of any fleeting joy in her life. Keeping her alive wasn't only inhumane, it was downright cruel, both for the torture she was in, and because her proud and healthy previous self would have been absolutely mortified at the indignities of that 'life'.
Absolutely nobody involved thought this was anything less than awful, from the doctors who could only bring bad news to the care workers who endured so much that it made them jaded and bitter to the family who visited without any joy. But endless energy, time and money was spent to carry on with the sham because there wasn't anything else to do. I simply can't believe there isn't a way to set up some sort of system where people in early-stage cognitive failure can't agree on some trigger points that would allow for the use of MAID. It's not like miracle cures are on their way for anyone at that point...
Absolutely nobody involved thought this was anything less than awful, from the doctors who could only bring bad news to the care workers who endured so much that it made them jaded and bitter to the family who visited without any joy. But endless energy, time and money was spent to carry on with the sham because there wasn't anything else to do. I simply can't believe there isn't a way to set up some sort of system where people in early-stage cognitive failure can't agree on some trigger points that would allow for the use of MAID. It's not like miracle cures are on their way for anyone at that point...
Entirely agree. You don't even need early stage cognitive failure though. I think it should be another document you draw up like will and POA. Would I want to live as a vegetable, etc? That could be triggered by a single event when I was healthy until that event (stroke, trauma, etc).
They do, but you have to be legally brain dead before they'll let your PoA pull the plug.
Priller
Well-known member
I agree up to a point. The only danger with this is that it's tough to predict how you'd feel about some situations until you're in them. Look at all the "hope I die before I get old!" teenagers who are perfectly content to be old when they get there.
At least when you have a terminal diagnosis, you would have a rough roadmap of how the decline plays out, and so can then make clearer decisions with fewer variables. No way would be perfect, but what we have now is deeply flawed...
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