Re-thinking at the Corona Erosion “Final” July 22 16:05

If your family or loved one falls ill and is unlikely to recover, would you prefer life-sustaining treatment, such as wearing a ventilator?
Is that choice the same for Corona?
With the spread of the new coronavirus and more than 1,000 deaths in Japan, including passengers on cruise ships, the movement to reconsider the "end" of yourself and important people is spreading.
(Social Department reporter Mai Nagano)

Change in corona “How to reach the end”

A nursing home for the elderly in Osaka with approximately 80 residents. We move in with the intention that it will be the final residence, and most people want to take care of it in the facility, so we always ask when we move in what kind of end we want to end.

Would you like to move to a hospital to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation and life-sustaining ventilation?
Do you not want life-prolonging treatment and only receive medical care for pain relief?
Or will you stay at the facility and end your life while supplying nutrition and water?

Aya Tanaka, the director of the facility, has regularly discussed and confirmed with residents and their families.

"I
don't want to be painful and uncomfortable." "I don't want excessive medical treatment, which is a burden on the person. "

Many of these opinions were that 84% of the residents said "I do not want life-prolonging treatment."

However, after confirming again the spread of the new coronavirus infection, it is said that a certain change has been seen.

When corona is infected, the number of people who desire lifelong treatment such as wearing a ventilator has greatly increased to 43%.

Aya Tanaka, Facility Director
“Most people don't usually choose life-extending treatment, but this time the number changed dramatically when more than 40% wanted life-extending treatment. I was surprised because I had never imagined it.”

Thoughts change Why?

Why did your thinking change? The facility is currently listening.

More than half of the 23 people who were able to hear said, "I hear corona is painful, so I want to treat as much as I can so that I don't suffer." There was also an opinion that "I don't want you to die in the corona because I can't meet at the end with the new coronavirus."

Facility manager Tanaka believes that the spread of the infection has made the residents and their families think more concretely and realistically about the final arrival.

Aya Tanaka, director of the facility
“There are some families who choose to use a ventilator because they want to make the choice to live because it is hard to meet them. Each person is seriously thinking about the choice and thinking Now that we know that each of us has one, I think we need to listen more carefully to how we take the results of this confirmation of intention and how to make the most of it, and why we chose it. I am.''

Life and death that began to face the younger generation

The spread of the new coronavirus has brought changes to a wide range of generations.

"My way of life contact note" to write down your wishes in case of emergency. An organization made up of doctors and others made it available on the website in April this year. The number of accesses is increasing mainly in the younger generation.

A 22-year-old office worker woman in Tokyo recently started using this notebook as the infection spreads in Tokyo. The trigger was a recommendation from a mother who has had gastric cancer, "everyone could die suddenly from a corona infection."

Woman
"Of course, I knew that I would die someday, but I saw young people overseas died of corona, and now I take a train every day and walk in the crowd. Given that I am going to work, I feel that it is not a thing, I need to prepare.

What to do if a sudden illness or accident has left the state of inability to declare for a long time.

"I don't want treatment that leaves a sequela that reduces quality of life."
"Stop treatment if you have no hope of recovery."

The woman wrote: It is the conclusion at this point that I have thought about what I want to cherish in order to live and end my life.

Woman:
Of course, there are people who are living in such situations, and people who are doing their best, and I think that my mother's wishes and my wishes are probably different, but I will continue to live with the aftereffects and continue my long life in the future. I don't think I have the confidence to send it. I think that writing this notebook will not take responsibility for my mother in case of emergency, so it will be a point of decision or help, so I will leave it. I think it will benefit the family."

On the other hand, the mother who knew what the daughter wrote.

Mother:
"I want people to be alive even if they have sequelae, so I think there is a need for deeper discussions with each other. I think my feelings will change when the environment changes, and my daughter will get married and give birth. However, I may want to live, and I need to rewrite it every time the environment changes.''

Daughter and mother who have shown each other what they wrote in the notebook and talked to each other. It is said that the woman had the opportunity to reconsider what she wanted to live with.

Woman
"I haven't decided how I want to live in the future, so I feel that there are still things I want to cherish, and it's still difficult to write. Right now, honestly, the fields are not filled. There are many places, but I think it would be nice to be able to write when something important is made in the future.''

As an opportunity to think about “what is important”

Life and death that people began to face each other after the spread of infection. Experts who have been involved in helping patients make decisions point out:

Dr. Hiroyuki Kotani, who has been involved in decision-making support for patients:
"The person's intention that we should listen to is not only whether or not we want life-sustaining treatment, but also what we really value in life. In a sense, when a contradictory idea appears, it is an important time to listen to your true feelings and listen to it. It is not good to decide that you should be driven into fear and anxiety and think that you have to think about the end of your life.Your life, life, important person, important I would like you to think about what you want to do and to have a chance to look back.''

Social department reporter
Mai Nagano