drug addiction

The National Association of Pro-Life Nurses: We Care About All Lives

nancyvalko abortion, Alzheimer's, AMA, ANA, assisted suicide, Cancer, culture, dementia, disability, drug addiction, education, end-of-life, grief, law, media, medical ethics, nursing, pro-life

Recently, I was contacted by a college political science professor who is writing a paper about “pro-choice and pro-life viewpoints” and she wanted to know more about the National Association of Pro-Life Nurses.

I was delighted and we had a long conversation about what motivates pro-life people-and especially nurses.

I told her about our National Association of Pro-life Nurses and the why and how we do what we do. Our motto since the organization began in the 1970s is “Take my hand, not my life”.

The professor seemed surprised that the pro-life movement is founded on caring rather than the common misperception of politics and political power.

Instead, as I told her, the pro-life movement is about helping people in crisis situations from conception to death and educating people about upholding the excellent, life-giving ethics and laws that protect all lives from conception to natural death.

It is also not about being judgmental but rather about truly caring and offering help to desperate people in crisis situations and the people around them before-or even after- a person has chosen abortion or is considering medically assisted suicide. (see “Pro-Life and Other Resources for Help and Information to Protect Human Life”)

And this works!

Many people are surprised when they find out that even NBC News admits that:

“More than 2,500 crisis pregnancy centers operate in the country, outnumbering abortion clinics nearly 3 to 1 by some estimates. Critics, as well as supporters, have said the number of women seeking support at them has grown quickly in the 11 months since federal abortion rights were overturned, which resulted in the closing of abortion clinics in dozens of states. ” (Emphasis added)

And as pro-life nurses who care for everyone-not just in hospitals and crisis pregnancy centers, but also in prisons, at home in poor and sometimes dangerous areas, in homeless situations, etc., we are truly interested in helping instead of judging people.

Our message is “We Care” and I have yet to meet a pro-life nurse who isn’t also involved in some sort of volunteer work.

CONCLUSION

In my 50+ years as a nurse, I have worked in burn units, medical and surgical units, burn units, dialysis, intensive care, oncology (cancer), hospice and home health. I have also cared for relatives and friends with terminal illnesses, dementia, critical heart defects, cancer, disabilities, severe psychosis, suicide, drug addiction, teen pregnancy, etc. but never once was I tempted to end a life.

Just as doctors used to take the Hippocratic Oath that said ” I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor
will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.”, new nurses used to take the Nightingale Pledge that said ” I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug.”

Unfortunately, today these oaths are little used or changed to allow for formerly illegal practices and this has harmed both professions and to the detriment of healthcare and public trust.

I have also been a newspaper reporter and writer for several publications but  in 2015, I started my blog “A Nurse’s Perspective on Life, Healthcare and Ethics” to report on the many healthcare ethics controversies and I often use my personal and professional stories to show resources and how to help people in difficult circumstances.

Most of all, I have seen the power of “I Care/We Care” to help people and their families at some of the most desperate times of their lives and I am proud to be a member of the National Association of Pro-life Nurses.

Please join us and/or follow NAPN on Facebook.

An Unexpected Recovery and What We Can Learn from It

nancyvalko brain injury, disability, drug addiction, Drugs, medical ethics, nursing

When 28 year old Jacob Haendel was rushed to an emergency room in Massachusetts four years ago, the doctors thought he was having a stroke but brain scans showed something very different. Instead, his brain scans showed that his “brain seemed to be unplugging itself from the rest of his body”. One doctor described it as “The wires weren’t sending signals from place to place.”

The doctors were unsure what was going on until Jacob revealed that he had been doing drugs, mostly opioids, until he turned to street heroin. The medical team thought he might have ingested a toxin which led to their diagnosis of a very rare condition called: Toxic Acute Progressive Leukoencephalopathy. Only a few dozen people had ever been diagnosed with this.

Six months later, Jacob deteriorated to what the doctors thought was a “vegetative state” and completely unaware of himself or his surroundings. He was sent to an extended care facility on a ventilator to breathe and a feeding tube. Eventually, he was put in hospice and by Christmas, his family told that he probably would die in a couple of days. Jacob’s father whispered to him that it was “ok to let go”.

But Jacob didn’t die and slowly his brain started to sputter back to life.

The first sign was a small twitch in his wrist. Some thought this meant nothing but his family thought otherwise.

A few weeks later, everyone was stunned when Jacob started moving his tongue and his eyes, “almost imperceptibly at first, but enough to use a letterboard to spell out a message he’d been desperately trying to send for almost a year. His message was “I can hear you.“ (Emphasis added)

As Jacob began communicating, the doctors realized that he had not been unconscious but rather awake the whole time. Jacob remembered nurses calling him “brain dead” and that visits slowed over time.

In a July 25, 2021 CBS Sunday Morning tv segment, Jacob told CBS correspondent Lee Cowan that “I couldn’t express anything to anyone. No one knew what was going on in my head, and I just wanted someone to know, like, that I was in there.”

He also said that he talked to himself a lot and felt pain. Jacob also revealed that “he would do math problems in his head just to help keep himself from the guilt that his drug use has caused all of this.”

Jacob’s mother had died of breast cancer and Jacob said he started using drugs to cope.

Jacob’s road to rehabilitation has been long and still ongoing. However, Jacob has “come back with such a profound understanding of what a second chance really means. “I am an improved Jake,” he said. “And I’m a happier Jake. I don’t want to give up.”

Although Jacob still has limitations of speech and movement, he now was a website and writes updates.

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM JACOB’S STORY

Over my years in mostly critical care nursing, I spoke to all my patients patients-regardless of a diagnosis of coma, “vegetative state”, etc.-as if they were totally awake and explained everything I was doing as well as the time and date, visitors who came, etc.

I also closely watched for any sign of voluntary movement or reaction. Like Jacob, even almost imperceptible movement could be a sign of awareness and I encouraged my patients to repeat the movement.

I was often teased and asked if I spoke to my refrigerator too but the teasing stopped when some of these patients started to respond or even recovered. Some of them later related what they heard and/or felt when they were assumed to be unaware. My point was that speaking empathetically to all our patients was a matter of respect that could even help them get better.

Hopefully, Jacob’s story will be an encouragement for all healthcare providers as well as people with severe brain injuries and their families.

CONCLUSION

But Jacob has another big message for every one of us in our daily lives: simplicity.

In Jacob’s own words:

“My life was never a walk in the park, but I never truly appreciated how important the simplicities of life are until I began my journey to recovery. My reasoning for this word is multi-focal just like my case. The only word that can accurately describe my case is “complex” and I am un-ironically striving for just the opposite; simple. After surviving and overcoming locked in syndrome, all I want are the simplicities in life; things like talking, connecting with friends and family, enjoying solid foods, breathing on my own, going outside instead of being locked in a hospital, being able to feed myself and even taking a walk in the park. All of these simple things I took for granted are now goals I am working towards being able to enjoy again”

Especially at a time of such discord in our society now, we all need to remember and celebrate the so-called “little things” that make us grateful for our own precious lives.

Over 600 Doctors Send Powerful Letter to President Trump Calling the Covid 19 Lockdown a “Mass Casualty Incident”

nancyvalko Covid 19, culture, drug addiction, economics, end-of-life, media, medical ethics, suicide

Although it received little media notice, a May 19, 2020 letter to President Trump signed by over 600 doctors detailed the physical and mental impact of the lockdown in the US due to Covid 19, calling it a “mass casualty incident” with “exponentially growing negative health consequences” to millions of non-COVID patients. 

As the highly contagious Covid 19 virus was spreading around the world, President Trump issued a proclamation on March 12, 2020 declaring a national emergency with “preventive and proactive measures to slow the spread of the virus and treat those affected”.

On March 18, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recommended that hospitals cancel all elective surgeries and nonessential medical, surgical and dental procedures to prepare for the expected deluge of patients with Covid 19 and the health system complied.

Regular healthcare became virtually suspended as states went to lockdown with rules to shelter in place except for essential errands or work. Schools and many businesses were closed. 

Ironically,  except for New York and other hotspots that received massive federal help including ventilators and emergency field hospitals, US hospitals wound up with many empty beds and even emergency room visits dramatically declined. 

Many hospitals are now facing a financial crisis and health care professionals are being furloughed.

THE IMPACT OF THE LOCKDOWN ON AMERICANS’ PHYSICIAL AND MENTAL HEALTH

The doctors’ letter to President Trump focused on the devastating impact on Americans’ physical and mental health of the lockdown and why the months-long lockdowns should be ending. 

Here are some excerpts:

“Suicide hotline phone calls have increased 600%,” the letter said. Other silent casualties: “150,000 Americans per month who would have had new cancer detected through routine screening.”

“Patients fearful of visiting hospitals and doctors’ offices are dying because COVID-phobia is keeping them from seeking care. One patient died at home of a heart attack rather than go to an emergency room. The number of severe heart attacks being treated in nine U.S hospitals surveyed dropped by nearly 40% since March. Cardiologists are worried “a second wave of deaths” indirectly caused by the virus is likely.“

“The millions of casualties of a continued shutdown will be hiding in plain sight, but they will be called alcoholism, homelessness, suicide, heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure. In youths it will be called financial instability, unemployment, despair, drug addiction, unplanned pregnancies, poverty, and abuse.“

“It is impossible to overstate the short, medium, and long-term harm to people’s health with a continued shutdown,” the letter says. “Losing a job is one of life’s most stressful events, and the effect on a person’s health is not lessened because it also has happened to 30 million [now 38 million] other people. Keeping schools and universities closed is incalculably detrimental for children, teenagers, and young adults for decades to come.” (All emphasis added)

But while nearly all 50 states are starting to relax lockdown rules to some extent, some officials are threatening to keep many businesses closed and other draconian measures in place until August or even later. Many schools and universities now say they may remain closed for the remainder of 2020.

But as Dr. Marilyn Singleton, a California anesthesiologist and one of the signer of the letter said, “Ending the lockdowns are not about Wall Street or disregard for people’s lives; it’s about saving lives.” (Emphasis added)

CONCLUSION

We know a lot more about Covid 19 now. The US Center for Disease Control’s new ‘best estimate’ implies a COVID-19 Infection fatality rate below 0.3% with an estimated 35% of people with Covid 19 never having symptoms. 

States have rescinded orders that forced long term care facilities with our most vulnerable people to admit Covid 19 patients after hospital discharge resulting in lethal outbreaks.

But as more states are slowly opening, Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute writes:

“Will patients come back? COVID-phobia is deathly real.

Patients still are fearful about going to hospitals for heart attacks and even for broken bones and deep lacerations. Despite heroic efforts by physicians to deeply sanitize their offices, millions have cancelled appointments and are missing infusion therapies and even chemotherapy treatments. This deferred care is expected to lead to patients who are sicker when they do come in for care and more deaths from patients not receiving care for stroke, heart attacks, etc.”

While still observing social distancing, sanitizing and other common sense measures to protect ourselves and others, it is my opinion that the more than 600 doctors writing to President Trump are right when they urge ending the Covid 19 shutdown as soon as possible for all Americans’ physical and mental health.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Opioid Crisis and Suicide

nancyvalko assisted suicide, culture, drug addiction

Statistics show that more than 115 Americans a day die after overdosing on opioids. Opioids  are a class of drugs that include both illegal drugs like heroin and legal prescription pain relievers such as codeine and morphine.

We are told that we have an opioid crisis that needs immediate solutions such as suing drug manufacturers, spending more on drug treatment centers, making drugs like Narcan more available to reverse the overdose if given in time, prescribing few-in any-opioids after surgery, adding more drug education in schools, etc.

Some of these ideas are worthy but are we missing a big existential part of the problem?

In a recent Kaiser Health News article asking  “How Many Opioid Overdoses are Suicides?”, reporter Martha Bebinger relates a heartbreaking interview with a young drug addict:

“She wanted to be dead, she said, glancing down, a wisp of straight brown hair slipping from behind an ear across her thin face.

At that point, said Ohlman, she’d been addicted to opioids — controlled by the drugs — for more than three years.

“And doing all these things you don’t want to do that are horrible — you know, selling my body, stealing from my mom, sleeping in my car,” Ohlman said. “How could I not be suicidal?… “You realize getting clean would be a lot of work,” Ohlman said, her voice rising. “And you realize dying would be a lot less painful. You also feel like you’ll be doing everyone else a favor if you die.”” (Emphasis added)

Having had a daughter with drug addiction and relapses for 16 years who finally succumbed to suicide in 2009 using a horrific assisted suicide technique, I recognize the same pain this young woman expresses. I also know the frustration and fears of families and friends desperate to help.

The Kaiser article goes on to quote Dr. Maria Oquendo, immediate past president of the American Psychiatric Association, who said that “[Based on the literature that’s available], it looks like it’s anywhere between 25 and 45 percent of deaths by overdose that may be actual suicides,” *(Emphasis added).

The article also quotes a pair of distinguished economists who say that “opioid overdoses, suicides and diseases related to alcoholism are all often ‘deaths of despair’” caused by “underlying deep malaise”. (Emphasis added)

We have both a suicide and a drug crisis that often overlap due to an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and helplessness.

EXAMINING THE SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM

As psychiatrist Dr. Oquendo notes in a related article, US suicide rates were declining until they “abruptly stopped in1999” and now have increased 25%, especially among adolescent girls.

Now, there are about 123 reported suicides per day in the US  but the real figure may be as high as 3 to 5 times that number because many suicides go unreported as suicide  because of reasons like the stigma of suicide and the difficulty in determining intent.

Additionally, nearly half of US adults have a close friend or family member with a current or past drug addiction.

We have more drug treatment centers and suicide prevention programs than ever (with unfortunately varying levels of quality and allowed family involvement) but the problems continue to persist and even worsen.

CONCLUSION

What has happened in the US since suicide rates started rising two decades ago and drug abuse has surged?

First, we must recognize that American culture, law and politics changed radically in the last two decades and this has drastically affected all of us, especially our young people. For example, the legalization and glamorization of assisted suicide and mind altering drugs like recreational marijuana have not helped anyone want to embrace personal responsibility and caring for others as worthy goals.

We also now have a culture where religious values are often derided as judgmental and even harmful to social progress. Obscene language and violent, hypersexualized entertainment is applauded as liberating rather than offensive. Having children is portrayed as more of a potential economic, professional and personal burden rather than a joyful manifestation of love, commitment and family.

We owe our society and especially our young people a more hopeful, less selfish view of life rather than just the pursuit of  money, fame and pleasure.

Without a strong foundation of love, strong ethics and ideals, the resilience required to weather both the ups and downs of life without drugs or succumbing to suicide can be lost.

As much as we need good, affordable suicide and drug treatment programs, we adults also need to be examples of a truly “good life” and step up to fight the dangerous influences  that are killing our young people.

And we must never give up!