Japanese don't believe in euthanasia
This is what I heard in the United States when I audited a lecture about pain managements for cancer patients in veterinary medicine.
I can't completely understand what "don't believe in" in this term means, because for me, "believe" with the words related with lives is something to do with religious beliefs. But I can understand that the statement has a point.
Because when I was in the United States, I saw euthanasia pretty frequently which was not a case in my school in Japan or even at my dad's clinic. So, I guess in Japan, pets have to suffer at the very end of their lives and most of the time alone by themselves.
I had two of my patients (seeing with my dad) died so far.
The first one was a 10-year-old, male beagle dog suffered from heart worm disease.
He was doing really good at the first medication, but either because of the lack of my experience or severeness of the dog's condition, he stopped responding to any of medication that I gave to him.
Because he had a serious breathing problem, we asked to the owners not to see him until he gets discharged because he easily gets excited and put himself in to dyspnea, as my mom and dad have told to every owner that have admitted pets with heart worm disease. He died a week later he came here. He died alone 1 hour later from the last time I checked on him, which was 7 in the morning. The first thing that the crying owners said when they walked into the room that we kept him clean and peace was "we wanted to visit him when he was still alive..."
The second one was a 20-year-old female DSH cat with chronic renal failure. she was anorexic for a while so the owner wanted to have a PEG tube placed, and she was transfered from a vet clinic in Saga(佐賀) prefecture.
She was doing pretty good at the first day. Her blood work was much better than the last one the owner showed us, and she looked comfortable surrounded by hot water bags. So we thought we can place the tube earlier than we planned. 2 days later, in the morning that we planed to place the tube, she had two episodes of seizure. We hadn't heard any of such history of her, so we tried to change the operation date. But because the owner and her family were there and wanting the operation and we also thought it's important because she'd not been eating for a very long time, we proceeded to the operation. It went well. After the operation, the owners could see her awake and hissing at us as usual. Because of her condition, we thought these first three days would be critical. I gave her lactulose through the PEG tube q8h for her constipation, and made her urinate q4h by squeezing her bladder. She was dead the next early morning when I checked her to express her bladder.
and here I'm, 4 o'clock in the morning, can't sleep because the cat that I've been taking care of for the last 2 months just got an operation for her PEG tube replacement. Because the second cat that I mentioned died yesterday, I'm completely lost how things are going to be on her. I didn't want her to die alone even it's not likely to happen right away, I'm so desperate right now after seeing the last two cases.
And when I think of this that way, I feel guilty at the same time for those owners that I've met so far. They must have felt the same way as me, not wanting their pets to die alone when they were sleeping. After reading this (http://www.luckiekitty.com/LuckiesTailSayingGoodbye.html), I thought things might get better if we had an option of euthanasia, especially for cases like beagle-dog because he wasn't responding to medications for 3 days and there was a pretty good chance that he could not walk out this clinic.
And I want my cat to die when I'm around. Maybe this is egoistic and selfish thing to say. I really don't know the right answerer for that. I will less feel this way if I'm taking care of heart disease cats or out door cats that most likely hit by a car(and hopefully die instantly), because most of the time those things happen acutely. But, when my cat is old and suffering from chronic disease, when things get worse, I wanna be there for her. She got chronic renal failure and a PEG tube already. It's for slowing the process to get to uremia. And I believe my cat doesn't need to suffer at the very end of her life, as long as she is comfortable, and I make sure that she is comfortable.
I'm Japanese. Without knowing it, I might not believe in euthanasia, too.
But I wish we had medical options including euthanasia in critical cases in Japan.
This is Mimi, my lovely cat :)
I can't completely understand what "don't believe in" in this term means, because for me, "believe" with the words related with lives is something to do with religious beliefs. But I can understand that the statement has a point.
Because when I was in the United States, I saw euthanasia pretty frequently which was not a case in my school in Japan or even at my dad's clinic. So, I guess in Japan, pets have to suffer at the very end of their lives and most of the time alone by themselves.
I had two of my patients (seeing with my dad) died so far.
The first one was a 10-year-old, male beagle dog suffered from heart worm disease.
He was doing really good at the first medication, but either because of the lack of my experience or severeness of the dog's condition, he stopped responding to any of medication that I gave to him.
Because he had a serious breathing problem, we asked to the owners not to see him until he gets discharged because he easily gets excited and put himself in to dyspnea, as my mom and dad have told to every owner that have admitted pets with heart worm disease. He died a week later he came here. He died alone 1 hour later from the last time I checked on him, which was 7 in the morning. The first thing that the crying owners said when they walked into the room that we kept him clean and peace was "we wanted to visit him when he was still alive..."
The second one was a 20-year-old female DSH cat with chronic renal failure. she was anorexic for a while so the owner wanted to have a PEG tube placed, and she was transfered from a vet clinic in Saga(佐賀) prefecture.
She was doing pretty good at the first day. Her blood work was much better than the last one the owner showed us, and she looked comfortable surrounded by hot water bags. So we thought we can place the tube earlier than we planned. 2 days later, in the morning that we planed to place the tube, she had two episodes of seizure. We hadn't heard any of such history of her, so we tried to change the operation date. But because the owner and her family were there and wanting the operation and we also thought it's important because she'd not been eating for a very long time, we proceeded to the operation. It went well. After the operation, the owners could see her awake and hissing at us as usual. Because of her condition, we thought these first three days would be critical. I gave her lactulose through the PEG tube q8h for her constipation, and made her urinate q4h by squeezing her bladder. She was dead the next early morning when I checked her to express her bladder.
and here I'm, 4 o'clock in the morning, can't sleep because the cat that I've been taking care of for the last 2 months just got an operation for her PEG tube replacement. Because the second cat that I mentioned died yesterday, I'm completely lost how things are going to be on her. I didn't want her to die alone even it's not likely to happen right away, I'm so desperate right now after seeing the last two cases.
And when I think of this that way, I feel guilty at the same time for those owners that I've met so far. They must have felt the same way as me, not wanting their pets to die alone when they were sleeping. After reading this (http://www.luckiekitty.com/LuckiesTailSayingGoodbye.html), I thought things might get better if we had an option of euthanasia, especially for cases like beagle-dog because he wasn't responding to medications for 3 days and there was a pretty good chance that he could not walk out this clinic.
And I want my cat to die when I'm around. Maybe this is egoistic and selfish thing to say. I really don't know the right answerer for that. I will less feel this way if I'm taking care of heart disease cats or out door cats that most likely hit by a car(and hopefully die instantly), because most of the time those things happen acutely. But, when my cat is old and suffering from chronic disease, when things get worse, I wanna be there for her. She got chronic renal failure and a PEG tube already. It's for slowing the process to get to uremia. And I believe my cat doesn't need to suffer at the very end of her life, as long as she is comfortable, and I make sure that she is comfortable.
I'm Japanese. Without knowing it, I might not believe in euthanasia, too.
But I wish we had medical options including euthanasia in critical cases in Japan.
This is Mimi, my lovely cat :)
posted by yoko at
12:39 PM
2 Comments:
All I can really contribute here is that yes, this is a common usage of the word "believe" and no, it's not limited to religious convictions. It's a good example that maybe can help you broaden your understanding of the word.
Oh, and very cute cat. He (she?) looks a little like Teto did.
They do not believe in pet euthanasia services because Religion may influence medical practices, particularly for the care of terminally ill patients. Thus, the religious world has been deeply involved in a discussion on euthanasia and other end-of-life issues. Catholicism, for example, views that euthanasia is not allowed in any circumstance, whereas extraordinary treatments may not morally be forced on patients against their wish (2); Judaism views that once treatment is initiated it may not be withdrawn
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