Comment by stickfigure
19 days ago
What would you suggest as an alternative? Just quietly follow the doctors' instructions and hope for the best?
19 days ago
What would you suggest as an alternative? Just quietly follow the doctors' instructions and hope for the best?
> What would you suggest as an alternative?
Just keep trying, especially when others have given up
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/08/us/video/treatment-cure-disea...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Fajgenbaum
> David C. Fajgenbaum (born March 29, 1985) is an American immunology researcher and author who is currently an assistant professor at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.[1] He is best known for his research into Castleman disease.
He spent years studying the disease as a researcher. He's an exception, really.
A close friend is considered one of the best neurosurgeons at one of the best hospitals in the country. Brain tumors are his specialty. I remember him once saying he was growing exhausted about his job and thinking of retirement, even when he’s still young. The reason being, most of the other doctors in his team were not very competent and he had to constantly review and correct their work. He’s not an arrogant guy but all the contrary, very down to earth. For him to say something like that is because the mistakes he sees have to be bad. Every time he tried to quit, the hospital threw so much money at him that he could not refuse it.
> Every time he tried to quit, the hospital threw so much money at him that he could not refuse it.
Is there also not a reason for him to continue working to save all those people?
Especially so if the other doctors aren't competent and he has to review and correct their work!
Yes. Sometimes people just die, and you have no influence on that.
And sometimes the medical system’s inertia and default risk aversion keeps someone from an obvious diagnosis or treatment that could save them.
Sometimes strong advocacy is exactly what is needed.
And sometimes that advocacy is harmful, desperate, arrogant flailing—against the reality one knows is true with overwhelming likelihood—manifesting as "advocacy" or "will" that destroys so many chances for fully experiencing the reality of the precious, remaining, time one has (or one has with one's partner).
NOTE: This is not me disagreeing at all, just your point moved me to make the obvious counterpoint, having been through all this myself very literally and very recently. I know firsthand how important the advocacy is, but also how often it causes nothing but harm. There is a real tricky balance between agency vs acceptance when you've truly lost control of things, like in these cases.
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