[Dying To Meet You] Dr Choo Wei Chieh: "Dying actually isn't so terrible"

Angjolie meets up with Dr Choo Wei Chieh, homecare doctor and CEO/cofounder of Ninkatec, a palliative care services provider in Singapore for a deep dive discussion on managing patients (both young and old) who are facing end of life and their families, Advanced Care Planning, mental wellness and burning out in the palliative care field... and maybe a little Netflix, too.
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[@nicholasgoh3526]

Great interview and kudos to Dr Choo and his colleagues. I think a lot people do not know about these topics. I first know about palliative care when I was the caregiver for my brother who had pancreatic cancer. The doctor and nurse were very caring and did their best to alleviate the symptoms and pains. I concur with Dr Choo that most patients would want to be at home and it might be better to bring them home especially when there is nothing much the doctors in the hospital can do. However the palliative care team can only come I think at most once a week so when the patient complains of pain or have some symptoms, the only option is to send them back to the hospital again. My brother passed away in hospital on the day when I was supposed to bring him home after getting a specialist helper. My brother wanted to go home. He wanted to see his pet fishes but I wanted to have the helper first as my brother is single and lived with my mum. On the way to pick him up with my mum, the doctor called to say my brother had no pulse and asked whether he should try to resuscitate him. The first thing that came to my mind was to try to revive him and keep him alive for my mum to say goodbye. The doctor did not recommend it as he said the patient will be in a state of shock when he passed. My brother had passed when we arrived. The patient next to him said my brother told him he was going home and took his last breath. I’m not sure whether what he meant was he was going home to heaven. I have not come in terms with my decision of delaying bringing him home and not fulfilling his last wish but as what Dr Choo said, I probably should think that I have done whatever I can. It’s not easy to be a caregiver or in palliative care. You have to make decisions and stay positive amidst a sense of helplessness.