Letter: Please do not judge people, you don’t know the whole story

By Letter to the Editor on February 13, 2021.

Dear editor,

Please do not judge people.

You do not know what it took for somebody to just get out of bed, look as presentable as possible, and face their day. You do not know the daily struggles with pain that others experience as a daily part of their lives.

Too painful to try and walk or even simply stand up, too painful to even get a shower, too painful to leave your room and the doctors will do next to nothing for the pain. The pain factor must be attended to before asking somebody to lose weight or to commit to being more active every day. The medical profession gives meds that cause weight gain, withholds the necessary supports for pain management, leading to depression and anxiety and then blames the patient for lack of mobility. (“You need to work through the pain.”)

At a certain age and when the condition is one that is deteriorating, prescribe whatever it takes to confront that pain. Who cares if it is addicting? Give the patient a chance to choose for themselves if they wish to take that risk and as a result have a better quality of life for some years instead of playing God and abandoning that patient because you think they are not trying hard enough. Even in our health-care system it is becoming all about control and less about actual patient care.

George Klassen

Medicine Hat

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