Am I my father's keeper?

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7452.1375

BMJ 2004;328:1375 (5 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7452.1375

Filler

Am I my father's keeper?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

My 84 year old dad was in a nursing home and had pretty lousyshort term memory. He also had a chronic and painful diabeticulcer on the great toe of his right foot, and intermittent spasmof the calf muscles caused him to wince in time with an incessantand involuntary knees-up.

The vascular surgeon recommended a below knee amputation. Afterexplaining this to my dad as softly as possible, I discussedwith the registrar the level of the amputation (suggesting ashigh a level as was thought advisable to avoid a poor outcomefrom a more conservative amputation). I returned to my dad andspent some time explaining again that it was all for the best.Surely he would be better in a wheelchair without this intractablypainful foot, and no longer having the risk of falling all thetime.

However, when I returned the next day I . . . [Full text of this article]

Jim Young, research technician in cell and molecular biology

University of Wales, Swansea