Page 28 - Big Pharma and the Constant Gardener

wheelchair to the door for Dad, we would have accepted! Upon the

conclusion of this brief stand-up meeting with the physicians, we

turned toward the exit, most likely appearing as three mutinous
renegades as we walked away with Dad between us. If anything

were to happen to him, as I was cautioned by the ER physician

the night before, I would take that risk and bear the responsibility.

But, indeed, nothing like that was spoken today.

A (more) dignified life

It seemed a moral imperative to remove Dad from the threat of

ever being tied up again in restraints in either the dark neurology
unit – or the dark corners of a geriatric-psychiatric unit. Admission

to an institutional environment for our high-spirited, independent

and very private father and mother would almost forever elude us.

They belonged together, so long as we could all manage together.

DAD’S FINAL STAND-UP

ACT

2002-2003: Still, I was on the frontlines and communicating

regularly with Dad’s neurologist. He talked about a shift in the