A top New York doctor says former first lady Barbara Bush’s decision to stop aggressive treatment for lung and heart disease at 92 is "a valiant one."
"Her condition has worsened over the past year, leading to a recent series of hospitalizations. Now she is facing death with fortitude, courage and realism. She should inspire everyone in the medical arena, doctors and patients alike," Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, writes in Tuesday’s Wall St. Journal.
Following a recent series of hospitalizations, and after consulting her family and doctors, Mrs. Bush, wife of former president George H.W. Bush and mother of President George W. Bush, decided not to seek additional medical treatment and instead focus on comfort care at her home in Houston.
While the Bush family has not mentioned a specific illness involving Mrs. Bush's current condition, she is known to suffer from congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). She has also been treated for decades for Graves' disease, a thyroid condition.
"She has looked soberly at her life and made her decision. A willingness to face more bright lights and blipping monitors in the emergency room and the intensive-care unit can seem like courage," Siegel writes.
"But it often comes from fear of dying or the urging of a family member or doctor who doesn’t want to let go. It has taken me many years to accept that Mrs. Bush and those like her are the most courageous. I suspect millions of others would agree."
On Tuesday, John Sununu, the former governor of New Hampshire and White House chief of staff for George H.W. Bush, paid a tribute to Barbara Bush, telling Newsmax TV’s John Bachman: "She was a great lady and has been a great friend … The first family and the Sununu family and America are all praying for her recovery. We hope all goes well."
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