Update: After discontinuing additional treatment for glioblastoma, John McCain died on Saturday, August 25, 2018 at 4:28 p.m. local time in his Arizona home.
Arizona Senator John McCain, 81, has decided to forgo additional treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer. Since news broke this afternoon, the cable TV narrative has consistently held that “a war hero is giving up the fight.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Sen. McCain is indeed a hero, a decorated war veteran and POW survivor who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. During his duty, he was shot down over Hanoi in 1967, severely injured and captured by the North Vietnamese. For nearly six years, he was tortured by his captors. Because of who his father and grandfather were, both Admirals in the navy, John McCain was given the opportunity to be repatriated before other soldiers who’d been held in captivity longer. He refused.
After retiring from the U.S. Navy in 1981, McCain was elected to the House of Representatives and, after severing two terms, earned a seat in the U.S. Senate. He lost his bid for the American presidency in 2008, but continued his now-31 years of service in the senate. While in Congress, the prominent republican became known for standing up for what he believed in, opposing special-interests and taking on powerful individuals, including the current president.
He has never given up in his life. He isn’t “giving up” now.
In July 2017, Sen. McCain was diagnosed with a highly aggressive brain cancer, glioblastoma. He underwent treatment with the assumption there may be a reasonable hope for cure, or at least the possibility to enjoy life longer than if he refused treatment. But when his doctors recently informed him and his family that treatment would prove ineffectual, the senator, the family man, the military hero and the fearless political leader accepted reality and made the courageous decision to discontinue treatment.
It takes tremendous courage to accept death as a part of life. It is a sign of strength, not weakness. Military commanders who knowingly lead their troops into battles they can’t win are not brave. They are foolhardy.
The senator has accepted the inevitability of death, not because he is afraid of treatment or because he does not want to live, but as a service to his family and loved ones. Rather than spending his final days or weeks in treatment, prolonging life in pain and without hope, he can now spend his remaining moments with the people he loves most.
Having treated many people with cancer, I know firsthand that it’s difficult to tell patients the truth about their disease progression. As a doctor, I recognize it’s easier to speak in less definitive terms. We often couch the next operation or round of chemotherapy in terms like, “you never can be certain.” More often than not, such words are more for our comfort than the patient’s. We tell ourselves we don’t want our patients losing hope. In truth, we’re too often afraid to admit our limitations when we know there’s little more we can do to help.
At the same time, we as physicians should accept that it is the action of a coward, not a hero, to offer false hope. That is why I commend Sen. McCain’s doctors for their honesty. I can’t help but think that their bravery has come, at least in part, from treating a man whose life exudes courage.
This military hero and American servant will be remembered for the many contributions he made to country, often at great personal sacrifice. If, through his actions, we as a nation begin to talk about death more openly and honestly, we will owe John McCain an even greater debt of gratitude. For, once again, he will have taught us what it means to be fearless, honorable and brave.
Dr. Robert Pearl is the former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group, the nation’s largest physician group. He’s the bestselling author of “Mistreated: Why We Think We’re Getting Good Health Care–And Why We’re Usually Wrong” and a Stanford University professor. Follow him on Twitter @RobertPearlMD.
Rowland: I think today”s Republicans are essentially cowards. No matter what you thought of Barry Goldwater”s politics, he was not a coward or dishonest. No one like him among GOP senators today. Goldwater was one of the senators who went over and told Nixon to get out. Can you imagine McConnell doing that? I can”t either.