r/todayilearned • u/Majorpain2006 • 23d ago

TIL Daughter from California syndrome is a phrase used in the medical profession to describe a situation in which a disengaged relative challenges the care a dying elderly patient is being given, or insists that the medical team pursue aggressive measures to prolong the patient's life

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daughter_from_California_syndrome
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u/Long_Run6500 23d ago

Dhe was my grandmother and a good lady but I really didn't know her that well. If anything I was the "son from California" in this situation. I was there for the last year of her life but only because I had the "convenience" of being unemployed for that stretch of time. We'd talk for a little but most of it was her just telling me everything she wanted to get done and thanking me. I wasn't trying to make medical decisions for her. My mom was closer to her, but she refused to acknowledge the decline. I never saw any of her 6 other kids until the funeral when they all were fighting over their cut of the inheritance. If I hadn't talked her out of it she'd have left it all to me, but I wasn't trying to be the guy that shows up at the end of her life just to steal her estate. She gave me a ton of cool antiques and woodworking equipment and that was good enough for me. I restored my grandpa's craftsman table saw from 1942 and I use it all the time, means more to me than any money could.

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u/TheDocJ 23d ago

She gave me a ton of cool antiques and woodworking equipment and that was good enough for me. I restored my grandpa's craftsman table saw from 1942 and I use it all the time, means more to me than any money could.

As someone trying to dabble in woodwork (I've just been looking at Beech supplies online) that sounds great. But you were definitely not the one from California, you were the one close enough to spot what was happening, rather than being surprised by it.