This is not a call for medical neglect or “alternative facts.” Giving oneself a discharge is not the same as ignoring a febrile illness or a suspicious lump. Rather, it is a strategic and mindful renegotiation of the patient-doctor relationship. It involves several concrete steps:
This is not a rejection of medicine. It is a completion of it. The greatest goal of any healer should be to render themselves unnecessary—to restore the patient to the ordinary, glorious, unmonitored business of living. And when that moment comes, only the patient can sign the final form. Jo, dono d'alta a la meva salut. I, here and now, give myself a discharge from my own health. And I step, imperfect but whole, into the world. darme de alta la meva salut