i think its wrong for the government to step in, but i also think that the family should let go.
thats why my will will have something about making sure i dont stay on life support. i dont want to be a vegetable.
most families only think of themselves and not whats best for the person on life support. but thats understandable, its a hard thing to do.
thats why my will will have something about making sure i dont stay on life support. i dont want to be a vegetable.
Where does it say that this man is a "vegetable"? In my experience, this terms seems to be a favorite of those who support killing off anyone who doesn't quite meet their standards of what living should "look like."
You better make sure you address each and every situation or they'll be removing your feeding tube causing a long and horrible death.
I’m just the opposite. I want to live at all costs. I don’t want anyone needing my heart so that they’ll rule me “brain dead” and then take me off life support so that they can give my organs to someone else.
I only have 1 life and I want to have it last as long as possible. I respect your choice and it’s smart to have that in a living will. But the issue we are starting to face (especially with gov’t health care) is that the courts/gov’t will decide if you get to live and will default to you dying (and in this case it appears it doesn’t matter what your wishes are). We should always error on the side of life.
I believe you mean well, and it appears you are young and fairly new at this topic. You may want to consider a few points before your words cause people to jump down your throat. As in Texas with the Futile Care law, and in Florida and many other places, the government is a cluster of little gods deciding who should live and who shall die, and whether their quality of life stands up to arbitrary standards. They use terms to ease the thought process of casual readers, and to lull them into a state of comfort.
In this case, they have already convinced you they have the right to remove life support. Sounds warm and fuzzy, but in Terri Schiavo’s case, these gods judged that food and water is life support, just like your noontime sandwich. Then they can say you are a vegetable PVS and most will believe it, as in Terri who was far from that state. And if you are laying there on the table, and have some useful or valuable parts and giblets, well, you may find they have a new term for you, brain dead, and let the harvest begin. No sedatives or aspirins, don’t you know, as that might upset the purity of the heart you are about to donate.
Pro life encompasses that, just like confronting abortion and other inroads of malicious leaders to control the life of individuals. It is a conservative position central to philosophy of FreeRepublic. Read up a bit.
Just sayin...
After two weeks???? It would be a different story if he were declared brain dead, but just "the doctors don't think he will recover" is not nearly enough (not that I think anything short of that could be) for the court to order removal from life support.
At the end of September my cousin suffered a massive stroke during surgery and the doctors didn't expect her to survive. After about two weeks they told my aunt & uncle that she would go into cardiac arrest from the brain swelling and they wanted them to sign a DNR. They refused.
It is now almost 3 months later. In that time she has been weaned from a respirator, has partial movent in her limbs and just last week she spoke for the first time since the stroke.
Doctors are not God and two weeks is a ridiculously short period of time to decide to give up hope.
marinamuffy
“but i also think that the family should let go.”
maybe, but it’s now our choice - certainly shouldn’t be the Australian government’s choice, in collusion with the attending (government) doctors.
also, i listened to the family on the radio, after the court hearing, and they made a pretty good case, not presented in the written articles, of doctors they’d talked to during the afternoon who said there was a chance of recovery - NEUROLOGISTS rather than an anesthesiologist as cited by the “prosecuting” doctors and relied upon as “evidence of futility” by the court here.
Regardless, it shouldn’t even be considered by a government.
Its been only two weeks! you have to be kidding... If it were your kid would 2 weeks be enough?
thats why my will will have something about making sure i dont stay on life support. i dont want to be a vegetable.
I tell my wife to do whats right in her mind, to be prayerful and honest with herself. She tells me the same.
most families only think of themselves and not whats best for the person on life support. but thats understandable, its a hard thing to do.
Lets assume the kid is a turnip... Is it really still 'best' to kill him? how is it best for the kid to have his life support taken away?