But his prognosis remains extremely critical as doctors told the family before turning off the machine that he could only breathe on his own for up to three days.
Or what? They'll hold a pillow over his head?
NT man speaks after life support switched offRebekah Cavanagh
December 20, 2007 11:10amA MAN left to die when his life support system was switched off shocked his grieving family when he took a deep breath and asked for his father.
Paulo Melo was expected to die quietly when the Royal Darwin Hospital switched off his mechanical breathing machine yesterday, the Northern Territory News reports.
The 29-year-old Northern Territorian's life support was removed soon after his family lost their Supreme Court injunction against the hospital, which was granted on Tuesday.
The family asked the court to grant a 72-hour extension so a Sydney neurosurgeon could fly to Darwin to assess Paulo's chances of survival.
Holding his hand after the ventilator was turned off, his mother Amelia, father Fernando, brother Nelson and sister Isabel braced for the death of their loved one.
But Paulo was not ready to give up and started breathing on his own when the machine was turned off.
The car crash victim then tried to speak and is believed to have mumbled, "Dad".
His breathing grew stronger as the night progressed.
The family was last night hopeful he would survive the night. They said this could be the Christmas miracle they had been praying for.
Mr Melo, 57, cried tears of joy when he returned to family and friends in the waiting room to give them the good news.
"He was calling, `Daddy, daddy, daddy'," he said.
"We think he is trying to talk to us. I now feel fresh - I feel positive.
"I never thought he would last this long.
"I thought once they pulled the plug that would be it."
Mr Melo said his son is a fighter.
"He is fighting for his life," he said.
"It has been almost three hours and he is breathing on his own and his heart rate is strong. We believe there is still hope."
Only two people were allowed to be at his bedside at one time, with family and friends rotating in the hours after the machine was switched off at 4.15pm.
If Paulo continued to improve, he was to be moved into a ward late last night.
But his prognosis remains extremely critical as doctors told the family before turning off the machine that he could only breathe on his own for up to three days.
“doctors told the family before turning off the machine that he could only breathe on his own for up to three days.”
How could they possibly know it would be three days.
They shouldn’t have taken the ventilator away from him so soon, anyway, but when they saw he was breathing on his own, it should have been a wake up call for even these thick-headed people.
Location, location, location. (Terri was in the wrong location: Judge Greer and lots of euthanazi's in Pinellas County who CLEAN OUT PATIENTS' MONEY AND PROPERTY).