Posted on 04/22/2005 9:16:05 PM PDT by paltz
The family of a 13-year-old Bronx boy charged last night that doctors at Montefiore Hospital insisted on taking their brain-dead son off life support, despite their pleas for more time to assess his condition.
Only hours after family members went public — and threatened to get a court order — the hospital backed down and promised not to do "anything precipitously."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Your name is an anesthetic, isn't it? ... Dopamine is used in low dose to keep up blood flow to kidneys and thus push them to prevent necrosis. I too snagged on that 'stop lung function' ... it sounds more like he stopped breathing while in surgery for a shunt. The proverbial cya appears at work in the parsing of phrase.
Parents should trump doctors every time.
I hope and pray that he is receiving nourishment and hydration....
I just don't remember when it was that we passed all these laws that said that Doctors, and Hospitals get to decide when to remove life support. When did that happen? I thought it was the person who was ill, via a living will who made the determination if and when to remove their life support, and again food and hydration are Ordinary care and MUST be given to everyone. In cases without a living will we have the mess that we are in now.
Who gets the money for the organs? If hospitals do doesn't this lead to partiality in deciding to dismiss people as dead when they may not be? A solution would be to give the money for the organs to research or to the parents favorite charity.
In the event that some of you (and it appears that is the case, here) missed a very important post yesterday, I suggest you take a gander.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1388979/posts
This is SCARY!!
Regardless of how one feels about “Directives” and dis/continuing life support, the decisions should not (AND CAN NOT) be left solely to the discretions of the medical community.
According to this report, the laws of all but ten states “may allow doctors and hospitals to disregard advanced directives when they call for treatment, foods or fluids.”
http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/willtolive/statestatutereport.pdf
As an aside, the reason these Healthcare-Pro-Death-Quacks might have been so quick to reverse, is that New York is one of the ten, which has laws that protect patients’ directives for life preserving measures.
One would have to assume that this child did not. However, in this case—as in ever other—the “parents/immediate next of kin” should have controlling authority over these life or death issues—not some “team of medical ethicist.”
In reading the replies herein, they are all over the place. Nevertheless, I am particular anxious over the discussion about “usable body parts” and harvesting organs.
I love that term, “harvesting.” Makes me think of going out in the back yard and picking a few tomatoes. As for “usable body parts,” I have a good friend who owns a junk yard!
Can’t we at least, wait to find out if the diagnoses is accurate and if/when the parents are going to make a decision to “pull the plug,” (and whether they will participate in organ donation) before we converse and speculate about which organ is in what condition, based upon what disease, and if viable for donation?
And no, I am not “insensitive” to this worthwhile endeavor, as I made the decision 3 years ago, to donate my sister’s corneas after she suffered a heart attack.
That said, this should be a discussion about the “power” and “authority” which doctors/hospitals/hospices, etc., have over these life and death issues, when the patient (or family member) HAS left (or indicates) specific instructions as to care---or the withholding, of same.
http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/willtolive/statestatutereport.pdf
Thanks for the ping FAM4BUSH! What a SCARY path this Country has chosen!
PRO-DEATH HOSPITAL ping!
Aren't there both legal and medica criteria for brain death? Does the boy meet them?
A 13 year old enters the hospital with a *severe headache*. Then goes to surgery wherein his LUNGS are stopped or HAVE stopped? Then almost immediately Mom hears: Sorry Mom, he's now on life support, he's brain dead and we don't have a clue what happened to him....so we need to pull the plug, it's hopeless, soget over it already! Time is MONEY, we need the bed and don't EVEN think about a feeding tube!
That pretty much summarizes how I read the chronology of events!
Okay, well apparently the hospital doesn't feel that it needs to access the "infection"? What kind of infection? How did the boy contract the infection? How about massive doses of antibiotics(IV) maybe?
What surgery did they do exactly? Why is it that he needed a ventilator only AFTER this "surgery"? I need more facts!
But until then, the boys is only 13 years old! Those who have stated that many have "come back" from this kind of state, are absolutely CORRECT! Especially when one is so YOUNG!
Notice that they didn't specifiy WHICH tests were performed in terms of diagnosing BRAIN DEATH? People get 2nd opinions for plastic surgery for crying out loud, but this hospital thinks that this mother has no right to seek other opinions? Just pull the plug already! I would obtain SEVERAL opinions!
I would also get him the heck out of that hospital and send him to a University Hospital immediately, where TEAMS of physicians can access what happened, what went wrong and what can be done for this CHILD!
I would seek out top notch neurologists, since THEY have seen unexplainable "miracles" in the past and they DO believe! What an AWFUL thing to say to this mother!
Sounds like brain swelling and they took him to surgery to insert a drain for accumulating fluid.
Was thinking the same thing.
Aside from giving the patient every opportunity to recover, in situations like this where the onset of symptoms is often very rapid, loved ones need some time to adjust to the reality of a situ. On that score, it seemed to me that the hospital was rushing it somewhat.
Second, where does the article mention 'organ donation'? I did not see it.
I can answer that. The article didn't mention it. MHG was responding to a side discussion among other posters...backtrack 'replies'.
I wondered about the bit in the article about stopping lung function. Thanks for explaining a possible scenario. Question: Would putting a patient on a bypass machine in this scenario be highly unlikely?
Good links for self-education, thanks.
According to this report, the laws of all but ten states "may allow doctors and hospitals to disregard advanced directives when they call for treatment, foods or fluids."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1388979/posts
http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/willtolive/statestatutereport.pdf
I wouldn't trust an Advance Directive for myself. Your mileage may vary.
Another PRO-DEATH *ping*
I hope you all don't mind! I went through the Clara and Terri list, since I thought you all might want to know about this 13 year old little boy.
ping
Why do people insist on playing God? It is usually when God allows us to operate in a void. Something rises to take that void. When he doesn't intercede does that mean His will is for that person to pass or is it a test of what man can do on his own to sustain life?
PRO-DEATH ping
Thought you might want to know about this little boy.
Sorry! I pinged you to this story, withut bothering to look to see who already knew! :)
Only hours after family members went public — and threatened to get a court order — the hospital backed down and promised not to do "anything precipitously."
The tragedy began Monday, when Taran Francis was taken to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital complaining of a terrible headache.
Doctors conducted a CAT-scan and told the boy's relatives an "infection had gotten to [Taran's] brain," said family friend Emily Punter.
Then Taran's condition took a turn for the worse. He went into convulsions and became unconscious.
Taran was hooked up to a respirator and moved on Tuesday to Montefiore for surgery.
His mother, Marcerlyn Francis, said the operation involved stopping her son's lung functions and that a doctor told her yesterday her son was brain-dead.
"[The doctor] said she was very sorry," said the mother, who spent all day Wednesday at her son's bedside.
She said doctors told her last night they would take him off life support within 24 hours.
"I wanted to find out why [my son was unconscious] and when it happened," she said. "[The doctor] was unable to tell me."
Francis said she wants her son to be kept alive by machines "a bit longer" because she's convinced there's a chance he may still pull through.
"I asked the doctor if she believed in miracles," Francis said. "And she said, 'I do not.' "
The mother wants an independent doctor not affiliated with the hospital to examine her son.
Francis' lawyer, Robert Genis, said he still plans to go to Bronx Supreme Court today to force the hospital to continue life support.
"If they kept Terri Schiavo alive for 14 years, they could keep a 13-year-old boy from The Bronx alive for a few weeks," he said.
Montefiore spokesman Steve Osborne said, "Our doctors have conducted several tests on the child's brain and have determined that he is brain-dead."
Genis said state law on whether a hospital can make life-and-death decisions remain murky.
"The family needs time," he said. "I have two children and if this happened to me, I'd like more time."
Someone posted this story on another site. This girl was like Terri and apparently this little boy? Unlike TERRI, she received YEARS of INTRENSIVE therapy and now she's writing a letter to the Editor! :D
http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1049660&t=Letters+to+the+Editor&c=28,1049660
Only hours after family members went public — and threatened to get a court order — the hospital backed down and promised not to do "anything precipitously."
WHY? I thought it was HOPELESS? Why when the MEDIA becomes involved, suddenly there's HOPE?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.