Play this album with the volume turned up... Oughta do the trick!
Posted on 11/20/2006 1:49:59 PM PST by presidio9
A judge has rejected a family's plea that a 53-year-old woman in a vegetative state should be allowed to die.
He has ordered instead that she should be given a drug that could wake her up.
Theoretically the patient could then spend the rest of her life severely disabled and aware of her condition.
Sir Mark Potter, president of the High Court Family Division, says the woman should be given zolpidem, a common sleeping pill.
It has been used before on victims of severe brain damage who have then regained consciousness.
The woman, who cannot be named, suffered a massive brain haemorrhage on holiday in August 2003 and has been diagnosed as in a persistent vegetative state.
Sir Mark ruled that doctors should try giving her the drug before a final decision has to be made on whether to stop giving her food and water artificially, and let her die.
His decision was supported by the Official Solicitor Laurence Oates who represents PVS patients when their families seek permission to allow them to die.
A spokesman said Mr Oates, who has now retired, thought the woman should be given zolpidem to test if she could 'wake up.'
He said: "It was a very difficult case, but Mr Oates believed that before anyone is allowed to die every test possible should be carried out."
Sir Mark is believed to have also heard evidence from experts who look after severely brain-damaged patients.
It is the first time a ruling has been made to keep a PVS patient alive in order to use the drug. The case follows new Government guidelines, revealed by the Daily Mail on Saturday, which tell doctors they risk being put on trial for assault if they refuse to allow patients who have made 'living wills' to die.
The Lord Chancellor told the medical profession that those who do not follow the wills could face jail or big compensation claims in the court.
In a guide to Labour's Mental Capacity Act, which comes into operation next spring, Lord Falconer said living wills must be enforced. PVS patients are described as 'awake but not aware'. Unlike patients in a coma their eyes are open but they see nothing and are not conscious of their surroundings.
They breathe normally but have no swallowing reflex and have to be kept alive by artificial feeding and hydration.
In 1993 the courts sanctioned the withdrawal of feeding from Tony Bland, a 21-year-old brain-damaged survivor of the Hillsborough football ground disaster.
The case went to the House of Lords where law lords ruled it was in his best interests to be allowed to die and said doctors could lawfully stop artificial feeding because they would not be killing him, but withdrawing treatment.
Since then the High Court has sanctioned the withdrawal of food and drink from dozens of PVS patients when doctors, families and the Official Solicitor have agreed that death was in the patient's best interests.
The case of Terri Schiavo, whose husband fought a seven-year battle in Florida before she was allowed to die last year, heightened the debate in the U.S.
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THE NEW LEASE OF LIFE DRUG Zolpidem has been used in South Africa with amazing results. One recipient is 32-year-old Miss X, who cannot be named for legal reasons. She suffered four cardiac arrests and hypoxia - a lack of oxygen to the brain - after contracting septicaemia four years ago.
Without the pill, she can barely stand, her arms are in spasm and she cannot speak, although her intelligence has not been affected. But after being given a dose of the drug she can stand up, stretch to her full height and clap her hands.
The left side of her face is no longer drooping and her eyes sparkle. She smiles broadly and can even use a keyboard to communicate with people, telling them how she now hopes to speak again.
Gee. How kind. With a little luck she can wake-up to the fact that she cannot move and will have to rot in bed until she dies.
"If I cant hold and speak to my grandkids let me get on to that place where I am at peace."
I hope you have written a letter to your doctor & signed it and sent a copy to all of your relatives as well. God-willing they will never need make that decision, but it will make the decision so much easier if everyone knows what your desires are.
I think the judge in this case made the right decision.
As many FReepers already know, the above statement is false.
It has been proved via PET scans that PVS patients have intense, intelligent brain activity in response to recorded voices of loved ones. Great article on this topic: New York Times: What if there IS something going on in there?
...woman in a vegetative state should be allowed to die
There is no such thing as "allowing" PVS patients to die. PVS patients are not in extremis. You can cause them to die by starving and dehydrating them to death, sure. But "allow," no.
She can always make her own choice to die of thirst and starvation, but at least it's her decision and not yours.
But that's kind of the point, eh?
Play this album with the volume turned up... Oughta do the trick!
Which means that this article suddenly did a 180, first discussing a severely brain-damaged patient who is PVS, then a patient who is not, leading some to believe that the drug will have the same effect on both.
Shoddy, misleading journalism.
They might be able to tell us whether they were aware of what was going on around them while they were "PVS" or in "a coma."
That information could be useful for medical personnel who work with such patients. It could also be useful in determining whether PVS patients are aware when they are being mistreated by the staff.
Well they give speed to hyperactive kids...
I wonder if there will be some lawsuits coming down the pike.
April 15, 1989: Soccer fans crushed at Hillsborough
At least 93 football supporters have been killed in Britain's worst-ever sporting disaster. They were crushed to death at Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield during the FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool.
The crush is said to have resulted from too many Liverpool fans being allowed in to the back of an already full stand at the Leppings Lane end of the ground.
They were crushed to death at Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield during the FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool.
The crush is said to have resulted from too many Liverpool fans being allowed in to the back of an already full stand at the Leppings Lane end of the ground.
Ah yes because the State knows better than the family right? All hail the State, forgo the family. Because the State knows best...One more thing to add to my living will apparently to keep the ghouls away
Yeah right. When you have an article entitled, "New York Times: There IS something going on in there!", I'll start paying attention.
Besides, your article is not about PVS patients. Why did you reference it? Why did you waste my time?
"There is no such thing as "allowing" PVS patients to die."
Yes there is. Removing artificial feeding is withdrawing treatment, thereby allowing the patient to die.
Declining it's continued use, for myself, if the improvement effected was only from a "vegetative state" to a "cognitively severely disabled state", and declining its use entirely if such improvement was then likely to be used as a justification to keep me alive in such a state.
Bump.
A difference? Yes. A big difference? No. PVS is severely brain-damaged.
Are the "sleeping pills" putting a specific area of the patient's brain to sleep? Is it an area that is overactive?
If so, does that mean the patient was really "awake" (in some way or another), while in the so-called state of "unawareness"?
I read an article about this and that is exactly what happens.
Now, they do wake up, and if you give them this pill, they wake up again. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. However, I think it should give people pause who have come to believe that the person is no longer "there". If they can be woken up, and recognize their loved ones, then obviously they are there, or not too far away.
Ambien is a very unusual and fascinating drug. It can do unusual things to a person with a normally functioning brain. There is a lot of evidence on the internet and I have personally experienced it. Instead of putting me to sleep, it made me stay awake and do things that I did not remember doing the next day (no sex jokes please, lol).
The researchers think the reason that those with PVS come out of it has something to do with the Ambien which apparently blocks GABA, some kind of hormone or chemical that shuts the brain down to allow it to recover from trauma.
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