[TheZMan]

Or he slipped in the tub and had told everyone “do not keep me on life support”.

[null and void]

[gov_bean_ counter]

That force could have resulted from any number of causes, ranging from something as innocent as a slip in the bathtub, to something as sinister as a blow from a heavy blunt object.

... or a dwarf toss gone bad.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Well, the wife can’t just say I want him off life support, if there was no brain wave activity, then life support doesn’t do anything for anyone...... these decisions are not made in a vacuum...

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

Check the life insurance policies....

[PghBaldy]

I hope someone looks into this. After reading this, I am reminded of how I wondered if he was murdered. It was just a thought that popped into my mind, but I dismissed it.

[Will88]

Hmmm, the first reports I heard attributed his death to a brain hemorrhage. Mentioned previous health problems, but no mention of any accident or blow to the head.

[Tai_Chung]

[trumandogz]

I have had to make that same decision for a family member and would never judge another person who was faced with the same decision.

[Mike-o-Matic]

RIP, Gary Coleman. Other than some money (most of which was pilfered by others) and fame as a child actor, he was dealt a pretty lousy hand in life. He did the best he could with it.

And by the way: Making jokes about a guy right after his untimely death... well, that just ain't right.

[CyberAnt]

Or .. his wife was tired of the fighting .. tired of the daily treatments .. and all the money that was being spent on somebody who was apparently close to the dying process.

I’d follow the money .......

[Sun]

I wonder if she was strongly advised by doctors to be that hasty??

[EDINVA]

Stories like this take away from Life Site’s credibility, at least with me. To publish a sinister speculative article within days of Coleman’s demise, to question the family’s decisions about life support is really tasteless.

[LadyDoc]

Chronic renal disease does cause osteoporosis, so he could have had a skull fracture and bleed, e.g. a sub dural hemorrhage from a minor fall. Common in the elderly (my aunt had one...) but with his long history of renal failure, his body was pretty old.

But the stories originally said he had a sub arachnoid hemorrhage, which can be from high blood pressure or from an aneurism.

The original injury is bad, but what kills the patient in all of these things is the swelling of the brain, which usually occurs on one or two days later.

I don't have a problem with the case, knowing that the chance of making it through after brain death was declared is low to zero...

His chronic renal disease might mean he was prone to bleeding problems and high blood pressure. Was he on dialysis?

[Gondring]

A person on life support, even for a few hours, is vulnerable to being dismissed as a "vegetable" and his life terminated on the most flimsy criteria.

Well, the Idiot Wing of the Pro-Life movement should be happy, now that they've successfully removed the patients' own wishes from the decisions, arguing that others can make those decisions better than the patient.

[Halgr]

The author here, Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, is grasping at straws all for the sake of yellow rag “journalism”???

[beachn4fun]

Isn’t it wonderful that the media and others know more about what’s right for a person than the person themselves (or their family)?

[verity]

Some care; most do not.