I do consider what you said, doctor. And, as I have said, I’m pretty sure that this is a hopeless case.
Now you need to put down the stethoscope and hear a human being.
The rights of the parents are being trampled. They have the right to get the best care for their child, as they see fit. Saying, “But she’s dead,” doesn’t make this any less their little girl. Even if she is dead, they have the right to decide to donate her organs or not and to decide how to dispose of her remains. “The body” belongs to them.
They have to know that everything was done to save their girl, even if it proves futile. They have hope in their hearts and that hope is a necessary part of the human condition.
They have to deal with the grief. And grief is one hell of a lot easier to live with if you really believe that every possibility was exhausted and the death was G-d’s will. (This is coping mechanism than many humans use to cope with the difficulties of life.)
These parents’ actions are not abnormal. They are normal and healthy reactions to an impossible situation. And yes, their wishes should be given tremendous weight.
After a few weeks, as the body shuts down due to ‘brain death’, all the doctors can come poke their fingers in the parents’ faces and say, “I told you so.” Until then, just do what’s necessary to help them get through it. Put in the damn trach and feeding tubes and let her be transferred if they don’t want to deal with it.
Now I do have some serious questions for you. According to this article:
1) As she’s only being kept alive with a vent, why are her kidneys and guts still working after 3 weeks when they should’ve begun to malfunction after a week?
2) Why is her immune system still functioning?
3) Why is her body temperature stable?
4) Why is her blood pressure level?
She had her heart attack on the 10th, but the doctors didn’t ‘declare’ her dead until the 12th. So the reality is that she’s been in this condition for three weeks and three days. Should she not being showing signs of organ failure by now?
The “rights” of the parents have not been trampled....in fact it appears the hospital staff and personnel have gone out of their way, from the beginning, to assist this family well.
If a family is in denial of their child’s death there is absolutely nothing that will convince them “everything possible” has been done for their child. They will never “Know” all was done or not.....until they come out of their denial...and in this case possible they will never accept all was done for their daughter.
Further this was not an “Impossible” situation....Hope is often confused with wishful thinking. Hope means there’s evidence which supports that...wishful thinking generally is all emotional and facts are left out unless they support the wishful thinking.
This has gone way past any hope for organ donor. Organs have time limits in which they can be used. They forfeited that right when they extended this situation despite the ‘several’ physicians who examined here. How many would be enough to convince the parents is the real question...and of course there would never be enough until one would agree with them.
All realize how difficult this situation is for the parents...but their child is not there anymore.