Why?
This young man was only in a coma. He wasn't in a persistent vegetative state, and he certainly wasn't brain dead.
I've never seen anyone on FR suggest that it's appropriate to pull the plug on a patient who is only in a coma.
“...I’ve never seen anyone on FR suggest that it’s appropriate to pull the plug on a patient who is only in a coma.”
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Quite right Scoutmaster, neither have I. Some folks confuse brain death with comas—the first one consists of a dead brain (with no “resurrection” possible) and the 2nd one covers a wide spectrum of brain conditions with the possibility (likelihood with some types of coma) of partial to near full recovery.
I’ve been doing a lot of study on so-called ‘’brain death’’. The consensus is that there is NO true diagnosis of ‘’brain death’’. It’s an invented term used to keep bodies alive for transplant purposes. The term didn’t exist before the 1970’s.
Coma is frequently called brain death. And persistant vegetative state means that the brain is alive even if it’s not functioning at it’s best for the moment.
When it comes to central nervous system injury, EVERYTHING should be considered for treatments. If you can keep a good flow of oxygen to the brain, you reduce swelling and reduce brain cell death thereby allowing dormant areas of the brain to pick up the functions from the areas that are injured. Other things can assist in swelling reduction too, which is what this fish oil/omega 3 fatty acid treatment seeks to look at.
Swelling is the worst thing. Even uninjured areas can and do become injured if the swelling is bad enough.
I think there are a LOT of things that can be done/tried and I am of the opinion that things should be tried. It takes courage because the patient could die anyway. In which case, then ok...but to let a person die without trying, in this day and age, is shameful and suspicous.
I’ve seen a LOT of miracles in my lifetime to know that nobody has a chrystal ball with a time stamp on it for anybody. And brain injuries can have some hugely surprising outcomes. I’ve seen people who were left with a half a brain, fully recover. Some became geniuses even. But the quicker you try to prevent issues, and give the body everything at your disposal to use to fix it, the better.
Our family has also been personally afflicted with injuries such as this. Last night a family member broke his neck..a severe break...and the goal is to prevent any further nerve damage. Thanks to the articles here, I’ve been able to forward the links to his immediate family in the hope that further deteroration can be had, in the hope that a more full recovery is possible.
Lack of hope produces itself....lack...nothing. It produces death.
I don't even recall that on the Terri Schaivo threads.
Did you read the story?
Doctors told Grant’s parents, John and JJ, that he would never wake up.
“They told us to let him go,”
You should read the article. They told the family to “let him go.” That’s a fairly common attitude toward people with brain injuries or severe disabilities. After the patient recovers, there’s a big rush to deny the cruel things that were said in the heat of the moment.