True Sun, I do agree. I have just seen a person who was brain dead before and it was pretty obvious there was no life there unfortunately for the family. Teenager was hunting and he accidentally shot himself right between the eyes. He was rushed to the hospital locally where my sister was in ICU for a car accident she had been in. He was in the room next to her and I was there when they brought him in. They had him on ventilator, but he was gone. His family was devastated! I even hugged his grandmother cause she obviously needed a hug. I saw the father sign the papers for organ donation and the order to remove the ventilator. It was so sad. But honestly, if multiple doctors(and i mean multiple) do testing and find that someone is brain dead, than I think it is time to let them go. Turn the machine off. If they keep breathing on their own than they are not brain dead, if they stop breathing, and die, than I think a family can know the doctor's knew and can be sure that they were right that their loved one is in fact gone. It isn't easy to do. I support life completely. But there is a big difference between feeding tubes/brain damaged and ventilators/brain dead.
"I have just seen a person who was brain dead before and it was pretty obvious there was no life there unfortunately for the family. "
I totally agree with you. They want to pretend brain- damaged and brain-dead are the same thing. One referes to the quality of life and the other refers to no life. They are two completely separate issues.
I was disgusted at how the press continually pretended that Terri was brain dead and never questioned Dr. Cranford's description of Terri. She was obviously brain-damaged, but definitely a person, who could feel pain and happiness. Her face lit up when her mother visited her.