Ethics: Discontinue life-support or no?

[Vox]

My mother had the heart wrenching decision to have my sister taken off life support. I hope to God I never have to go through that.
As far as my wishes, when I get to where I am useless and not enjoying life, or really living, to take me out back and shoot me.

Dibs on first in line.

As to this story, I say the parents have the right to demand the hospital keep the girl alive as long as they wish due to negligence. The hospital is in no position to make any claims.

Fuck me, bleeding out for tonsils, that's unbelievable. Poor parents.

it is actually not. it is not from the tonsils it is bleeding after tonsillectomy. and very often that bleeding is not right after the tonsils are removed, but couple of hours later.
It is one of the most dreadful scenarios discussed on the boards for three specialties.
It happens and when it happens it is a disaster one would not like to have ever encounter.

 

[Mr Natural]

There's a big difference between living and being alive.

 

[LuckyDuck01!]

As they have been able to grow neurons, I wonder if inserting new neurons into damaged areas might help restore cerebral activity.

 

[Politico]

Botched? What a fail. You have no evidence of that.

If she is brain dead, she is dead. Take her off life support. If not, let the parents pay for each day she remains attached to a machine which is doing nothing more than preventing her body from going cold.

Sorry to be so harsh, but its true. Kid is dead. The brain doesn't recover from death, and no matter if her heart is beating, she isn't going to wake up.

Hey each day she is on the machine her body heals. By the time this over if there was any malpractice the evidence will be gone. At least the court system will be saved from a frivillous lawsuit.

Dibs on first in line.

As to this story, I say the parents have the right to demand the hospital keep the girl alive as long as they wish due to negligence. The hospital is in no position to make any claims.

Fuck me, bleeding out for tonsils, that's unbelievable. Poor parents.

Yeah poor parents is right. Her condition was caused by being obese. But hey don't have her lose weight. That's not the American way. Let's put her under the knife.

 

[S.J.]

All you people calling for them to pull the plug...Have a heart, for God's sake. Give the parents a chance to think about it. It's so fucking easy for people who don't have an emotional stake in situations like this to say "Let her die". What the hell is wrong with you? What harm is it doing to keep her alive for a while? The parents will most likely come to terms with her being dead and make the decision you all want to make for them anyway. I can't believe the cavalier attitude toward human life I'm seeing here. Un-fucking-believable.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

All you people calling for them to pull the plug...Have a heart, for God's sake. Give the parents a chance to think about it. It's so fucking easy for people who don't have an emotional stake in situations like this to say "Let her die". What the hell is wrong with you? What harm is it doing to keep her alive for a while? The parents will most likely come to terms with her being dead and make the decision you all want to make for them anyway. I can't believe the cavalier attitude toward human life I'm seeing here. Un-fucking-believable.

Something more on CNN's 'crawl' yesterday about this. Mother saying she's seeing 'signs of life' in her daughter. And an independent doctor is going to re-examine the kid.

 

[Politico]

Annnnd she's still dead....

 

[Vox]

All you people calling for them to pull the plug...Have a heart, for God's sake. Give the parents a chance to think about it. It's so fucking easy for people who don't have an emotional stake in situations like this to say "Let her die". What the hell is wrong with you? What harm is it doing to keep her alive for a while? The parents will most likely come to terms with her being dead and make the decision you all want to make for them anyway. I can't believe the cavalier attitude toward human life I'm seeing here. Un-fucking-believable.

Something more on CNN's 'crawl' yesterday about this. Mother saying she's seeing 'signs of life' in her daughter. And an independent doctor is going to re-examine the kid.

then she is not brain dead.

brain death is a very clear cut set of symptoms and tests to confirm it. There is no perfusion in the brain at all if it is deemed dead.
Plus the diagnosis of brain death is always made by a panel of 3 doctors and after it is done, neither family disagreement, nor court order can stop "pulling the plug" as the diagnosis of brain death is a legal diagnosis of death.
At least in my state.