Life Support

[Springsteen]

I was watching a program about people in hospitals earlier who were on Life Support Machines, meaning they were clinically braindead, and they were never going to get better.

The question I ask is....Is it right? Is the fact that they are never going to get better but a family keeps them on life support just because they don't want them to be completely gone ok?

I mean I know it's easy to say if you have never been there but if you were in the situation where a loved one is on life support, never going to recover, would you keep them alive by that machine? Or would you just want it all to be over?

I don't think I could see a loved one being kept alive....well not even alive really as they are never going to live again, but anyway. Yeah I don't think I would be completely comfortable with the situation where they are never going to get better and it just seems slightly pointless.

So anyway, what do you think?

 

[Tyler Durden]

Well if its a loved one then, chances are, you've had that conversation at some stage and you probably know what they would wish to happen to them in that horrid situation.

For me.....take your time and say your goodbyes to me, then shut it down. I have no wish to 'live' in that manner

 

[SouthOfHeaven]

to me it really goes by whatever that persons wishes were during Their normal life but it would be terriably hard to see a loved one who was once so full of life resorted down to life support with no real quality of life..

 

[Peter Parka]

It would seem the loving thing to do, to shut the machine down, had that happen with a friend of mine before so at least we knew what was coming and got to say our goodbyes. On the other had, you never know if they will never get better, saw a program the other week about a guy in the US who came out of a 15 odd year long coma.

 

[Sneakiecat]

It would be hard but I would have to let them go. That's not a life and I would rather have the memories of all the good times than them stuck on a machine. My brother's girlfriend was in a car accident and was declared brain dead. Her parents immdeiately told them to donate her organs and then take her off life support. They got to say her good byes and let her go know she help a lot of other people.

On the other had, you never know if they will never get better, saw a program the other week about a guy in the US who came out of a 15 odd year long coma.

A coma is different than brain death. You can wake up from a coma but not from being brain dead. I think I would wait out a coma for a little while.

 

[HottyToddyChick]

My parents and Matt all know how I feel. If there is any chance of me having a good quality of life, then I want to stay on. If I'm going to be a vegetable or be completely dependent on someone else, take me off. That's not the kind of living I want to do.

 

[Alien Allen]

My mother was in effect on life support. She had lung and heart issues. The one drug would help with breathing but it caused problems for the heart. The condition came on very suddenly after a knee replacement. We were told it was hopeless. We could drag this on for days where should would suffer horribly due to problems breathing or we could take her off the meds and make her comfortable on morphine. She did not want to be kept alive artificially. She was semi awake off and on and knew what was going on up until we took her off the meds. We said our goodbuys and she died a few hours later. This is the way she wanted it and it was for the best. For me it was not a difficult decision but she was in her 90's and had led a healthy and active life up until the end.

 

[dt3]

Pull my plug.

 

[Grin]

Find someone who is a suitable match for my organs, then pull the plug.

 

[Tim]

I never understood the part where people say "What they would have or wouldn't have wanted in this situation" Does it really matter what they wanted while they were alive? And how many people do you know that say, "Even if I'm brain dead, don't unplug me"?
I kind of see it as a bullshit response. Because when they are brain dead, then they are dead. They have no say in the matter at that point. :dunno

For me, take my organs and pull my plug for 30 seconds, then put it back in... then pull it again.

 

[cam elle toe]

I had to make the decision with both my parents. It was an easy decision to make really, I know they wouldnt have wanted to go on living the way they were.

 

[BlackCherry]

I think this is why a living will is so important...it takes the guilt and burden off of the loved ones to make that decision because it's been made by the individual when they are still alive and (hopefully) mentally sound.

 

[RedRyder]

It's hard for the living to let go of the dead and/or dying..... That's why the machines are available. But if the person is indeed brain dead.... turn off the machines. It's just cruel otherwise.