Step back from that plug
: This is why I don’t want anybody pulling my plug… The NY1 reporter who was bashed by a passing truck and spent eight weeks in a coma has regained consciousness. [via Anthony]
9 responses to “Step back from that plug”
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Jeff, if you are drawing comparisons to the Schiavo case, you are drawing unfair ones. Terry isn’t in a coma, she’s in a persistent vegetative state. The two situations are not comparable, since everyone who’s ever examined her except the doctors her parents hired have said she isn’t going to wake up.
Not saying I’m in favor of pulling the plug either but you have to make a fair comparison. -
No,I’m making no link to that case, just confessing to my own skeevyness on the topic, personally, and pointing to the good news about this reporter….
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I’m torn by the Schiavo case, only because it’s not at all clear *what* she would have wanted, since she left no paper (or other verifiable) trail. I have a living will stating my desires (plus leaving word with *all* my close relatives).
I do have a thought experiment. Suppose we discovered that the care we are currently giving Mrs. Schiavo would extend her life indefinitely? That is, suppose we find that the *only* way she can die is to remove the tube? When, exactly, should we, if ever? After 100 years? 200 years? 1000 years? Never?
I understand this is impossible, I’m just asking what difference the amount of time she spends in a vegetative state matters, and what would constitute a “natural” death? Is there no reasonable way to make such a decision? -
Jeff, make sure you appoint a surrogate decisionmaker and leave a living will. That way you can make sure your wishes are followed.
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Jorg – a natural death is what would occur if Terry Schiavo had all feeding and hydration tubes removed.
Before obsessing over the medical minutia of comas v. PVS’s, etc. people first need to grapple with the question of who should make the decision. In Florida right now, the answer to that question is, the Governor. The Governor of any state would have to be right at the top of any list people profoundly unsuited for this role. -
Gee, R.C., a natural death would be what would occur if you were shut up in a room and not fed for days and days — that’s what people are wanting to do to that poor vegetable woman. But that’s okay, because she’s just some poor vegetable woman; she can’t read your wise comments and nod approvingly, so the hell with her.
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Andrea, I understand that you don’t approve of allowing Terry Schiavo to die, but you should respect the fact that well-meaning people can disagree on this topic.
There are many people who would not wish to be kept alive for years when they have no higher brain functions at all. So it’s unfair to assume callousness is the only reason someone would no longer wish to continue Schiavo’s feeding tube. -
Then why not just kill her and have done? It would be both quick and mercifull — death by starvation is neither. You wouldn’t starve a dog, yet you’d starve a human being who can’t converse with you. Give her (or someone like her) a lethal injection, the same way we dispatch Fido or Fluffy.
Oh, but that would mean you had taken direct action, which implies personal responsibility. Thus simply taking out the feeding tube is “kinder” — on your conscience. You’re just letting “nature take its course.” After all, if God wanted her to live, he’d do some miracle shizzle, right?
You know what, don’t lecture me about “respect.” This isn’t about some cold, rational, political theory. This is a helpless human being we are talking about here, one who has two people at least (her parents) who are willing to take care of her. I object not to the idea that there is a “right to death” in case of brain death or whatever, so much as I object to the whitewashing, bland, clinical terminology people have taken to using when discussing cases like this. There’s no “respect” in rejecting this clinical bs. I reject it, and call the people who try to hide behind it cowards. -
Andrea, “terminology”? It’s called language, and we use it to exchange ideas.
