Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Comatose Woman's Parents Hope for Legal Help

Dragonlich · 03-21-2005, 12:03 PM

As far as I can tell from the reports, her brain is pretty much gone. If, by some miracle, she becomes conscious again, she's still not going to be more than a breathing, drooling piece of flesh. That's the best we can hope for.

So I have some questions for those in favor of keeping her alive:
1) What do you hope will happen? I.e. if we keep feeding her, what end result do you expect or hope for?
2) How long should we keep her on life support? 10 years? 20? 50? We can probably keep her "alive" for a hundred years... when does it end?
3) Who should pay for her medical care? How much are you willing to spend to restore her brain functions (if it were ever possible)?
4) Should this be a one-time situation, or should every person in this condition be kept alive for decades?
5) Should doctors be allowed to let anyone die at all? After all, they can do wonders with modern medical machines. We can probably keep a headless body "alive" with an artificial blood circulation. Should we? Where do you draw the line?

(Speaking from a country where euthanasia is legal, and where this woman would have been put out of her misery years ago. But then again, some US politicians have accused us of being evil for doing that...)

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(added after reading Stevo's post:)
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Stevo: "After reading this how can anyone say her brain is liquid?"...

After reading that, how can you say it isn't? You'd be amazed what reflexes and a tiny shred of brain tissue can do. Question is: how can you say that her instinctive (automatic) reactions are signs of a thinking, conscious human mind?

03-21-2005, 12:03 PM	#229 (permalink)
Dragonlich 42, baby! Location: The Netherlands	As far as I can tell from the reports, her brain is pretty much gone. If, by some miracle, she becomes conscious again, she's still not going to be more than a breathing, drooling piece of flesh. That's the best we can hope for. So I have some questions for those in favor of keeping her alive: 1) What do you hope will happen? I.e. if we keep feeding her, what end result do you expect or hope for? 2) How long should we keep her on life support? 10 years? 20? 50? We can probably keep her "alive" for a hundred years... when does it end? 3) Who should pay for her medical care? How much are you willing to spend to restore her brain functions (if it were ever possible)? 4) Should this be a one-time situation, or should every person in this condition be kept alive for decades? 5) Should doctors be allowed to let anyone die at all? After all, they can do wonders with modern medical machines. We can probably keep a headless body "alive" with an artificial blood circulation. Should we? Where do you draw the line? (Speaking from a country where euthanasia is legal, and where this woman would have been put out of her misery years ago. But then again, some US politicians have accused us of being evil for doing that...) ============= (added after reading Stevo's post:) ============= Stevo: "After reading this how can anyone say her brain is liquid?"... After reading that, how can you say it isn't? You'd be amazed what reflexes and a tiny shred of brain tissue can do. Question is: how can you say that her instinctive (automatic) reactions are signs of a thinking, conscious human mind? Last edited by Dragonlich; 03-21-2005 at 12:09 PM..