Would you personally pull the plug on Schiavo?
 

A few people from the "if you were in Terri Schiavo's shoes, what would you want done?" poll/thread have complained that the poll is bullshit, and the real question is whether or not each one of us would have the grapes to pull the plug ourselves, if the table was turned that way.

So here you go- vote and show the other poll just how odd we all are in our opinions.

As lebell said, with slight variation for this use:

Drop the political party shit and answer the question honestly.

If a dozen or more doctors declared all your loved one's higher brain functions to be zilch, would you want them to be kept alive as a vegetable? Would you pull the plug? And I mean YOU. Personally.

I would. One day to say goodbye, then euthanasia.

Definately Pull the Plug, may sound like murder, but its the best thing to do... no one should have to live like that

I've lost a brother to PVS, my family had the plug pulled. What made it worse was he was an infant, not but a month old, I don't think many here has ever held nor seen any creature in their arms so tiny, wounded, helpless as he was.

That having been said, I don't think I could ever personally pull the plug, I could accept it had it been their wishes, I can also accept the fact that nature has it's own agenda and can handle itself. But no I could not personally pull the plug, maybe I'm weak for it.

Also, it's one thing to take someone off life support that would keep them alive in spite of what nature intends, that is not Euthenasia. Mercy killing to me is a bullshit concept and it's murder. It's one thing to deny someone life, it's another to let nature occur.

Of course. I would have no problem at all executing the decree of the court in supporting the overwhelming medical testimony and the legal guardian's responsibility to make the decision.

My brother and I have had an agreement ever since we were teenagers that if it comes to that, we would pull the plug on each other. If the courts say no, I expect him to come into my hospital room and shoot me, I've told him this, and he's made me promise to do the same for him.

If I knew thats what my SO wanted I would most definately put aside any selfish thoughts I had and do it

BOTTOM LINE on this whole issue... she stated her wishes to not be on life support... WAY before this happened... The plug would be pulled....

My father has already asked me to do it if he is in that position, which he's come close to in the last 4-5 years. I told him I would do what it takes to see his wishes realized. I also told him that a condition was getting it in writing, and he did.

Yup. I would.

"Executing the decree of the court", is the only part of this statement that I have a problem with. It shouldn't be up to the courts to "decree", but would I do it? Yes...yes, I would. Given the overwhelming medical testimony, I would do it. It would be damn hard. And I may have trouble actualy seeing the "plug", for the tears, but I would do it. And hope that someone else would have the stones to do the same for me.

Being a parent, myself, I can understand the anguish that Terri Schiavo's parents are going through. No parent should have to go through that. But, it's been 15 years. It's time to let your little girl go now.

Absolutely. It would be my final act of love to offer them: letting go and respecting their wishes more than my own.

BOR, I see the courts as functioning, so far at least, in upholding the rights of guardianship and expert medical testimony. That seems a proper function to me. The parents had their legal recourse and they lost in a fair-and-square adjudicated process. As far as getting the Federal courts involved, I suppose there is a slim justification for that. I trust they will continue to uphold the precedent. The problem as I see it here was caused by the parents who have attempted to refute medical evidence and discredit the guardian. The fact the courts exist to settle things like this is not a bad thing, IMO. The bad thing is that the parents refused to accept the reality of their daughter's situation for 15 years.

No question, I would.

I shudder to think of having to say goodbye to someone I love under those circumstances, but to me the alternative is akin to torture.

And my faith tells me that I will see them again.

1. The question should read "Would you pull the plug on a brain dead loved one". Brain dead and the state that TS is in are two different things....

2. That said, if my loved one was brain dead and was being kept alive by artificial means, then yes, I would absolutley pull the plug as painful as it may be

I agree with all this.

Higher brain functions gone and respirator is the only thing keeping them alive = Yes I would

Higher brain functions gone but can breath on their own, have some interaction with visitors and the only way for them to die is remove the feeding tube so they starve = No I would not

Interesting you make the distinction between them dying of asphyxsiation vs. starvation. Asphyxsiation is okay but starvation is not.

I'd pull the plug on a loved one if I knew that is what they wanted..... and in all honesty I truly believe this is where we need to allow for euthanasia because by accounts, Terry does react instinctively to the starvation and the body does suffer.

While it would be my wish for my family to pull my plug I would hope that there would be a more humane way than to just starve me.

Perhaps, that is wrong of me to say and perhaps my body wouldn't feel anything, but just in case, put me to sleep.

Either way with or without I would definately want the plug to be pulled.

In nature animals will leave their packs and go off to starve and die.... pet dogs and cats when they reach a stage will starve themselves... it's nature.

yes I'd pull the plug. My mother said that if she gets in that state to keep her alive no matter what. So in that case no I wouldn't because that was her expressed will. In other situations I would

Yes, if I believed that is what they would want.

yes, i would personally "pull the plug," IF there was a plug to pull!! last i checked, she only needed a feeding tube to stay alive, not a respirator. maybe i'm wrong, but i thought that the term "pulling the plug" referred to unplugging a respirator that was keeping somebody alive, therefore resulting in a rather swift death (about six to seven minutes). but, whatever.

Yes I would. I believe it would be more efficient and humane to administer a lethal injection as opposed to what is happening with Mrs. Schiavo but regardless of method I would end my loved ones life if I felt it was warranted. My wife and I have discussed it and she would want to die if in a similar situation. We are having living wills drawn up to prevent any legal hulabaloo but let me go a step further. My WIFE has expressed her wish to me in no uncertain terms that I end her life if she can no longer function as a thinking, coginitive person. Not only would I carry out that task but I would have no problem killing anyone that stood in the way of fulfilling my promise. I hold my wife above all others. She is my friend, my lover, my partner and everything that is good in my life. I owe her the respect of honoring her wish. Her parents wishes would mean nothing to me. The governments wishes would mean nothing to me. Her wishes and my honorable promise to carry them out are all that would matter. Regardless of whatever punishment I might receive, her request to me would be carried out.

I would do it for a loved one if they asked, though I would expect it done for me.

I don't think it's something I could answer unless I was right there in the situation. My sympathy goes out to anyone who's found themselves forced to answer this question, and I think you have to respect their decision whatever it may turn out to be.

However, I do think that this should be an issue for the family, and not for the courts (I'm not 100% on the details of this case, but understand that the court has elected to turn off life-support in contrast to the families wishes). This must have been a very difficult decision to take. I would have provided the option of allowing the family to take the patient into private care to keep alive using their own resources.

Yes, I would. We are here, therefore we know two things. We were born, and we will die. Period. It's going to happen, and I would not want to be left in that type of condition, or anything remotely close to it. Therefore, if I knew that a loved one had a similar stance on life, I would have no problems whatsoever helping them pass.

As for me:

Take.
Me.
Out.

Play this while you do it :

Oh,give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the skies are not cloudy all day....

There have been cases of people recovering from this state (not very well documented, and very rare, but still within the realms of possibility)

If someone had no chance of ever having any kind of life again i would have to say yes pull the plug. because if it was me i wouldnt want to live life like that

Since those were her Wishes that she made clear to her family and husband, before her heart tragically stopped and she lost her brain function, then i would follow those wishes. I do not want to be kept artificially alive and have made this clear to my family.

It saddens me that Terri's parents are so obviously trying to hold onto something that isn't there. But we can see that from the outside perspective, but they might be incapable of seeing that being so close to the situation.

Sweetpea

If you really think she's so alive, then your answer is simply "no" and move on back to the other threads for discussion.

This is about whether or not YOU would pull the plug on a loved one based on what I said above, with Schiavo's case as the example.

Ok, but "pulling the plug" is something entirely different then pulling a feeding tube. There are so many elements in play here and it's not a cut and dry as you make it out to be.

Absolutely. My SO and I both have living wills saying we want no extraordinary means used to maintain physical life and naming the other as executor of that will for making medical decisions.

I personally don't think removing the feeding tube would be going far enough. It'll take the person up to a month to die, and that could be torurous to the loved ones. Once the decision has been made to end the life, I see no difference between removing life support and giving a lethal injection, except that the latter is quicker and thus more humane to the loved ones.

Gilda, unless there is specific wording in the living will, think about this wording of extraordinary means. It is too vague in a legal sense, and can sometimes become the root of problems of interpretation in such cases. I would consider being as specific as you can in your will.

Thanks for the warning. It's been done already. I just used "extraordinary measures" as a shorthand way of posting here, not wanting to go into a couple of pages of legalese. The most important part of the will, according to our lawyer, is the part where we've designated the other as being legally responsible for making medical decisions in case of incapacity, which should cover any specific situation not already in the living will. We had to do this as protection against my parents, whose views are different from ours, and who resent my SO for being the wrong race and the wrong sex and would take any opportuinity to punish her for that.

We've also had to do the same for my sister, who my parents have disowned for other reasons, but that wouldn't keep them from trying to exert their control over her given the opportunity.

word - i've seen it from personal experience, and the lesson i learned was to be specific, and then as you said give the power for unspecified situations to someone with a decent head on their shoulders. sounds like you've got it covered. as for the other stuff, sorry you have to deal with all that. off topic, but are y'all interested in getting married, etc? in any event, best of luck not needing the dnr / living will ;)

Pull it. Stop projecting your fear on the helpless. wwzappa say?

Yeah, we'd get married if we could, and I suspect we will be able to in the near future. The marriage situation gets really strange for my sister, but that's off topic, so I'll let it drop.

We don't have a DNR. That's usually used for terminally ill people who don't want to be revived after their heart stops, and we all three (me, my sister, my SO) definitely do want that.

Yes I would , especially if the loved one had specifically asked not to be kept alive like that.

I'm about to drive down there and put her out of her misery myself if this stupid story doesn't stop taking up headlines where there should be more important matters.

I think euthanasia should be allowed in some cases when it clearly confers with the patients wishes. If there is definite evidence that it is what they wanted. But allowing others to make the decision strikes me as too dangerous...

And I personally would not pull the plug. If I knew it was the wish of a person close to me, I would not actively stop it, but I would be prepared to be the person who made the decision, because I dont think I could live with that.

In the shortest way of explaining: In cases like this it's up to the husband/wife to say what the person would have wanted. The courts are only involved because her parents are trying to stop the decision the husband has made.