Serious question: would you pull the plug?

[pyonir]

i have always told my family no heroic measures to be taken. if i am being kept alive by machines and have no chance of ever living on my own without them, then pull the plug and let me die. btw i am 23

 

[Amused]

<< We have a situation in the family where a member is in very poor health and currently in intensive care. This person is on about 15 different drugs, no kidney function (on dialysis 3x-4x week), has diabetes, osteoperosis, poor peripheral circulation, poor vision, had quad bypass, and now has about 30% heart function. Also been in the hospital just about every weekend for the past 3 months. Age: 78.

The situation is very hard on the family, not to mention this individual. There is no hope for improvement, and any time out of intensive care is just borrowed time (2 weeks max until the next event, according to history).

If you were this person, would you just refuse care and let go? >>



*I* would. But I'm not them, and I wont for a minute think I have any right to decide for them.

My advice for you? Take those two week vacations she has from the hospital and spend them with her. Make her last time on Earth as wonderful as you can. Don't let her die thinking she was a burden. Take this time to find out what you can learn from her. There is always SOMETHING the elderly have to teach the young, no matter how much we deny it until it's too late. Let her die on her own time feeling useful and loved, not as a burden.

 

[rahvin]

What can I say I'm a wuss. I had some medical problems last year that put me through 3 months of hell, if I had thought there was no light at the end of that tunnel I would have offed myself right then to end the pain.

Everyone should have the right to choose how they want to die, wether they walk lightly off to death or get dragged kicking and screaming. It sounds like your family member is choosing to pursue the secondary route and there isn't much advise I can offer. People are stubborn and life/death is one of those issues where some people won't give up, under any circumstances. Offer your love and kindness and shield your own heart from the trauma that it will suffer waiting for the inevitable.

 

[AmerDoux]

Very tough question.

I will share with you that I have a brother who broke his neck. He clinically died three times that first week in the hospital. Each time he was recusitated. Later, he begged all of us to help him commit suicide.
He has C-4/C-5 crushed vertebrae and is in an electric wheelchair. (imagine two steps above Christopher Reeves...my brother can breath on his own and has shoulder manipulation).
I cannot tell you the depth of pain that my brother and our family went thru.

It is has now been 17 years since his accident.
This year, he will be graduating from college with honors. Double major of Mathematics and Spanish.
He coaches high school football and tutors kids full time.

He was not expected to survive the accident or ever leave the hospital.
He was not expected to lead a life span of more than 10 years.
Everyone told us what a burden his life would be.

Medicine is a science. Physicians can give you educated guesses as to what to expect...but, they are still only guesses.

Prayers to you and your family.
I hope you can find a peaceful resolution.