The Comatose Woman In Florida

[THUNDER HANDS]

Poll question: The Comatose Woman In Florida

Pull out the feeding tube and let her pass on?

or

Keep the tube in and continue her life with her family and friends?

I say pull the plug and let the woman go peacefully. If you can't speak, can't move, can't do anything for yourself then you're not living, you're existing.

[La_Serpiente]

1. Death with Dignity

I am very perturbed by the fact that Bush intervened on the sake of one person.

[demnan]

2. I saw here on T.V. this morning

her eyes were open and blinking and she was sitting up in bed. She appeared to be looking at her mother.

Pulling the plug would clearly be killing her.

[trotsky]

4. Sure, it might be killing her.

But what if that's what she wants? That has been the husband's argument the entire time, that he & his wife discussed this kind of situation and they agreed they would not want to be kept alive.

Neither would I. But I have a living will to stipulate that - for the woman, it's her husband's word vs. her parents'.

[qb]

10. NPR had an expert on this morning who stated this is the cruelest trick

of nature. She is in a permanent vegetative state. The open, blinking eyes are an illusion that tears at the hearts of her loved ones.

[Avalux]

3. She's not comatose

she's in a vegetative state; there is a difference, and there are conflicting Dr.'s opinions about her level of responsiveness. Her family wants her to continue living - why not let them take care of her? I can't decide if the husband is truly acting on her behalf or if he just wants out after all these years.
If indeed she is granted the right to die, give her some morphine and end it quickly.

[joeybee12]

5. Fill out those living wills people!

Doing so can help when situations like this arrive.

My mother's in a nursing home with Alzheimers, so when the time comes, we won't keep her alive with a feeding tube. My aunt had that done to her--lived as a vegetable for about 10 years more. Not the way to go.

[dolo amber]

7. Agreed on the morphine

I find it utterly ASININE that it's LEGAL to *allow her to die* via starvation and dehydration while she clearly still has some mental function and thus can in all likelyhood feel pain, yet it's *euthanasia* (and thus ILLEGAL) to end her life peacefully and painlessly with drugs. What a fucked up system. :eyes: :wtf:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. If the husband just wanted out...

He'd have left her to the state a long time ago.

He loves the woman he married and feels obligated to fulfill her wish to die with dignity.

I can appreciate what the woman's poor mother must be going through. In a vegetative state, she's probably not unlike the infant her mother cherished and cared for. Only she's not an infant.

As heartbreaking as it is, I think her mother needs to let go, and accept her daughter's death.

[this_side_up]

6. I would want to read more

about all of the brain tests they've done on her and
what the results say = is she still here or are the
eyes moving and smiling etc. just automatic responses?

This is a good example why a Living Will is
not enough. Durable Power of Attorney is also
needed for Health matters.

I am not sure how I feel about her husband and his
pregnant with their 2nd child girlfriend who both
wish to marry.

I think the tube-fed woman's marriage ended with
her accident. But..... all of the lawsuits resulted
in big bucks which *must* be used for her care. But if
she dies, then husband gets the bucks.

I wonder why this dragged on for all these years?
Are the medical tests not good enough?

Bottom line is: I don't know the answer but I do think
the Bushes, Republicans, religious people, need to
stay out of this.

[11 Bravo]

12. CT scans indicate that her cerebral cortex is gone.

It will not regenerate. The "reactions" to stimuli that Hannity keeps ranting about are nothing more that reflex. The woman is in a persistent, vegetative state, and she deserves the dignified death that she begged her husband to ensure that she received if the necessity ever arose.

[this_side_up]

16. thanks, 2dumb

I haven't had the time to delve into all of the articles
out there (some of which may be exaggerated bs?) but
now I do believe there is no cortex left.

Poor woman.

And I read that it wasn't an accident but a heart
attack and husband wants immediate cremation w/o
an autopsy? Makes me wonder about him.

Bottom line is I told hubby this a.m., when we get
back home then it's time to re-do the Living Wills
and also do the Durable Power of Attorney for Health
matters and this time we will include that when
pulling the plug or whatever, it will not be starving
to death or dying of thirst.

We want shots. Huge, lethal doses. Death in a minute.

[Girlfriday]

8. I think the point people are missing...

A good many people die of starvation and dehydration. I had this discussion with medical personell when my father was dying of cancer;it was put to me this way "when the 'body' realizes that it's dying, the patient ceases to EAT or DRINK" in essence "starves itself". When will people relize that this is nature's way and leave us alone!

[candy331]

9. My Sister-in law

died of breast cancer. She stopped eating/drinking or anything and laspsed into a coma(thank God/higher power) where she remained for about 2 weeks and then died. I could not go into her room without crying it was so sad for a 48 year old woman to be dying so soon but we realized with the pain and suffering she was in that it was for the best and she wanted no more treatments. My in-laws despised the husband but did not interfere in her care during her illness and death. There were rumors circulating around about the husband while she was sick that he had another woman and that his 1st wife died with cancer and evidently he brought some of the chemicals where he worked and had somehow given them to both women since how coincidental could it be that both wives die within 7 years of each other of cancer. Then the talk was that that he was not getting the best treatment because he wanted her to hurry up and die to save the insurance money for himself. I think people sometimes can be so cruel to start so many rumors.

[MaryBear]

11. If the Husband wants out,

can't he end the marriage?

I marked "not sure," because we just don't have all the info. From what I've read, she seems responsive in some ways, and she appears in good spirits in a photo.

I hope she gets the miracle she needs.

[SOteric]

17. My sentiments exactly.

I just don't know.

But if the husband wants out and the parents are willing to assume the burden of her care, can't he end the marriage and can't they have her cared for privately..?

[SOteric]

18. Actually, one more thing...

I hope for that woman's sake that the assessment of her condition has absolutely no room for error.

I can imagine nothing more horrific than being mentally and emotionally present, having an active thought life, -while being unable to speak, move or care for one's self. As to whether that's 'life' or merely 'existence,' I think that depends on the nature and quality of one's thought-life and emotional content.

If the yardstick is only that one speak, move and care for oneself, there vast hordes of unemployed couch potatoes who should have been euthanised years ago.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

21. "...that the assessment of her condition has absolutely no room for error"

This is excellent food for thought...

A friend of mine, after a great deal of consideration, opted not to have an abortion several years ago, even though her amnio test results indicated that her baby would be severely retarded. She and her husband wanted a child, and decided that since there was no guarantee that subsequent pregnancies wouldn't turn out similarly, that they'd prepare for a more challemging experience. Her boy was born perfectly normal.

She's still pro-choice; but profoundly moved by what could have been a terrible mistake. Doctors really don't know everything...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. How many homeless uninsured people would like to live?

How mant government officials in FL five a flying f*ck?

[Nikia]

15. Keep her alive

Just because she has become disabled does not mean that she should be left to die. Yes, there are conflicting reports about how mentally disabled she is. Not being able to feed oneself should not be the criteria for whether she should survive. Perferably, she and her family should work with some therapists to help her reach her limited potential. Perhaps, they could take her home as well. I don't think that a spouse is necessarily the best person to make a life and death decision regarding his wife considering that he has clearly moved on by fathering a child and wishing to marry another woman. His disabled wife must be a real nuisance for him. Her parents care for her and if she brings them joy and they appear to bring her joy, no one has any business in interfering with that.

[retread]

19. I vote to pull the plug on jeb!

*

[GoddessOfGuinness]

22. good idea...

waste of energy...

[corarose]

20. No one knows what they are talking about unless they have

BEEN THROUGH IT!