"Mother Asks Doctors To Starve Her Son To Death."

reply to post by WozaMeathed

...slowly and painfully die...

Without knowing about her son's medical condition, past medical history, history of his current coma, and level of coma, it is not certain if death will come slowly, and depending on why he is comatose, we do not know if he is and will experience pain. Without definitive answers to these questions, this statement is somewhat sensational.

Now, having said my peace, as a board certified critical care nurse (CCRN), I also support a patient's right to die with dignity and the way he or she desires. Again, after saying that, in my experience, patients that get placed on Comfort Care, which he basically is if his mother withdraws support, doctors usually prescribe analgesics and/or sedatives to help expedite the process of death. Typically, at this point, the physicians will order a morphine drip and the patient will eventually succumb to respiratory arrest; this usually takes a couple days to a week. By death, the patient is usually sedated enough that there is no pain.

Basically, Comfort Care is similar to doctor-assisted suicide, it's just not called that. We do it all the time. It happens everyday.

Its so sad, euthanasia should be a basic human right. Its even more sad when you realize that right to euthanasia is widely supported by most people, often with 80+ % in favor. I say its really about time to change these laws already.

reply to post by WozaMeathed


S&F. I agree with your OP. This is tragic. And when a person dies this way it is not painful. The love of his family would be all the medicine the little angel would need. Prayers to the family.

reply to post by Cosmic911


I feel that if a person is able to leave their body without the aid of drugs it should be that way. This is important.

Thanks for all of you that have responded.

I wasn't suprised to see that some of you would choose to"Help" your loved ones pass and that you would sidestep the laws of the land to do so.
Good on you.
I would do the same.

But no one should have to make that choice though.
Our laws need to be changed so no one should have to break the "law" for something that is morally right.
If we or our loved one is dying, we should have the right to choose to humanely and compassionantly end our life or the life of a loved one if that is our or their wish.

People shouldn't be forced to break laws just so they or their loved one's can die with dignity.

reply to post by WozaMeathed


I can understand giving him an injection to end it but starving him to death More then likely her mind has been eroded from all those years of suffering and she is not thinking properly

Originally posted by antar
reply to post by Cosmic911

 

I feel that if a person is able to leave their body without the aid of drugs it should be that way. This is important.

That's important if that's what you believe. Not everyone shares this opinion. It's analogous to the issue of natural childbirth or medication-assisted (pain meds) childbirth. Unfortunately, death is rarely pleasant, often painful medical or traumatic conditions, thus resulting in Death. Medications allow the patient to die more effortlessly, without pain or stress. Medication-assisted death also decreases stress on the family, making the entire experience less traumatic overall. When death occurs in the emergency department or ICU, it is usually unexpected or extremely unpleasant. Medication helps all involved; this includes the patient, patient's family, and staff members.

This is such an ethically complicated issue. I feel for the mother that had to make the decision. It reminded me of the Terri Schiavo case. Government got involved in that one and family members haggled with Terri's husband who was the one to make the decision to remove her feeding tube. It was so charged with emotional conflict, it was enough to break one's heart.

However, according to this from Wikipedia's synopsis of the case: Terri Schiavo died at a Pinellas Park hospice on March 31, 2005. Although there was concern that Schiavo would experience significant symptoms from dehydration with the removal of the feeding tube, studies have shown that patients who have their feeding tubes removed, such as the case of Schiavo, usually have a peaceful death.[58][59]

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by queenofswords


Her son will not "starve" to death over a period of weeks. He will die by dehydration, which shouldn't take any more than about 3 days. He will have terrible headaches and joint pain but these can be easily managed by medication.

Just saying.

I fully agree that no mother or loved should have to make this decision. We need an orderly debate on the issue of euthanasia. It would be so much easier for the loved ones, if they knew that the victim died peacefully.

This is going to become a real issue as baby boomers age. We need, as a society, to discuss the issue of keeping people alive in a vegetative state and whether we can truly afford that luxury. Unfortunately, many people feel that they have the right to demand that society sustain life as long as there is a beating heart, no matter the age and condition of the patient.

This is a hard hard issue to debate.

Tired of Control Freaks.

We treat animals better than we do ourselves. I'm sure if her son was able to make the decision to end his life he would. Why do we feel it's so terrible to put humans out of their pain and misery quickly, but don't think twice when an animal is in the same situation. Euthanasia should be legal.

If this situation has never been a part of your life, you really should have no opinion. This kind of thing is where people shout from the rooftops, "If it was ME, I'd..." and they are speaking out of their a**.

Anyone saying such a thing is totally and unequivocally GUESSING, what they would do, yet, remarkably, they KNOW what others should be doing without hesitation. Talk about detachment from reality.

The only people who should have any opinion, and therefor any input on policy, are people who have had to deal with such an issue, because "pretend" connection is gibberish not worth listening to. And before people shout, "wait, i have a right to my belief..." consider that it is not a belief based on actual experience, but a belief based on speculation. Please define what a belief based on speculation is. Define what a belief based on experience is.

Oddly enough, those same people who are sure their speculative belief is fact, don't usually have any firm beliefs on how nuclear reactors really should work, or how open heart surgery should be altered, or how cars can easily improve mileage - things they know nothing about either. It takes a truly evolved person to say, "gee, I don't have any experience with that so I can't comment."

People who deal with this daily, for a living, and those who have experienced it, first hand, have a deep understanding based on actual tangible, measurable experience and there is simply no substitute for it. Yet, I am astounded how people who have no experience with much of anything at all are experts in everything and are seemingly in charge of policy. We have a local politician who has been in office for some 30 years, he's never had a real job of any kind, yet he's an expert in how to run a business.

reply to post by WozaMeathed

When my mother was diagnosed with early alzheimers she had a document drawn up. She was a registered nurse in the geriatric ward for a lot of years. This document stated that when she no longer remembered how to swallow she was NOT to be put on a feeding tube. In her line of work she saw both sides of the argument and chose starvation as a way to end her suffering. It was really hard on the family to watch her go through this but it was her choice not to be kept artificially for God knows how long. She opted for death.

My heart goes out to this woman and her family!

Originally posted by EvenParanoidsHaveEnemies
This is not ok.

Starvation is a HORRIBLE way to go out!

Just for kicks, I say that if this is allowed, the mother should stop being fed for the same amount of time. If she gives in and decides she wants food, then the child should be fed as well.

Would be interesting to see how long she lasted.

Maybe you didn't read the end. It said she would rather do it with drugs while his family is at his bed side.

Yet that isn't legal, this is the only way she can do it.

How about we put your son in a coma for 6 years and see how you react to the stress when the decision is made to euthanize him. Seems you like these types of scenarios.

reply to post by queenofswords


Wiki is saying she died a peaceful death? omg what liars.

reply to post by TiredofControlFreaks


It took longer for Terri. I remamber that horrible event. People are so callous. All this self-righteous bull from the pro-euthanasia camp. And you wonder why people don't believe you when you say there's no death panels in Obamacare.

"so put that smile back on my face, and mix it strong, my friend."

Brompton Cocktail. heck yes.

Brompton cocktail, sometimes called a Brompton mixture, or, incorrectly, Brompton's cocktail, is an elixir meant for use as a pain suppressant, and dosed for prophylaxis. Made from morphine or diacetylmorphine (heroin), coc aine, highly-pure ethyl alcohol (some recipes specify gin), and sometimes with chlorpromazine (Thorazine) to counteract nausea, it was given to terminally-ill individuals (especially cancer patients) to relieve pain and promote sociability near death. A common formulation included "a variable amount of morphine, 10 mg of coc aine, 2.5 mL of 98% ethyl alcohol, 5 mL of syrup BP and a variable amount of chloroform water."1
The Brompton cocktail is named after the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, England, where it was invented in the late 1920s for patients with tuberculosis. While its use is rare in the 21st century, it is not unheard of. It was far more common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original idea for an oral mixture of morphine and coc aine helping patients in agony with advanced disease is credited to surgeon Dr Herbert Snow in 1896.

en.wikipedia.org...

I'm all for it. that's just CRUEL to make someone starve to death. but they're a vegetable, there's no hope. so, starve him or pay for the care, to keep him brain dead for as long as possible. so they get more money.

who knows, maybe they even experiment on them or something... (random thought.)

I'm pro choice for assisted suicide. Dr. Kevorkian was right. I think it should be an option. especially in a situation like this.

If he's been in a vegetative state since 06 due to severe head and brain trauma, the man is dead. He's gone, he's been gone for 6 years. Keeping him 'alive' via mechanical means is beyond cruel. Cruel to him, cruel to his family.

I don't think there is any reason to believe that any of us currently know what kind of awareness a person in a coma has. I for one, would rather be left connected to the machines until death is clearly verified. I imagine that awareness varies greatly, depending on the type of injury or trauma that leads to the coma state.

I imagine science is getting closer to answering these questions, but I've seen no hard facts.

reply to post by tamusan


agreed. sorry. I didn't read it right. I was thinking the kid was braindead. just skimmed.

in this situation, I agree.

when you've got vegetables that have been taking residence in the hospital for 20 years.. then.. that's when you need to make a decision.

reply to post by novemberecho


It's the stories that I've read where people suddenly wake up from a coma, after years or decades. I was in a coma caused by a reaction to a chemotherapy agent. It stopped my heart and put me out. I forget how long I was in a coma, but it was merely a few days at most.

I have no recollection, of my awareness, during the time I spent in a coma.