If you're on 100% oxgen and a respirator because the oxgen isn't enough, terminally ill and doped up on so much medicine that you're paralyzed and comatose, are you technically gone? Has your soul left it's "shell" if you will?
A lady at work who's delt with much sorrow watching countless family members die a heart-breaking, cancerous death said she's seen this particular scenario before and know's at that point it's no longer them. Their soul is gone. At least according to her. I've never given much thought to this, as I've never had to experience the loss of someone I've been close to.
*Just to clarify (and this is my understanding), when someone is on 100% oxgen they are no longer able to breath on their own. And when they're on 100% oxgen combined with a respirator then the once sufficient oxygen has no longer become enough. If you were to pull the plug the patient would die within seconds. They wouldn't even have time to wake up. Without the oxygen they would be dead.*
Any thoughts????
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
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5 comments:
you should read some mya angelou. she is good. also, i like shirley jackson's short stories..a bit odd..but they are great!
Thanks Maria...why does the name Mya Angelou sound so familiar to me???? Hmmmm....I will add them to my list :)
Jess - she's a famous writer/poet - excellent work! Also, Oprah is a huge fan of her and she's been on a few times...might have seen her there.
http://www.mayaangelou.com/
Euthanasia is, I think, one of the most difficult issues of our times b/c there are so many different types and b/c of technological advances. Basically, we can keep people 'alive' today forever, but are they really alive. Isn't keeping someone 'alive' in that sense just as much playing God as 'suicide' or 'active-euthanasia' would be? They are tough questions.
In the case you are talking about, assuming all the comments you made are medically accurate, and if the doctors have said there is no coming improvements, pulling the plug would seem to be in the best interest of mercy.
Also, here's some notes I put together on the subject
http://knewkingdom.blogspot.com/2006/07/euthanasia.html
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