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Ron Bailey considers the tragic case of Tirhas Habtegiris and asks: In end-of-life care, who decides when enough is enough?
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Dave W.|2.10.06 @ 9:10AM|#
Good article. Hadn't heard about this.
|2.10.06 @ 9:37AM|#
27-year-old abdominal cancer patient was conscious and did not wish to be disconnected...
died 16 minutes after the ventilator was shut off on
|2.10.06 @ 9:48AM|#
God himself tells me when it's time to pull the plug, and I hope that evil-doer Hansen doesn't get in the way.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/10/science/10nasa.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1139547600&en=28f8de061c9195f4&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin
|2.10.06 @ 9:50AM|#
I would have been worse!
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2006/02/10/people-at-nasa-must-be-breathing-a-sigh-of-relief/
|2.10.06 @ 9:53AM|#
Ron, interesting article - food for thought.
Did her mother make it in time? From your report, it seems as though the patient wasn't asking for infinite care, just enough to see her mother once more.
|2.10.06 @ 10:19AM|#
As someone who is very conscious of his mortality, I joke with my friends that the whole U.S. gross domestic product should be spent keeping me alive when I fall ill.
You were joking?
|2.10.06 @ 10:33AM|#
In end-of-life care, who decides when enough is enough?
He who pays the piper calls the tune.
|2.10.06 @ 10:50AM|#
The Europeans have some curious attitudes too.
My father, who lives in Belgium, was recently hospitalised with severe breathing problems. When after a few days his condition continued to deteriorate, his wife questioned the attending physician. After some evasiveness on his part, he remarked that, after all, my father is 78 years old and no longer works, so treatment would have to be "different". She read him the riot act and my father improved after some more attentive treatment.
They don't come right out and are not backed by written public policy, but I have long suspected, based on observation, that the opinion of the younger people is: "Well, he is old and unproductive, had a good long life, there is only so much we should be doing."
Two generations later the lessons of the 20th century in Europe disappear into oblivion.
|2.10.06 @ 3:05PM|#
Hey That's Murder -
Taking my money to pay for someone else's life-support (effectively robbing me of being able to pay for mine own)...that's murder AND theft.
|2.10.06 @ 4:26PM|#
Offtopic, but it seems that the dropdown box in the previous thread is preventing comments from being recorded.
|2.13.06 @ 12:11PM|#
I don't know what the right way to think about this case is. I just hope that our elected officials will do the right thing and create a new law about it. You know, like they usually do, the kind without the unintended consequences.
|2.13.06 @ 12:15PM|#
Terri's parents offered to pay for her care. That eliminated the economic question, and made it easy for the Right to support them.
This is an ugly case, but it's the logical outcome of a finite healthcare budget.