In my own personal viewpoint, if I turn out to be a vegetable, I’d want my relatives to pull the plug.
How did he go 8-10 minutes without oxygen? Was there no supervision? How deep was the pool?
Ping....
A travesty.
America is dying.
Ping to a Schaivo like situation.
http://content.times-herald.com/292194643543055.bsp
Like the Laura Laughlin case, another quiet instance on starvation and dehydration has taken place somewhere in our country.
A while back, there was another disabled young woman named Laura Laughlin in Missouri. She was very similiar to Terri Schiavo and died not too long ago.
It was rumored that husband pulled her feeding tube and she starved and dehydrated her death but this was not confirmed. It unknown how exactly Laura Laughlin died.
It would be a surprise if she was starved and dehydrated to death given that her web site was receiving quite a bit of attention.
Nevertheless, the husband has done good by starting a nice foundation in Laura Laughlin’s Memory. It has gotten off to a good start and will continue to fund research to help brain injured patients.
Another person who was cognitively disabled has been Debbie Rich.
She received brain damage from a car accident in 2003.
Addition, Debbie also received severe damage to her lungs which was the primary cause of her death.
Reading the posts, the husband took good care of her for 4 years and never left her side. He provided Debbie with therapy right to the end.
Fortunately, Debbie was not starved and dehydrated to death; a method of death that has been deemed morally and medically unacceptable by a large number of people.
However, the husband did give up his efforts and did begin to think of Debbie’s wishes.
In his posts, I believe the care just became too burdensome.
The lung damage was the real problem rather than her brain damage.
Below is the last post:
DEBBIE’S FINAL JOURNEY
July 8, 2007
This morning at 12:27 am I lost a great mother of two kids,
wife, and the best friend I will ever have. Debbie pasted away at her
home with Krystal, Janet, Helen, Gerald, and I at her bed side. It all
started around 7:00 pm with heavy breathing noises and her
oxygen level dropped to 30%. We all got closer and held hands
with Debbie for thirty minutes then Debbie’s stats got better. I
learned tonight that people do not just pass away. It took over 5
hours for the whole process to take place.
Remember, all brain injuries are different. Debbie had a lung
issue that cost her life. After Debbie’s funeral, I will finish the web
page and if only one person’s life is helped, it will be all worth it.
We want to thank everyone for their support and prayers through
out the past 4 years.
-Jerrall
Please keep Debbie Rich in your prayers.
So far 2 people have gone who had major websites: Laura Laughlin and Debbie Rich.
4 other people still needs prayers on hope and encouragement:
Chris Barnes - http://chrisbarnes.blogharbor.com/
Tori Schmanski - http://pray4tori.com/
Michael Mobely - http://www.justiceformichael.com/index.html
Kathleen Davey - http://www.getwellkathleen.us/index.htm
All 4 of these individuals have the same things in common:
They all have anoxic brain damage.
They have dependance on a feeding tube (not 100%).
They are all cognivtely impaired and similiar to Terri Schiavo.
They have all had Stem Cell Therapy from China.
They all need prayers, financial help and medical help.
More time and energy need to be put into caring for these individuals.
The people I mentioned are greatly disabled. They are alive because they have loving guardians that allow them to stay alive. However, as time passes that could change if the guardian doesn’t see the improvement they want to see or if their care becomes too burdonsome to live with. In that case, there is nothing that can stop the guardians from advocating for their deaths. These people are vulnerable and some legal instrument needs to be in force to protect them.
I predict about 5,000 posts to this thread by the end. A few suspensins and maybe a couple bannings, too.
I think the mother was in a better situation then anyone else to know how long to let this go on.
God Bless her.
A few important points:
1) Dehydration” is definitely NOT the same as “pulling the plug.” Dehydration-killing is the deliberate killing of a person by denying them a basic human need-water. “Pulling the plug” is withdrawal of life-sustaining equipment.
2) Dehydration is extremely painful to anyone who has any sensation whatsoever, even if they are judged to be “comatose.”
2) “Comatose” is a word for “we don’t know what their brain is doing.” Many, many people who have “awakened” from a “coma” knew and felt what was happening to them while they were unable to respond.
3) Comatose people don’t smile. Their faces might however be seen to grimace as the muscles contract from dehydration.
bump