Posted on 12/30/2013 4:47:11 PM PST by Morgana
I wish I had been older at the time. No... a coma isn’t the same as being brain-dead... but the docs were telling my uncle that she was beyond hope and they felt they should cease the life-support.
Removal of tonsils and adenoids is protocol for childhood sleep apnea. The c-pap mask is not the first option. If the child is overweight (like this poor soul) then the doc should make that the first protocol, followed by the mask. It’s frightening that the medical “profession” goes straight for surgery.
Judges didn't declare McMath dead. Doctors did. All of them. And a coroner.
Clarification for my post 22: By “that” I mean weight loss.
Dr. Alexander went into a meningitis-induced coma. Parts of his brain shut down, or went "off-line."
He was never declared brain dead. His brain was still functioning, still receiving oxygen. There's a world of difference between Dr. Alexander's condition and that of Jahi McMath, for whom there is no brain activity whatsoever.
That is so not true. Her heart is beating. She is not dead.
The concept of 'brain dead' is a new concept. It was developed to help families cope with the sorrow of organ donation. Families were able to give permission to donate organs if they were told the loved one was dead.
Yes, exactly. This dispute was almost certainly kicked off by the hospital's high-handed and supremely arrogant behavior toward this family.
Having been on the wrong end of such officious treatment by doctors and hospitals myself, I understand how this family feels. Many families are quickly cowed into submitting to having the plug pulled prematurely on a loved one. But every once in awhile, some relative will stand up and say "Like hell you won't!"
I wonder if there was a "transplant team" lurking in the background, just waiting to swoop in and "harvest" the girl's organs?
That is often the motivation behind hospital pressuring parents into too-hastily consigning their children to death.
And how many people know that the definition of "brain death" was conjured up just in the last few decades ... for the very purpose of promoting transplantion of "fresh" organs from still-living patients (i.e., still alive, by the traditional definition of death).
Such a rosy picture is painted by the organ transplant industry, that few people know the ugly truth about what actually happens when organs are "harvested" from a patient who has been declared "brain dead" (who, at that point, ceases to be considered a patient).
As the transplant surgeons cut into the un-anesthetized patient's donor's vital organs, his or her body often thrashes about violently ... even a "brain dead" patient resists this atrocious assault on his or her body.
Okay. I’m just saying that miracles can happen.
Might have been the parent’s choice.
"Brain dead" is not a new concept. It has been around for at least 45 years.
My local California paper reported the cost is $10,000/day.
I was researching childhood sleep apnea because my son (who is actually very skinny) snores so badly. That’s when I learned that anesthetizing a small body then slicing and dicing is the first protocol. I’m appalled by that. If my son does have this issue I will insist on other options and not slicing and dicing; however, some parents might want what they think is a quick fix. Perhaps this poor soul’s parents wanted the quick fix instead of stepping up, being parents, and cooking good food and exercising with the child (if her sleep apnea was weight related).
Not to people in Jahi's condition.
And this is part of the problem. Everyone is filling this family up with false hope, with anecdotes of loved ones who miraculously pulled through. But these tales were of people who weren't brain dead! This girl's brain is quickly turning into putrefied jelly. She is NOT coming back.
The only thing that is taking place is a media circus pressuring the hospital to continue ventilating a corpse at great expense on a machine that could otherwise be used to actually save someone else's life.
No it is not. One who is in a coma can have brain activity. One who is brain dead will have no electrical evidence on testing. The brain ceases to function and without mechanical support by way of ventilator, the body will stop functioning as well. When the ventilator is turned off, there could still be a heart beat for a short time and other organs may function but it will stop, all functions and systems will shut down.
My husband was not in the actua ICU, he was in an acute care room one the med surg floor and our charge for each day was 12,000+ per day. I too am in CA.
There is no one definition. There is no consensus. "Brain dead" varies in different countries.
It's fine with me if you are willing to donate your organs while you are "brain dead" according to one of the many definitions and according to whatever definition the doctor attending you is using.
let her family pay as well....
I am not in support of the ghouls in organ donation.
I understand why they are interested in pushing the button for harvesting her for valuable parts to save others. But that’s not what I’m talking about.
She’s been on life support for a week, and in that time, I would hope that they have tested her repeatedly (daily?) for brain function.
Think of it like a PC, the CPU is fried, and it won’t pass POST. Yet the power supply still works...should I leave it plugged in hoping that it will somehow start up again ?
That’s kinda where we’re at here.
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