Pjjjjjjj [not for the first time] beat me to the punch: we haven't any idea whether a single charge made by the plaintiff in this lawsuit is even remotely true. Aside from her claims, the only statements in the article are from 'experts' [I think that just means they replied to the reporter's request for a comment] who have zero involvement in the case, and don't even agree on the best way to handle end of life decisions. I wouldn't jump to any conclusion after hearing only one side of the story - or more accurately, allegations.
A conversation on end of life decisions is long overdue in America, because of the technology that can prolong lives, and the ever increasing costs of doing so - we need to take a look at how much [intervention] is 'too much' and it won't be a pleasant conversation, but it needs to be done at some point, methinks.
From personal experience, I suspect that in this case, keeping the patient alive would have been cruel, indeed. One of the patients I cared for [on a Trauma Unit] was a bilateral amputee, and what he suffered, in weeks of learning to transfer bed to chair & back again, was agonizing to watch - can't imagine how it felt to experience it. And the thing is, he was young, strong, in excellent health, [a motor vehicle accident crushed his legs], and had a pretty high tolerance for pain, but the ordeal of moving often brought him to howl in anguish. How much worse would it be for an elderly man, in poor health? I'm sure that it was explained to the patient and his daughter, and they just didn't accept it, as most of us wouldn't. Reality often bites, but denial isn't a good coping method, ok? Assuming he survived, he would have required around the clock aides to effect the movement he would require, but be incapable of managing, because 'bedsores' can quickly kill an elderly diabetic pretty quickly. [Cost aside, many folks value their privacy highly, and wouldn't want to have someone placing them on & off the bedpan for the rest of their life.]
Reading between the lines of this woman's account, I see the denial - and I understand it, because no one wants to give up, or let go, especially on behalf of someone they love dearly, but grief makes some pretty poor decisions.
Medical professionals are often content to leave the decision to the family, [avoiding the messy, emotional drama], but are the family members capable of making the best decision for their loved one? Under the influence of the most powerful emotions humans experience: love, grief, and guilt, they will almost invariably make the choice to 'do whatever can be done to save my loved one', thus killing three beastly buzzards with one stone: demonstrating their great love, assuaging the guilt they'd feel if they did otherwise, and delaying [however briefly] the grief that no one wants to feel.
But is it the decision the patient would make for himself, if he truly understood what to expect?
I wonder.....
