Who decides on someone's life
By shakeroo
@shakeroo (3986)
Malaysia
December 20, 2007 10:46am CST
I read this sad story about how a family in Australia lost a legal battle with the hospital to keep a family member on life support due to a car accident.
"Melo's siblings and parents maintained that he had been making progress, moving his eyes and head in response to his family's visits."
Do you think that it was the right thing to do by the hospital? Should they allow the family to decide rather than making their own decision? What if that happens to your family?
Read the sad story here: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/19/australia.life.support.ap/index.html
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7 responses
@lecanis (16647)
• Murfreesboro, Tennessee
20 Dec 07
Wow. Here it's harder to get the decision made to take someone off life support than keep them on it. I didn't know that in some countries hospitals got to decide. I think that the family or whoever the person has appointed to make medical decisions for them should get to choose. Here in the United States, we can also make those decisions for ourselves ahead of time and put them into "advance directives" that tell the doctors what we want.
Myself and my husband have actually talked about it, and either of us would rather not be on life support for an extended period. Part of it for me has to do with my religious beliefs... I'd rather just get on to the next life rather than be left lingering in a body that's doing nothing.
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@candytang (341)
• China
21 Dec 07
I think the hospital has no right to make the decision for the people.They should ask for the family's idea,and I also think hospital has responsibility to save the paitent.
Hope everybody is well and has good days everyday!
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@slico79 (212)
• Philippines
20 Dec 07
Turning off the life support is the same as killing the person using it. The hospital should have told the family that their life support can't hold on to the patient before they put it on.
They just want to get more cash out of the poor family by letting them pay dearly for their machines before they kill the patient. It's as simple as that.
@myworkid1987 (755)
• United States
21 Dec 07
i think the family should have to make the decison on taking them off life support. they are the ones paying for it so they should decide. the hospital has no right to take them off life support without the familys permission.
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@joey_matthews (8354)
•
21 Dec 07
I think it depends on the circumstances to whether or not the person should be left on life support.
If the person isn't going to recover or will be in pain for the rest of their life, i don't think its fair to keep them on life support because its only making them suffer for longer.
If the person looks like they may be well when they recover and just need time to recover properly or if they look like they are improving, i think they should be left on life support aslong as it is what the patient wanted.
~Joeys wife
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