re: #269 reine.de.tout

Kansas - I had the same issues with my parents. With my father, who refused to eat, had senile dementia, and was obviously dying, I decided to withhold a feeding tube which may or may not have prolonged his life. And we had hospice care at the very end, to ensure he was comfortable.

With my mom, who was on machines but had essentially died, I made the decision to remove the medication that was artificially keeping her blood pressure up to a level they could consider “alive”.

In neither case would the care they were receiving have prolonged life.

Removing (or denying) artificial means of “life” when a person is obviously not able to survive (or is considered alive only because they are being kept so artificially) is a different thing entirely than withholding treatment that will cure a person (or allow him/her to live a productive life), and different than giving a person a drug or treatment that will shorten the person’s life.

Sounds like our experiences were similar. But that last word you used. “Life.” My Mom did not have what she or I considered to be a life yet was forced to endure. Early on in the process she had a heart attack and they called and asked my permission to transport her. I was ignorant and said of course. The surgeon came out and recommended we not do that again. I could have saved her 4 years of hell if I would have just said, no.