J
justlikeawoman
Guest
Just thought I would post this.
Last Friday we got a message that somebody we know had taken an overdose.
The person managed to get themselves to the hospital where treatment was being administered during the course of the treatment their heart stopped.
I think, and I dont know for certain, that the person concerned was "dead" for more than three to four minutes however, they were put on a life support machine.
There ensued a flurry of activity were the hospital staff then needed to contact a member of family, of which we are not, so that the life support machine could be switched off. The person on the life support machine is apparently brain damaged and in a vegetative state.
My personal sense of anger at this is quite high. I dont understand it. It makes a sense of mockery of what I believe the medical profession is about.
People who are alive and need help and treatment can not get it because there are no beds. Then the dead are raised to life but they are not really alive so kept in suspended amination while somebody can say "turn off the machine".
Apparently a new law came into use last week or the week before regarding people on life support - you need a family member to say that the machine can be turned off.
I am not against life support used in the right way it is vital and wonderful. But surely, we have to be very careful not to play god with people's life and death.
I am not sure the person concerned truly meant to take their life. It is possible even if they hadnt taken an overdose that their heart would have stopped anyway even if they had been sitting at home watching the telly and having a cup of tea. May be the drugs in their system kicked in and the the heart wouldnt respond.
It is all very sad.
Just wondered what others think about it.
Death is final.



Last Friday we got a message that somebody we know had taken an overdose.
The person managed to get themselves to the hospital where treatment was being administered during the course of the treatment their heart stopped.
I think, and I dont know for certain, that the person concerned was "dead" for more than three to four minutes however, they were put on a life support machine.
There ensued a flurry of activity were the hospital staff then needed to contact a member of family, of which we are not, so that the life support machine could be switched off. The person on the life support machine is apparently brain damaged and in a vegetative state.
My personal sense of anger at this is quite high. I dont understand it. It makes a sense of mockery of what I believe the medical profession is about.
People who are alive and need help and treatment can not get it because there are no beds. Then the dead are raised to life but they are not really alive so kept in suspended amination while somebody can say "turn off the machine".
Apparently a new law came into use last week or the week before regarding people on life support - you need a family member to say that the machine can be turned off.
I am not against life support used in the right way it is vital and wonderful. But surely, we have to be very careful not to play god with people's life and death.
I am not sure the person concerned truly meant to take their life. It is possible even if they hadnt taken an overdose that their heart would have stopped anyway even if they had been sitting at home watching the telly and having a cup of tea. May be the drugs in their system kicked in and the the heart wouldnt respond.
It is all very sad.
Just wondered what others think about it.
Death is final.


