Life Support Spinoff.... POLL!!!

[yellowbo]

I was reading with interest the Jesse Ramirez thread and got to thinking, I wonder if we have a living will, stating to pull the plug, is that suicide?

I have instruction's to only keep me alive for 5 days if on complete support, meaning no systems. But Ya know, I wonder if that is wrong to make that choice?

What are your feelings.. This is a multiple choice private poll. The first 3 poll answers coincide with the first question, the second set of 3 answers coincide with the second question.

[tenn4ever]

This is a very difficult question because you get into the different kinds of life support(how much). My mom could breath on her own but because of a severe hemorrhagic stroke and some late stage dementia that's all she could do on her own. She could not speak at all, could not move one side of her body at all, she could not sit up at all (and of course could not walk), she appeared to know none of us. Her eyes were open and she would look around. She could not swallow anything - even water. The decision had to be made whether to put a feeding tube in her stomach. We made the decision to put it in and have never regretted it even though she did live 3 years after that. She was in a nursing home for over three years before she passed away of pneumonia. The thing about it, she had pneumonia three other times before that and completely pulled through without anything but antibiotics and a little oxygen. (We had already made the decision - no ventilator and no paddles).

My dad went to her nursing home room every single day for those three years at 8:30 in the morning and stayed until 8:00 at night except for an hour or hour and a half at lunch. He only missed four days during that three year period to have a kidney removed for cancer. At least one of us (their children) went everyday too for a couple hours to keep him company. This was a great time of service which I think was a lesson from God. Our mother had been one of the truest servents. Who is to say what we all learned during that three year period?

[professor h]

I would say that if a machine is performing the involuntary essential functions of life for you (i.e. breathing, circulation), then it's time to go.

[tenn4ever]

I would say that if a machine is performing the involuntary essential functions of life for you (i.e. breathing, circulation), then it's time to go.

Do you put in a feeding tube if a person can't eat but can breathe on their own? That was a question we were presented with in our mom's case. Without it we would have been active in starving her to death. The doctors told us they could give her morphine so she would not be aware of the pain and discomfort but we couldn't see doing that. We did tell them we would not use a ventilator which would have meant a machine was breathing for her and we would not use paddles if her heart stopped.

[professor h]

I guess I could speculate all I want, but until I'm in that situation it would be really hard to say for sure.

If I had to rationalize, I'd say give me the feeding tube. Babies can't feed themselves either, but are fully capable of breathing on their own.

that's just talk though, hardly a well reasoned answer.

[Old 33]

Perhaps you should edit the poll. It's confusing as worded...

are insturctions to pull the plug suicide?/ do you want the plug pulled?
I wanted to vote "No" to the first question, and "Yes" to the second question.

[yellowbo]

Perhaps you should edit the poll. It's confusing as worded...


I wanted to vote "No" to the first question, and "Yes" to the second question.

No, you got it right. I clarified in my post how it is broken up. It is a multiple choice poll, you can answer to more then one question.

[Caver]

No, pulling the plug is not suicide in my opinion and yes, I want the plug pulled. Give me, say, a day to stabilize and if I can't make it on my own, I think its time to go.

That's me, not you. I'm older, I've lived most of my life. I think pulling the plug is a personal, not biblical, decision. Unless someone shows me something I'm not aware of, I don't see any biblical guidance on this.

[lisa]

Pull the plug! Let my family grieve and get over it... I don't want to drain them emotionally or financially. And for goodness sake, pull the plug so my poor DH can cash in on the life insurance and pay off the mortgage.

[tenn4ever]

Make sure you put it in writing.:)