*There is absolutely no pun intended here.
Since the release of Terri Schievo's autopsy findings, AM-Talk Radio hosts have started to run with this non-story again. As a healthcare professional for many years, I was dumbfounded with the media attention to this case in the first place. It all seemed so clear cut. A young woman arrests. She is resuscitated and left in a vegetative state secondary to anoxic encepholopathy. The family maintained hope for meaningful recovery for many years until the husband, Michael, decides he wants to let go and get on with what is left of the rest of his life. The parents, who have made Terri their life, desperately want to maintain the status quo. If she should pass away they, as a couple, would have no life at all. The siblings don't want to deal with their parents grief so they want Terri kept on support. Everybody goes to court and the judge rules in favor of the husband. Case closed, right? Wrong.
I had a revalation one day. Woman in her 80's. Stroke, unresponsive, entubated, vent, infections. The alternatives were trach/peg/nursing home; or, remove support/hospice. She had a middle age son who had been living with her and was her only relative. We explained the options to him. He stood there in front of his mother and looked at her for about 3-4 minutes. Then he said "Boy, this is really going to change my life." That's when it hit me . . . it's all about the survivors. You can debate all you want but I will firmly maintain that when people say that they want everything done for a patient that has had everything done and is not responding to treatment; is only doing it for themselves. It's all about them. You know what . . . and that's alright with me. They are the ones that have to live with their decision, not me.
What really gets me, is despicable radio talk show hosts saying that it is wrong to let nature take its course and that the rights of a husband is subordinate to parents and siblings and whoever wants to put in their two cents. The denigration of a man that only wants closure and to allow his wife to finally rest in peace, is what is wrong with this picture. And what is so seriously wrong, is that once the elections were over and talk radio had nothing to talk about, that they would latch onto this sad and intensely personal event and use it only to maintain their ratings. It's one thing for family members to act this way but for strangers to do it is unconscionable.
O_S
Since the release of Terri Schievo's autopsy findings, AM-Talk Radio hosts have started to run with this non-story again. As a healthcare professional for many years, I was dumbfounded with the media attention to this case in the first place. It all seemed so clear cut. A young woman arrests. She is resuscitated and left in a vegetative state secondary to anoxic encepholopathy. The family maintained hope for meaningful recovery for many years until the husband, Michael, decides he wants to let go and get on with what is left of the rest of his life. The parents, who have made Terri their life, desperately want to maintain the status quo. If she should pass away they, as a couple, would have no life at all. The siblings don't want to deal with their parents grief so they want Terri kept on support. Everybody goes to court and the judge rules in favor of the husband. Case closed, right? Wrong.
I had a revalation one day. Woman in her 80's. Stroke, unresponsive, entubated, vent, infections. The alternatives were trach/peg/nursing home; or, remove support/hospice. She had a middle age son who had been living with her and was her only relative. We explained the options to him. He stood there in front of his mother and looked at her for about 3-4 minutes. Then he said "Boy, this is really going to change my life." That's when it hit me . . . it's all about the survivors. You can debate all you want but I will firmly maintain that when people say that they want everything done for a patient that has had everything done and is not responding to treatment; is only doing it for themselves. It's all about them. You know what . . . and that's alright with me. They are the ones that have to live with their decision, not me.
What really gets me, is despicable radio talk show hosts saying that it is wrong to let nature take its course and that the rights of a husband is subordinate to parents and siblings and whoever wants to put in their two cents. The denigration of a man that only wants closure and to allow his wife to finally rest in peace, is what is wrong with this picture. And what is so seriously wrong, is that once the elections were over and talk radio had nothing to talk about, that they would latch onto this sad and intensely personal event and use it only to maintain their ratings. It's one thing for family members to act this way but for strangers to do it is unconscionable.
O_S