Thread: life support

Kaytee, if he was in a coma for a few months and then has recovered at much as he did, he really beat the odds. The longer a person is in a coma, the chance of them coming back become slimer and slimer. When in a coma, I am sure there is a point in time where the odds start to decline pretty rapidly, say, maybe after 3-4 months, the chances drop from 50% to under 5%. So what does a family do when there is is still some hope, but that hope is pretty close to zero? Pretty tough when there even a small chance.

There is also the quality of life to consider, but that become a judgement call too.

there is a line. I'm not saying that life support is best always. I don't know what I personally would do, but its in my head that when docs say "its over" how do you believe them when they would have puilled the plug on my dad and he would have been dead.

And Neal: it was a slow recovery yet fast too. I beleieve he was i na coma for around 6 or 8 weeks. Its been a long time so I don' tremember the dates well. He was in the rehab hospital for like a month. When he came home he could walk and talk again. Reading, writing things like that were a bit slower to get back. And as I said his short term memory is shot. It was already pretty bad due to the Agent Orange.

To me life support was an invention of man but God allowed man to make that invention it has its uses and it can be overused as well. Like almost every other thing in the world.

Like I mentioned before if there is brain activity that person is still living and fighting and to stop support at that time would be the same as killing them in my mind. I personally dont want to live the rest of my life with the fact that I allowed someone to die when I could have saved them.

Originally Posted by Kaytee

And Neal: it was a slow recovery yet fast too. I beleieve he was i na coma for around 6 or 8 weeks. Its been a long time so I don' tremember the dates well. He was in the rehab hospital for like a month. When he came home he could walk and talk again. Reading, writing things like that were a bit slower to get back. And as I said his short term memory is shot. It was already pretty bad due to the Agent Orange.

Very cool that he survived and is doing reasonably well considering.

From what I learned, what you describe as far as recovery is pretty typical for those who do come out of a coma with conscious awareness (think and make decisions). The HBO documentry I watched had 1-2 people who were pretty bad off too and it was expected they would never fully recover and require various levels of support all their life.

I think it all depends on the persons wishes, the professional advice from doctors (even if you get 2 referrals).

If (god forbid) this were to happen to DH or one of my kids, and they knew there was nothing left to do, then it would be a hard decision, but i would have to do what i had to do........

UGH i can't even start to think of that.......