Would you want to live if........

[MisterTinkles]

Well, I wasn't meaning people who have aged to the extent of not taking care of themselves anymore.

I was meaning more of like, if you were just admitted to the hospital and became brain "non responsive" or "brain dead".........would you want to be on life support for a while or not at all?

[LONDONER]

I mean, it's not like I'm consciously aware of my horrible quality of life, but I've made prior commitments, so it's not an option I can choose.

How do you know you wouldn't be conscious of what is going on around you? Some (very few) people who have come out of coma after years, have said that they have been consious all the time.

[LONDONER]

Well, I wasn't meaning people who have aged to the extent of not taking care of themselves anymore.

I was meaning more of like, if you were just admitted to the hospital and became brain "non responsive" or "brain dead".........would you want to be on life support for a while or not at all?

Once again, NO, not under any circumstance.

[HumbleTangerine]

I'd want the plug to be removed.

[Edward]

It's not life. If your brain is dead, you are basically dead. So what's the point of hanging to a bunch of machines.

[Woollyhats]

How do you know you wouldn't be conscious of what is going on around you? Some (very few) people who have come out of coma after years, have said that they have been consious all the time.

Well that's terrifying. I guess that's why people read stories and have on sided conversations with people in comas sometimes. I wonder if there should be some kind of test for consciousness for people who are self aware during comas; it strikes me as unfortunate that people who are comatose but aware get to hear medical decisions being made around them while not being able to offer input.

I googled this because of your post, and there was one story I found where a man was presumed unconscious for 20 years. When they gave him a computer to talk through, he said, “I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me – it was my second birth. I want to read, talk with my fiends via the computer and enjoy my life now that people know I am not dead.”

Seems horrible, I wonder if there is a procudure to test for things like this in Canada.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/663815...nd-me.html

[southbiochem]

let me see....low chance of recovery, increasing expenses in hospital care for the families not to mention the emotional distress...

nope...sir, you may pull the plug on me if go like that...

maybe, and only maybe, if the family has the resources, you can wait a month, but if after such period nor progress has been seen, finish me up will you?

[justbry87]

If I were to be in that situation I would've probably already
have in paper that if it would come to it, to just pull the plug.

Mostly so that it'd still be my decision in the end and not my
family. A lot of problems arise when families are put in that situation.
I remember when I worked at the home, there'd be a lot of angry
family members cause one family member wants their poor old mother
to stay in life support, and another family member wants the plug pulled.

In the off chance that I do wake up, I probably won't be the same. I'd probably
need assistance to do my everyday routine and I'd rather not put my family
in that situation. I'd want them to remember me as the person I am and not
the vegetable that I'd become..

..just me two cents though~

[VileKyle]

That's not living. Pull the plug on me for sure.

[partis]

I know some brain dead people that live, it would be cruel to kill them…