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

[Evan88]

No... I dont wanna prolong the agony..

[NerdyGiant]

That's a legal battle happening with a girl close to where I live. The family is keeping her alive even though she was pronounced brain dead.

If I was brain dead, pull the plug immediately. I would be a burden and that is the last thing I'd ever want to be to anyone.

If I was in a coma though and things looked promising, that's a different story. Keep me alive for 6 months in a coma if recovery is promising with little to no adverse effects after waking up. If it seems like I would still be able to function after waking up from a coma, keep me alive for 6 months.

But if I was brain dead, pull the plug.

[Eth21]

That's a legal battle happening with a girl close to where I live. The family is keeping her alive even though she was pronounced brain dead.

If I was brain dead, pull the plug immediately. I would be a burden and that is the last thing I'd ever want to be to anyone.

If I was in a coma though and things looked promising, that's a different story. Keep me alive for 6 months in a coma if recovery is promising with little to no adverse effects after waking up. If it seems like I would still be able to function after waking up from a coma, keep me alive for 6 months.

But if I was brain dead, pull the plug.

Good point for the record if I was in a coma I wouldn't want the plug pulling but if I was clinically brain dead then by all means switch them off.

[Tim18]

No, I would not want my body keep alive by machines.

[James]

If the brain shows no activity, and breathing is only possible with a machine, as breathing is a function of the brain stem not the brain, pull the life support, if I am meant to live I will recover, Jim

[nu2this]

I wouldnt want to be a vegetable

[nu2this]

That's a legal battle happening with a girl close to where I live. The family is keeping her alive even though she was pronounced brain dead.

If I was brain dead, pull the plug immediately. I would be a burden and that is the last thing I'd ever want to be to anyone.

If I was in a coma though and things looked promising, that's a different story. Keep me alive for 6 months in a coma if recovery is promising with little to no adverse effects after waking up. If it seems like I would still be able to function after waking up from a coma, keep me alive for 6 months.

But if I was brain dead, pull the plug.

Yep Nerdy, and her Mom is bringing her home, and will have to accept all liabilities, including if her daughter goes into cardiac arrest, how sad though, she only had tonsil surgery, wtf?

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Clinically brain dead, and assuming the body does not need a lot of machines keeping it 'alive' there is a 90 hold policy where the body is fed to see if it will get over itself and start thinking. If so, its a win. If not then the body can be sustained for an additional 90 days for the purposes of tissue and organ donation. That is a 6 month period before they are supposed to stop feeding it and let nature take its course. Of course I hope what actually happens is after 3 months they body is donated out to so many people there is nothing left for the body to continue functioning and it dies as a matter of course of saving other lives.

Clinically brain dead and on several/many life support machines, the body gets 30 days to get its act together and start functioning on its own and thinking. If it flat refuses, it goes on the butcher block to be reduced to tissues and organs with a 60 day period for full harvesting (and yes keeping it alive through that process). Not under the costs of me or my 'family' but via the costs of the hospital or medical folk who may feel a need to keep this particular body going for donor material.

In both instances what is left can be had for free to further medical science. Or hopefully, to be used for some horribly prank by medical students - I'll enjoy the joke.

What prompted me to have my body tissues available for a period of time after being pronounced brain dead is from reading things like this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22194439 where its pointed out that living bodies make far, far better donors than dead ones. with careful management the resource can be better utilized to affect the lives of many more patients.

To me the issue is not quantity of life, but quality of life. I do not want to end up oh being a burden to strangers, or being kept in a nursing home on a feeding tube watching TV that someone else decides which channels I watch.

Even if there is a 'miracle' recovery from brain death, the reality is that most cases are severely brain damaged. That isn't a very quality way of life.

When I got my advanced health care directive in order it was when I was in a partnership before Domestic Partnerships allowed same gender partners to make decisions for their partner. That is when I discovered that my then partner had 'issues' with tissue donation and allowing people to pass of this mortal coil.

If I had my way the body would be sustained indefinitely to provide tissues for as long as possible. The 6 month limit is only for the 'feelings' of others who most likely will want closure and to bury 'something' to put a definite end to 'This is when David Died'.

[Lilitu]

I've had nightmares about being in a vegetative state... it's one of my worst fears: being unresponsive but 'alive'.

What if you're conscious still, and you can think but can't sense? Oh my god that's actually the scariest thing I can imagine. It's the closest thing to hell I can imagine. I can only imagine it being something like non-existence. You'd just be completely alone, with nothing but thoughts.

No way, if I'm ever that close to death just push me over the threshold. It's much better for everyone that way.

In a way I guess that's what I imagine limbo to be. If so, it's far worse than any hell.

[Jovial]

Already brain dead… so just pull the plug, could even do it now if you wish.