They Watched Their Child Starve to Death. For Compassion.

Devil Ledbetter said:

If she was in a persistent vegetative state, would she even experience hunger?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure there's a way to actually answer this. Medical science can make its best judgment based on observational data, but vegetative states aren't the same as brain death. There are still working nerve impulses and autonomic functions.

People who wake up from comas sometimes wake-up hungry, but that doesn't mean they felt hunger while they were unconscious. It also doesn't mean they didn't feel it.

I hate stories like this. The next of kin need options, so they're given options between suffering in form A or suffering in form B.

cornflake said:

There's a huge gulf between brain dead and vegetative. Taking a brain dead patient off life support is what it is. There's arguably not possibility of euthanasia in that sort of case. You can't kill what's dead.

Vegetative states are an entirely different matter.

Click to expand...

I know there's a big difference between the two conditions. But the fact remains the same: if a family is allowed by the law and doctors to take a vegetative patient off of medical support so that they can die, then euthanizing them isn't really any different.

DancingMaenid said:

I know there's a big difference between the two conditions. But the fact remains the same: if a family is allowed by the law and doctors to take a vegetative patient off of medical support so that they can die, then euthanizing them isn't really any different.

Click to expand...

To be fair, it's asking someone to take an active part in the process, rather than allowing them to pass from lack of nutrition. I'm still unsure how many families would choose to make that decision, rather than hoping for a miracle during the days it takes for them to finally fail.

A very tough decision and a thorny dilemma for our societies.