Can someone die on life support?
Yes. All its doing is keeping the basic functions going. The brain and other organs can still give out. Brain death is very hard to quantify, as the exact point at which activity has totally ceased is impossible to identify.
Why would someone only be able to be put on life support for a week?
My friend has been in and out of the hospital with leukemia for about 2 years now. It keeps coming back and going away. She just got put on life support on Thurs they told her mom that she can only be on it for up to a week and now her mom has to make the decision to pull the plug either tomorrow or Monday. Why can she only be on it for a week when there has been people on it for longer? I really don't know all the details and have not been able to go see her since we live in a small town in Western PA she had to go to Pittsburgh where she can get the proper care she needs.
If someone is on life support and you pull the plug, would you have trouble collecting life insurance?
I didn’t.My father, in a vegetative state as his body was being eaten away by a massive infection, had left specific instructions to “pull the plug” if the situation was medically hopeless. These instructions were in the form of an “Advanced Directive,” and I had been appointed his “attorney” to see to it that it was followed.The directive was quite specific: upon a physician’s advice that the situation could not be reversed, and upon the agreement of his attending physician to the same, then at my instruction, all life support was to be withdrawn, save only for medication to relieve pain or give comfort.The physicians and I huddled together, papers were signed. “Plug was pulled.” Not by me personally, but at my specific instruction. Tubes, hoses and other equipment were pulled away, leaving only a steady drip of the “joy juice,” and the electrical connection to the vitals monitor. In a few hours, the indicants on the monitor told the story; heart rate declined, and blood pressure. Oxygen saturation, too. Soon, irregular heart rhythms appeared on the trace. Then, flat line (monitor alarm has been turned off).The physicians came back in, made a brief examination. We kissed Dad one last time, and made our exit.And the life insurance paid off with no issues, at all.But I would gladly return the money if that would bring Dad back.Hope that helps.
Could someone stay alive on life support forever?
No. Artificial respirators (aka: ventilators) cause damage to the respiratory system, because they are designed to force air into the lungs. Having a machine breathe for you doesn't make you immune to staph or other bacterial infections, extremely common in hospital settings. Eventually, you'll begin to have bronchospasms, and when nebulizer treatments stop working to calm bronchospasms, you'll die when a bronchospasms prevents air from the ventilator from reaching your lungs. Even if a ventilator could keep your body alive, you couldn't live forever. Your organs would eventually fail, and you can't live without most of them. Since you can't eat when you're on a ventilator, you'd have to have surgery so you could have a tube coming out of your stomach, where a nurse could dump in your formula meals. The anesthesia from surgery could kill you, no matter how healthy you are. You'd also need surgery to have a tracheostomy, since you couldn't be ventilated with a tube shoved down your throat forever. Again, surgery could kill you. Then, at some point, you'd need surgery to have a Broviac catheter or an Arterial line inserted, to make it easier for that crack medical staff to draw your blood every 4 to 8 hours to have a lab calculate your blood gases, so they'd know how to adjust the settings on the ventilator (so as not to kill you with the wrong settings.) After awhile, you'd probably be looking a little pale, having given all that blood for labs, at which time they'd give you a pint of someone else's blood just to perk you up. After about 10 pints of other people's blood, chances are you'd get a bad match, and end up with hemolytic anemia, which will kill you in 2 weeks. Brain function ... the fact that you asked this question persuades me that you might not be working with a full deck right now ... LOL
Who decides in the US if someone is taken off life support?
In the US, it is typically a relative you decided to take someone off life support or to leave them on it. There are times when a friend or none relative makes that decision, but for this to happen, that person has to be given power of attorney before everything went crazy, or the person on life support truly does not have a living relative.As far as I know, if two people fight over the decision to the point that they are during each other over who has the right, then the judge would determine who has the right. The judge wouldn't directly say if someone should be taken off life support or not.There are times when a doctor has to pull the plug. These (I assume) don't happen to often. The person on life support could have a DNR that is discovered later, or (this was the case with my grandmother) the person signed a paper to have nothing exteneous done. In this case life support (in my grandma's case it was a feeding tube) is ok for a little while, because hey, they could possibly be fine. However, after a while it becomes extraneous, so the person must be taken off of it. In this case the doctors informes the family, who will hopefully understand and will give the patient what they want.Honestly, I don't know if the US will ever be like the UK in that a court decides. This is a right of freedom, the ability to say if a loved one needs to stay or not when they are on life support.
Is there a time limit on keeping someone on life support?
Yes I do believe there is. Depending upon the situation. Insurance company will only cover the patient as long as the doctors tests has a viable outcome. the doctors have to assess the patient to see if the patient is viable. They'll do a brain function test to see if the patient is able to continue to live without the use of the support system. The doctor will notify the insurance company of the results and the insurance company will set a maximum day limit.In a life support situation if there's no brain function then the doctor has to notify the family of the reality of the test results. They will then walk the family through the process of shutting down the life support and calling the time of death .No brain function means the body can not survive on its own. It will not breathe and will certainly die.
Can you die if you are on life support?
Unfortunately, my husband did. He had been seriously ill, lungs, heart & kidneys, for many months.The morning I got the devastating immediately I called our family friend who rushed me to the hospital.While we stood in the room, listening to, what I thought, was his heavy breathing, we talked about the fun things we used to do. Trying to stay calm we would laugh about his funny Steve Harvey character around adults. It was his compassionate personality, his way around kids, the love & care and wittiness activity with children.The nurse would come in every 20 minutes to check his pulse. Thanking God each visit he was still breathing & still alive. I felt really guilty talking & laughing while my husband layed there suffering. When she explained that talking & laughing were good for him I felt relieved. We continued conversing. A few trips to the room,While reminiscing the nurse came in, took his pulse looked at me with such sadness. I knew he was still alive, he's been doing well, so I thought. She dropped her hand from his wrist and sad, “ I'm sorry Mrs. Dyer, but he has passed”! “ No! You're wrong! How is that possible? He's breathing! You need to check again”! She said, “ No, Mrs. Dyer, that's the life support you're hearing.”!That was 3 yrs ago. At the age of 60, after 37 yrs of one marriage to one man learning to live on your own is by no means an easy road to travel. It takes a lot of a lot courage, a lot of a lot of strength,and a lot of stability. Traveling down an unfamiliar route! Can be very stressful even intimidating and extremely lonely. But with all the knowledge, all the spiritual, the realities of life what he taught me is believing in God “having faith is all you'll need to get on with your life”!We kept our promise to each other and to God above…“ til death did we part”!With much pride, much dignityI & much respect for myself & for my husband I can step away knowing I kept my word.And to the only other Man who brought him to me…God, I will always be grateful & forever faithful,“Love is my religion”!Thank You, God!Amen!
What is an appropiate prayer to say with someone on life support?
Well, in my case my daughters figured they didn't need to worry about it. Even if God didn't want me, Satan would be afraid to take me, so it wasn't likely I would die. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
What is the reason why dying people should be kept on life support?
If they’re truly dying, i.e., there’s absolutely no chance that their medical issues, whether injury or disease, could be reversed, it then becomes an ethical issue for many people.For many of us, pulling the plug is unethical in the belief that we humans don’t have the moral right to decide who lives and who dies. All we who believe so must do our utmost to make the person comfortable and not withhold nourishment; we should simply let them die in God’s own time.For those who think it’s unethical to keep alive someone who’s bound to die anyway, i.e., that it’s unethical to delay the inevitable, then the issue is one of whether or not there’s even a slight chance of reversing the person’s condition. If there’s not, then the next step is to get a medical professional to agree. In such cases, there’s always a lingering thought about whether or not such a person’s death might benefit the person(s) who opted for pulling the plug. That’s a situation one needs to avoid, thus letting a disinterested professional make the decision is in everyone’s best interest.