Euthanasia Tubefeeding and the so-called persistent vegetative state. The persistent vegetativestate is increasingly referred to simply as the vegetative state. http://www.spuc.org.uk/euthanasia/
Extractions: Euthanasia The term euthanasia (derived from the Greek for good death) has come to mean the deliberate killing of sick or disabled persons for supposedly merciful reasons or mercy killing. SPUC opposes euthanasia because: The ethical objection to suicide is reflected in law. In Britain, for compassionate reasons, there are no legal penalties for a person who attempts suicide, but assisting a suicide remains an offence. Parliament recognised that people who have tried to kill themselves need help rather than punishment. There is therefore no legal right to suicide, and certainly no right to involve others in killing oneself. This is because the right to life is an inalienable right. No one may dispose of an innocent person's life, and so one cannot, in justice, intentionally deprive oneself of life. If the law were to allow some individuals to volunteer for euthanasia, this would also threaten the right to life of others, especially the elderly, the gravely ill and the disabled. Legalisation of euthanasia would make a clear statement to society that it was permissible for private citizens (
Vegetative State? Not Fiona! Englishwoman Fiona Smith is supposed to be dead. Well, maybe just in a persistentvegetative state. But she is alive and well today. So what happened? http://www.righttoliferoch.org/nvegsmith.htm
Extractions: Vegetative state? Not Fiona! Rochester Area Right To Life Englishwoman Fiona Smith is supposed to be dead. Well, maybe just in a persistent vegetative state. But she is alive and well today. So what happened? She was on a vacation with her family in France and near Tours got into a car accident. Her husband was dead, her three children weretrapped and injured in the back of the car, and the rescuers at first thought she was dead, too. But the children were convinced she was breathing and they convinced the rescuers that there was hope. At the hospital, a very highly rated center for the tretment of brain injuries, neurologists told her relatives that she was badly injured and that the coma would probably last three or four months but that she could look forward to a return to consciousness. Back in England a few weeks later, the doctors were much more pessimistic. They said she was in a vegetative state and offered little to no hope of recovery. The family tells of being told that they should begin to think about whether to remove life support. Two months after the accident, discouraged by the lack of progress, the family moved her to a Catholic hospital, where they said she got much more stimulation, including physical therapy three times a day, being dressed every day ,and being taken to the television lounge. Her family noticed an immediate difference and three weeks later she was conscious.
Should Cases Of Permanent Vegetative State Still Go To Court? However, in 1996 the Court of Session declared that not every case of persistentvegetative state in Scotland need come to court, but later the Lord Advocate http://www.studentbmj.com/back_issues/1199/editorials/397.html
Extractions: Should cases of permanent vegetative state still go to court? Britain should follow other countries and keep the courts for cases of dispute Since the judgments in the Tony Bland case in 1993 it has been necessary to obtain high court approval before withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration from a patient in a permanent vegetative state. There have been 18 cases in England and one in Scotland, and Wade and Johnston have reviewed the medical and legal procedures involved. A consensus exists in many countries that such treatment withdrawal is medically, morally, and legally appropriate, but only in the United Kingdom is a court appearance required before this can be done. May it not be time to change this practice? In the Bland case the Master of the Rolls and four of the five judges in the House of Lords indicated that their recommendation that future cases should each come to court was to be an interim measure until a body of medical expertise and practice had been built up and public confidence established. In early 1995 the Law Commission proposed that in future court approval might be replaced by a certificate from an independent medical practitioner, appointed for that purpose by the Secretary of State.
Read Latest Health Issues Of ~~HealthyMAIL® COMA What Is Coma, Read Latest Health Issues of ~~HealthyMAIL®, COMA. What is Coma, including PersistentVegetative state? A coma is a profound or deep state of unconsciousness. http://www.doctorhealthynet.com/diseases/diseases_A-Z/diseases_C-E/coma.htm
Extractions: Read Latest Health Issues of Healthy MAIL COMA What is Coma, including Persistent Vegetative State? Is there any treatment? Once the patient is out of immediate danger, although still in coma or vegetative state, the medical care team will concentrate on preventing infections and maintaining the patient's physical state as much as possible. Such maintenance includes preventing pneumonia and bed sores and providing balanced nutrition. Physical therapy may also be used to prevent contractures (permanent muscular contractions) and orthopedic deformities that would limit recovery for the patients who emerge from coma. What is the prognosis? The outcome for coma and vegetative state depends on the cause and on the location, severity, and extent of neurological damage: outcomes range from recovery to death. People may emerge from a coma with a combination of physical, intellectual, and psychological difficulties that need special attention. Recovery usually occurs gradually, with patients acquiring more and more ability to respond. Some patients never progress beyond very basic responses, but many recover full awareness. Patients recovering from coma require close medical supervision. A coma rarely lasts more than 2 to 4 weeks. Some patients may regain a degree of awareness after vegetative state. Others may remain in a vegetative state for years or even decades. The most common cause of death for a person in a vegetative state is infection such as pneumonia.
LLU&MC Scope, Autumn 1997, Brain Trauma Pioneer Dr. Ashwal is recognized as a leading authority on the subject of the persistentvegetative state in children, and has conducted extensive research on the topic http://www.llu.edu/news/scope/aut97/brain.htm
Extractions: Brain trauma pioneer W ORKING WITH CHILDREN WHO HAVE SUSTAINED NEURODAMAGE Kevan Craig, MD, instructor, physical medicine/rehabilitation, School of Medicine, poses with Devin Holiday. Devin is the victim of a hit-and-run accident and was in a coma for a period of time. Dr. Ashwal regularly refers patients like Devin to Dr. Craig for rehabilitation. When children do not act like childrenwhen they don't run around playing with a sense of reckless abandon, their faces full of mischief and lifesomething is obviously wrong. But what of the children who have had their childlike characteristics taken from them as the result of a traumatic brain injury, or a developmental problem? Their cases are no less disheartening to witness. Stephen Ashwal, MD, professor of pediatrics, School of Medicine, specializes in dealing with children who suffer from traumatic brain injury and other forms of neurodamage. The term "brain injury" refers to any injury of the brain. It can be caused by fracture or penetration of the skull (such as in the case of a vehicle accident, fall, or gunshot wound), a disease process (neurotoxins, infections, tumors, metabolic abnormalities, etc.), or a closed head injury such as in the case of Shaken Baby Syndrome, or rapid acceleration or deceleration of the head. These injuries can have devastating lifelong effects on the physical and mental functioning of the survivor.