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<p>Yup. Without a doubt.</p>
<p><a href=“http://savannahnow.com/column/2014-02-02/murphy-theres-something-be-said-dying-dignity#.UwTMfvHTl-Y”>http://savannahnow.com/column/2014-02-02/murphy-theres-something-be-said-dying-dignity#.UwTMfvHTl-Y</a></p>
<p>I liked some of what the author wrote. Knowing when it is your time to die is a good thing. Dying with dignity is also a good thing. However, not everyone dying is on board with that idea. Some don’t think it is their time, even if it seems obvious to everyone else in the whole wide world. Some families don’t think it is time to let a loved one go, even if that seems the right decision to others looking on. I just spent a couple of weeks bedside with a dying relative who wasn’t ready to let go. It was a very difficult death for our whole family. I’m not willing to tell any patient or any family how to die or the correct way to handle the experience. I believe patient and family should be able to direct the process as much as possible, even when it is difficult.</p>
<p>And I continue to believe this young woman’s family is doing what they believe to be best for their daughter. </p>
<p>I hope I just drop dead instantaneously or just don’t wake up some day. I hope that for all of you reading as well. </p>
<p>ETA: I’m thinking we deserve the right to die without dignity if we so choose. It’s one thing for the cancer patient to choose the morphine, another for someone else to make that choice for him. Obviously it becomes more complicated when families have to make decisions for patients no longer able to make their own choices. Still, I’d rather the family make the choice whenever possible, instead of the court of public opinion. jmho</p>
<p>LOL.It becomes more complicated when the patient is dead and the family leaves the hospital with a corpse they claim is improving in a secret location. Guess we’ll have to wait for the trial.</p>
<p>Sorry. I fail to see what is “LOL” about the situation this family finds themselves in.</p>
<p>But please carry on and enjoy. I hope the trial meets your expectations.</p>
<p>I won’t interrupt the thread again.</p>
<p>What is LOL is their very obvious strategic manipulation of societal compassion for financial gain and the fact that a few people are still buying this charade. </p>
<p>So it’s LOL that some may believe the family isn’t involved in an “obvious strategic manipulation of societal compassion for financial gain”? It is LOL that some may buy this “charade”? It’s appropriate to find entertainment in the spectacle? It’s amusing to follow the family’s twitter feeds? It’s really going to get fun when the trial finally takes place. And all justified because the family put themselves out there for our judgement? And our amusement? LOL to all who consider this debacle a heartbreaking tragedy, even if the family is guilty of “obvious strategic manipulation of societal compassion for financial gain”?</p>
<p>I lied. I did interrupt again. </p>
<p>So, given that the uncle is tweeting pics of his muscles he seems to have moved on. </p>
<p>There was obviously a tragedy that occurred here but there was also the exploitation of a tragedy perpetrated by the family. I’m not amused, but like my others I would like to see the truth come out at some point. Hopefully, the trial.</p>
<p>I think this was a tragedy that got out of hand. I think it’s interesting to consider who, exactly, is to blame for it getting out of hand. Personally, I put a lot of blame on the first judge who got the case for not dealing with it more firmly. The family’s lawyer also gets a fair share of my blame. The family itself, I don’t know–it’s awfully hard to tell. But I don’t believe for a second that what has occurred is a sensible result of a family’s reasonable beliefs. That just isn’t what this is.</p>
<p>Hunt, who do you think should get to decide what to do in the case of brain death? In this case and in the one in Texas? </p>
<p>This is kind of off topic but yesterday my 15 year old got his learners permit and when filling out the form he had to decide whether to be a organ donor. He checked yes but the question kind of took him by surprise. I hope I never have to make a decision like that with one of my kids. </p>
<p>I don’t know why people are fetishizing brain-death as being somehow less absolute than heart-death. We wouldn’t insist that a doctor who tried to resuscitate after a heart attack shouldn’t be allow to stop his efforts and declare the patient dead. </p>
<p>So it sounds like she’s home…ick… I can’t imagine the state of her body now. As a Christian I don’t believe this falls under any christianity that I’m familiar with currently. So if she doesn’t somehow rise from the dead what will that mean for their faith? Are they aware our christian faith believes sometimes God says no, and after death is the reward?</p>
<p>@eyemamom - where are you getting information that she’s at home now?</p>
<p>Not sure where they have jahi’s body, but her mom posted a long letter (that some are postulating was really ghostwritten by her attorney) on the facebook page yesterday and it was also forwarded to the media <a href=“http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/letter-jahi-mcmaths-mother-about-recent-developmen/ndTtZ/”>http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/letter-jahi-mcmaths-mother-about-recent-developmen/ndTtZ/</a>, possibly to revitalize donations to the “gofundme” account, which had slowed to a trickle.</p>
<p>The article referenced her being taken home, so I just assumed. That obviously could be wrong.</p>
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I think the law should have clear definitions of what death is–and it does, really, and that’s why I fault the judge. Brain death is death, legally. Now, if people want to maintain heartbeat and other functions in a legally dead body, then I suppose they should have the right to do that as long as they can afford it, and as long as medical personnel aren’t forced to participate in the activity. I think what makes the McMath case particularly difficult is that this family really couldn’t afford it. As I think I said before, perhaps in the other thread, if the McMaths had been a very rich family, we never would have even heard about this case. They would have been able to hire a team to move the body quickly, and the hospital would probably have been more cooperative as well. Instead, we got this media circus.</p>
<p>I don’t even think finances should have anything to do with it. If brain death is death, then there is no need to hook a body up to equipment to keep other organs going. We shouldn’t let dead bodies leave the hospital unless they’re on their way to the funeral home or cemetery, not hooked up to machines.</p>
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I agree with you that people shouldn’t do this, but I’m not sure why people shouldn’t be free to do this, if they can pay for it and don’t interfere with other people’s medical needs. We let people do all sorts of stupid things–that’s what freedom is all about. I don’t think people should spend vast sums to cryogenically freeze their departed relatives, either, but I don’t think they should be prohibited from doing so.</p>
<p>I would have to believe having dead bodies lying around has to pose some kind of health risk to others. I’m all for people being free to do what they want to do, as long as it doesn’t impact other people. Sometimes a line has to be drawn in the sand to keep things from getting ridiculous.</p>