That’s Not Funny January 28, 2008
Posted by keepbreathing in ICU, ethics, humor, medical ethics, moments, respiratory therapy, trauma, work.trackback
A nurse and I were talking about a patient today. The patient is a young woman who was recently paralyzed. She has only just begun to understand that it’s not “paralyzed for now,” it’s “paralyzed for the rest of your life.” The horror and the enormity of being permanently paralyzed from the neck down has sunk in. She is quite understandably devastated.
“In fact,” I said to the nurse with whom I was conversing, “just the other day we were talking and she asked me to pull the plug and let her die. It was really sad. I really think she wishes she had died in the accident. She kept mouthing ‘pull the plug, pull the plug’ until I left.”
“Awww…that’s terrible. But doesn’t she have that right? I mean, if she’s competent and she can voice her wishes, don’t we have to honor them?”
“I think she does, absolutely. If she’s competent and she can tell us to stop*, I don’t know why we should keep going. I don’t know if I would want to live like that.”
There was a slight pause as the nurse and I pondered. What would it be like to have such a fate, conscious and aware but completely immobile forever? How do you deal with that, with the horror of never being able to do anything for yourself?
I was brought back to the moment as the nurse took a deep breath and spoke.
“I guess she’d probably have a hard time signing the consent to withdraw form, wouldn’t she?”
:::::
I thought it was funny. But then I may be crazy.
:::::
*Of course, it can be argued that anybody who is expressing suicidal ideation is incompetent by definition. This is a tricky argument and one I won’t get into for now.
Euthanasia, assisted suicide, call it what you will. There are times when it seems a shame it can’t be an option in most countries. We can do it for our pets but not for our loved ones.
The signed consent quip was hilarious! Nothing wrong with finding humor even in difficult situations.
Good set up for an ethical debate.
funny in that weird way that it could only be funny if you were in that profession, at that place, and at that certain time…but it’s more of an acknowledgment of the absurdities of life i suppose…
could i say “ironic”, even? probably a good example of dramatic irony…
I would imagine that all of our first reactions when waking up that way would be horror and the wish to not live like that. However, maybe later she will be glad she survived it.
That is tough, indeed, and could be bandied about for centuries. Probably has been.
I would have cracked up at the consent comment, though. Then again, my sense of humor is very twisted
I think I would feel the same way as this poor girl, and my heart goes out to her and people like her.
But, Steven Hawkings is in the same predicament, and he has chosen to keep living.