But buried in the article is something else quite concerning:
Although doctors initially said he would not recover from his brain damage-induced coma, his family refused to let him die, demanding that doctors continue to provide "active" care.
"They said he wouldn't recover sufficiently for his quality of life to be good enough," Ms Gilsenan said.
"[But] he did get a lot better … he really did make progress and he got into rehab, which they told us he would never do."
So persistent was his recovery that just before Easter he was able to say the names of his daughters and even leave the hospital in a wheelchair to visit friends.
The article goes on to report that the man died of pneumonia.
What's concerning is that the doctors had clearly made a mistake about the man's prognosis, with the result that the family had to insist that he be given proper medical care. I wonder how often this happens?
I have heard two first-hand accounts of abortion being suggested as an option to parents where the child turned out to be completely healthy after birth.
3 comments:
All the time Gordon...all the time.
Same thing happened to my friend three weeks ago.
Her family was about to turn off life support for her terminally ill (cancer) Mother.
Another Dr from a different Dept. came along and said "No. I think she will pull through this".
And she did.
She had two weeks to say goodbye to her family and died surrounded by loved ones last Friday morning.
I think Doctors, like all of us, make mistakes and don't always see or know the full picture.
As 'consumers' in the medical system we need to be advocates for our family, friends and especially foetuses.
I was told 'your Father won't make Christmas (which was 6 weeks off) - we don't give prognosis because we can get them wrong but in this case I'm very confident & you should prepare yourself'
2 and a half years later he is still with us. There have been a few times when they've got ready to call the family but he soldiers on...
A colleague was told both her babies had defects and should be aborted, but both children are healthy and have no serious defects.
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