Just because we have it, should we really be using it?

Forgive me now as this blog was inspired by an article I read today and for the life of me I cannot find it now that I am home.  As soon as I go back to work tomorrow and find it I will post it here.  But I had to get this off my chest while it was still fresh.

The article was a story about a mom who cares for her son.  It's not any story though.  It's about a women who cares for her son who was shot point blank in the back of the head while doing a tour of duty in Iraq.  It has left him blind, unable to speak or move.  His body also requires a respirator to breath for him since he is so brain damaged that he cannot do it on his own.  It went through her daily routine caring for him that begins at 6 am with his bowls and ends at her passing out next to him at nite.  She has made her living room into a critical care unit and doesn't trust the use of in home nurse care because one time a nurse fell asleep and her son had a terrible seizure.  So she usually passes out next to him every nite because she is so exhausted.   The story says her son is aware of everything around him, from his morning enemas that his mother gives to the football games he listens to on TV.  What a life to live.

I have a huge issue with this.  I have an issue with the technology that is keeping him alive. I have an issue with the family that lives through this as well as makes their son live through this.  I guess perhaps I don't really understand where people draw the line of a quality life.  We of course all have a different opinion.  And I imagine  the rich person who runs out of money would think their life was no longer worth living and people who come from nothing can endure more.  So clearly there is a HUGE gray area for this.

However this mans body can no longer function without man made machines.  If they turned them off he would die.  His body is not his own.  His functions are not his own.  Maybe even his way of life is not his own idea of living, but we can only speculate.  The news is filled more and more with stories like this.  More people being left to live solely on the use of machines.  When and where as a society or as a person do we stop and draw the line?  When do we choose to let them go? Are we even allowed to let them go or are there laws preventing us from "pulling the plug" so to speak.  I haven't had a chance to research the law regarding this, but I imagine that as long as the insurance is paying it would be frowned upon to let your loved one go, but once that runs out how much would you bet they are all for the plug pulling?

It's not fair to leave a person alive to live that life.  Their body is dead, let them go.  Let them go with some dignity.  Let them be whole again in another life.  Let them not suffer your selfish needs to keep them alive.  At this point in time there is NO CURE for things like this.  Stem cell treatment is probably decades away still because people oppose it for many reasons.  I will tell you the mother of this man says she does this because she hopes that stem cells will cure him.  I'm sorry, but that's simply not going to happen at this time. By the time it does she will be too old to care for him and the world will be a much different place.  Might as well compare it to an inmate that is out after 50 years.  His body will be so bad  and his age will be too much for him to be considered a quality candidate.  SO to me this is simply selfish.  Yes, perhaps selfless when it comes to giving everything she can, but selfish to make her son live the rest of his days in this condition.

I would not want to live like that.  I would not want to see my son or Skip live like that.  I would let them go.  Skip and I have discussed this here at home and has expressed that he would want to be let go.  And I would give him that.  An injury like lost limbs is something that can be battled through.  The person is conscious and doesn't require an artificial organ for life.  We can live through that.  It may be a challenge, but it can be done.

And I don't want to hear " well maybe it's "God's " will.  If he wanted that person alive he would give them the miracle their families are praying for and they could live off the machines.  That argument is not good enough for me.  Call me Hitler if you want, it won't be the first I have heard it.

This is just a selfish act.  Shame on anyone who can't let their loved ones pass into the Creators hands to that they may live a life void of pain and misery.  It makes my heart ache.