Skip to content
Do you have adblock enabled?
 
If you can read this, either the style sheet didn't load or you have an older browser that doesn't support style sheets. Try clearing your browser cache and refreshing the page.

(Some Guy)   ICU staff pesters family to let their dad "die with dignity." If you're wondering whether he made a full recovery before they could talk the family into pulling the plug, your Fark Fu is strong   (opinionjournal.com) divider line
    More: Scary  
•       •       •

17626 clicks; posted to Main » and Fandom » on 21 Jul 2006 at 5:39 PM (16 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



122 Comments     (+0 »)


Oldest | « | 1 | 2 | 3 | » | Newest | Show all

 
2006-07-21 1:56:48 PM  
A medical resident--we called her "Dr. Death"--at the Intensive Care Unit at Long Island's North Shore Hospital chased us down the hallway.

"Your husband wants to die," she told my mother, again. Just minutes before I had asked her to leave us alone.

"He can't even talk," I reminded her.

"He motioned with his hands when we tried to put in the feeding tube," she said.

/wow. just wow
 
2006-07-21 1:59:11 PM  
In defense of the ICU staff, they had to get to the Robinson's. They'd lost 9 that day.
 
2006-07-21 2:15:10 PM  
Pardon me for thinking there was a great deal of embellishment in this personal anecdote.
 
2006-07-21 2:28:50 PM  
My family has lost four family members in the last seven or so years, and three of them were in the ICU for several days, and one for a few weeks.

Never once did any of the doctors, interns, nurses, orderlies, or any staff member ever suggest that we pull the plug and let the family member 'Die with Dignity' or any of that.

Glad the author is 'exploring his faith', but his story is BS and it reads like something he wrote while his DL was looming.
 
2006-07-21 2:32:59 PM  
From TFA: Ms. Winnick is writing a book about Democrats and the religious vote.

Ah...I see...
 
2006-07-21 2:38:10 PM  
A pox on submitter for not indicating this was OpinionJournal detritus.
 
2006-07-21 2:44:16 PM  
strangeguitar: In defense of the ICU staff, they had to get to the Robinson's. They'd lost 9 that day.

You win an internet, sir.

"I think I'll go for a walk!"
"You're not fooling anyone..."

/thinks that doctor needs a refresher course in medical ethics
 
2006-07-21 3:50:50 PM  
Patient wakes up and says, NO you misunderstood me. I meant to say that I want YOU TO farkING DIE!
 
2006-07-21 5:44:11 PM  
I don't want to die with dignity - I want to die whilst making an especially unattractive "O" face.
 
2006-07-21 5:44:53 PM  
von Bulow: "What do you give the woman who has everything?"

Dershowitz: "I dunno, what?"

von Bulow: "A lethal dose of insulin."
 
2006-07-21 5:46:41 PM  
Religious crap aside: Ick! I hate hospitals!
 
2006-07-21 5:47:56 PM  
Action Replay Nick: Pardon me for thinking there was a great deal of embellishment in this personal anecdote.

Wow. I expected you to give us your daily dose of "invisible sky wizard" nonsense. Very good to see your frontal lobe developing.
 
2006-07-21 5:48:20 PM  
I almost took that article seriously before I remembered where it came from.
 
2006-07-21 5:49:09 PM  
My guess is that the family is going to, or has, sued the hospital.

However, I, for one, welcome our new death-dealing...

Oh, wait, that's just coming out wrong...
 
2006-07-21 5:49:26 PM  
If they would have just let him die with dignity, we never would have had to read about this shiat...
 
2006-07-21 5:50:06 PM  
I dunno, but one of the reasons I respect Orthodox Jews is that they have the same morals as the Religious Right, but they don't try to force them on everybody. Sorry to see this writer all high and mighty.

/You don't have to regret anything if your dad didn't recover. //Of course, he'll never get to tell you how much he suffered.
 
2006-07-21 5:50:50 PM  
we have issues here where people who WISH it, in intolerable pain, arent given the assistance they wish, and be allowed to die in peace.....
 
2006-07-21 5:52:22 PM  
So my dad was in ICU for pnumonia, and we're pretty sure a stroke was suffered, then he was bounced back and forth between hospital stay, home health care, hospital say, and finally they tell him, "Mr. Hall, we're thinking of putting you in a nursing home."

He said no. Pretty much closed his eyes and died after that.


I miss my father.

/no means no, dammit.
//you didn't have to proove your point, Dad, we believed you
///I've heard of going out on your own terms, but thats ridiculous.
 
2006-07-21 5:53:00 PM  
Okay, who's got that animated "bobbing Schaivo" GIF?
 
2006-07-21 5:53:37 PM  
If "Jesus saves, Moses invests" then did jesus save her fathers life or did moses make an investment in him preventing biological bankruptcy?
 
2006-07-21 5:53:40 PM  
i lost a couple minutes of my life, bad smitty :(
 
2006-07-21 5:54:01 PM  
The Billdozer: Wow. I expected you to give us your daily dose of "invisible sky wizard" nonsense.

Christians give us plenty of invisible sky wizard nonsense, Nick doesn't really need to do anything.
 
2006-07-21 5:54:17 PM  
Nice that an article complaining about euthination turns into a Christian bashing article. :(
 
2006-07-21 5:55:00 PM  
Well, good thing he lived so that he can face the horrible painful, nasty, long suffering death of mesothelioma! It's a miracle!

Meso is nasty. I've seen three people die of it and it's practically incurable. My mother-in-law (age 54) and both her parents. If the ICU staff was being pushy, I'd guess it was because of that.

Of course, I'm sure that the family will treasure some of the moments in the coming months that they get to spend with their loved one. Minutes you didn't think you were going to get... so it's not all bad... I'm sure I wouldn't have pulled the plug either.
 
2006-07-21 5:55:19 PM  
"...I packed my knitting...", that's all you need to know right there.

So the old guy DOESN'T have terminal cancer now? And to say nothing of the irony of fleeing your miraculous conversion to your father's lost Orthodox Judaism because you're too cheap to pay the club dues?

Comedy GOLD!
 
2006-07-21 5:55:26 PM  
If "Jesus saves, Moses invests" then did jesus save her fathers life or did moses make an investment in him preventing biological bankruptcy? What would allah have done...new bracelet... what would allah do
/thinks too much
 
2006-07-21 5:56:11 PM  
st_gulik

My family has lost four family members in the last seven or so years, and three of them were in the ICU for several days, and one for a few weeks.

Never once did any of the doctors, interns, nurses, orderlies, or any staff member ever suggest that we pull the plug and let the family member 'Die with Dignity' or any of that.

Glad the author is 'exploring his faith', but his story is BS and it reads like something he wrote while his DL was looming.


I guess it's safe to conclude from your anecdotal evidence that no doctor anywhere ever oversteps their bounds and that the story manifestly must be, as you say, BS.
 
2006-07-21 5:57:38 PM  
Greatest generation my ass.
 
2006-07-21 5:57:43 PM  
[image from movieimage2.tripod.com too old to be available]

Unavailable for Comment
 
2006-07-21 5:59:33 PM  
I volunteer at an ER in san francisco, and the residents are doing this all the time. It pisses me off, because they feel that the person is going to die anyway (which they are of course) but they dont want to feel that its their fault. If they get to do nothing and the patient dies then its a win win for a shiathead resident.
 
2006-07-21 5:59:44 PM  
QTPi took the words out of my mouth, as it were. The submitter's use of the term "full recovery" is highly misleading.
 
2006-07-21 6:00:46 PM  
This tale has given me inspiration! I'm totally going to be an Angel of Death now. I think maybe I'll need a cape. Just so I'm credible.
 
2006-07-21 6:01:43 PM  
"A day later, we walked in to find him sitting upright in a chair, reading the New York Times."

Maybe the doctors were right in wanting to pull the plug.
 
2006-07-21 6:04:15 PM  
Google the author... She's a creationist in sheep's clothing.

She's pretending to be unbiased and to maybe even lean a little left, but Google reveals several articles along the vein of attacking the "junk science" of evolution, and at least one message-board flamewar swearing she's not a creationist or evolutionist.

She's an extremist trying to slip in under cover of bogus claims of being a moderate, practically disinterested, observer... but in the skimming I did, it appears that her rage consistently gets the better of her.
 
2006-07-21 6:06:17 PM  
emtlawstudent: I volunteer at an ER in san francisco, and the residents are doing this all the time.

You're not paying attention. A lot of folks here don't like the author's politics; therefore none of this is true. I guess that means you're a liar as well.
 
2006-07-21 6:09:02 PM  
stjohn , frighteningly enough, I got that one right away.

Of course, I'm a Rhode Islander...
 
2006-07-21 6:09:25 PM  
A few years ago--perhaps just to fend off the Christians--I joined a local synagogue in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. But the annual dues shot up from $750 to $1,000.

Nothing to add...
 
2006-07-21 6:09:48 PM  
agreed, emtlawstudent is an idiot
/prove me wrong
 
2006-07-21 6:13:35 PM  
People should be allowed to die with dignity, but it is totally inappropriate for hospital staff to pester a family to make that decision. The only role of the medical staff should be to veto the decision to pull the plug if the best medical data they can procure says the patient isn't going to die or has a chance to pull through. This case shouldn't prejudice the merits of choosing to die with dignity if you have definitely terminal cancer.
 
2006-07-21 6:15:49 PM  
It wasn't asbestos, he was an athiest, remember? It was an implant chip from www.evilatheistconspiracy.org - he must have revealed a secret. OH CRAP I JUST
 
2006-07-21 6:16:04 PM  
All I really want is to die with dignity when my time comes, and by dignity I mean a massive heart attack brought on by strenuous sex with Winona Ryder.
 
2006-07-21 6:18:44 PM  
The CraneMeister - You're not paying attention. A lot of folks here don't like the author's politics; therefore none of this is true. I guess that means you're a liar as well.

Speaking for myself, I drew no conclusion from the linked article... In fact, it was so disjointed I had a bit of difficulty deciphering it... I didn't (couldn't) glean anything about her political religious affiliation...

However, I did come to the conclusion that it was mostly bullshiat... For the same reason I came to the same conclusion about the Brit's "visit to the U.S./permits and licenses whining/great big gun" editorial that was linked a few weeks ago... namely, it reads like something the author wishes to be true. It's too forced, too cartoonish. It's pushing way too hard and has too much to prove.

Moreover, she didn't really elaborate much about what actually happened with her father... which suggests to me that her mention of the brief rousing to consciousness and a few words was the sum total of it. Essentially... it seemed as if she was hammering everything that strenthened the case she wanted to make, and likely glossing over everything that didn't.

In short, there was clearly an agenda... I googled her to try to decipher what that agenda was.
 
2006-07-21 6:21:51 PM  
And here lies the reason why people that really should have a right to "die with dignity", the ones that truely are going to die and nothing will hault that, arent able to.

For example, those with terminal cancer with only several weeks to live. Those that are completely brain dead, with no chance of recovery. People in late stage ALS, or motor neurone disease. Essentially people that have ZERO chance of recovery, and whose death will be nothing more then suffering and pain.

As far as the "Doctors" they (who I either doubt exist, or should be yanked from the residency program w/o a question if they do) are at the least operating on their own beliefs and agenda, or at the most completely incapable of praticing medicine in a manner that will not endanger their patients. Either way they shouldnt be licensed as a doctor.

Worst result of something like this is that the act of euthenasia is mistakenly interpreted for whatever these Dr's are trying to do. Euthenasia is only supposed to be reserved for those awaiting a painful death, not for those that probably will die. These two things are vastly different, but for some reason people cant see that, why I have no clue, but its definitely further proof that idiocy isnt reserved for uneducated.
 
2006-07-21 6:22:51 PM  
Action Replay Nick

Pardon me for thinking there was a great deal of embellishment in this personal anecdote.


winner. anyone who doesn't see this already has their extremist religious beliefs fully cemented.
 
2006-07-21 6:26:09 PM  
Being a previous ICU nurse and a current ER nurse, I have NEVER seen a resident or an attending doc be that pushy!
The Docs generaly will ask the family members THEIR wishes and follow along accordingly. The story is a load of shiat.
 
2006-07-21 6:26:42 PM  
wingnutx

Better hurry up then, Winona isn't getting any younger.
 
2006-07-21 6:30:35 PM  
What do you expect? They're RESIDENTS. That's the medical equivelant of first tier phone support.

What was that medical show on TV that sat all the residents down in a room with a grouchy older doctor who told them all that as sure as the sun comes up in the east, each and every one of them would be responsible for killing someone by mistake so they should just learn to accept that now or they'd be no use in their chosen profession?
 
2006-07-21 6:30:36 PM  
...and just to point out what struck me as the most telling quote in the article:

"Then a light bulb went off in my head. We could devise a strategy to fend off the death-happy residents: We would tell them we were Orthodox Jews.

My little ruse worked. During the few days after I announced this faux fact, it was as though an invisible fence had been drawn around my mother, my sister and me. No one dared mutter that hateful phrase "death with dignity.'
"

"When they believed we were Christians they hounded and persecuted us to no end no matter how much we begged them to stop!!! but as soon as they thought we were Jews, they honored our wishes with the utmost respect... They didn't dare treat us as shabbily as they had when they thought we were Christians."

She's about as sly as the Farkers who come into political threads pretending to sit on the opposite side of the aisle. "You know, I'm a dyed in the wool Democrat and I'm no huge Bush supporter, but I don't understand where all the irrational hatred comes from... It's like he can't do anything right... No matter what he does, you guys... er, my fellow party-members bash him and beat up on him for no good reason..."
 
2006-07-21 6:30:56 PM  
I dunno, but one of the reasons I respect Orthodox Jews is that they have the same morals as the Religious Right, but they don't try to force them on everybody. Sorry to see this writer all high and mighty.

You're welcome.

/Now go put on a hat and/or a dress that covers you knee to elbow!
//also, stop eating pork.
///and would it kill you to call your mother once in a while?
////seriously, the story was both inspiring and annoying at the same time
 
2006-07-21 6:31:19 PM  
Bring out yer dead.
[a man puts a body on the cart]
Large Man with Dead Body: Here's one.
The Dead Collector: That'll be ninepence.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: What?
Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There's your ninepence.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not.
The Dead Collector: He isn't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm getting better.
Large Man with Dead Body: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.
The Dead Collector: Well, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I don't want to go on the cart.
Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, don't be such a baby.
The Dead Collector: I can't take him.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel fine.
Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, do me a favor.
The Dead Collector: I can't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, can you hang around for a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
The Dead Collector: I promised I'd be at the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, when's your next round?
The Dead Collector: Thursday.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I think I'll go for a walk.
Large Man with Dead Body: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Isn't there anything you could do?
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel happy. I feel happy.
[the Dead Collector glances up and down the street furtively, then silences the Body with his a whack of his club]
Large Man with Dead Body: Ah, thank you very much.
The Dead Collector: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
Large Man with Dead Body: Right.

Sorry.
 
Displayed 50 of 122 comments


Oldest | « | 1 | 2 | 3 | » | Newest | Show all



This thread is archived, and closed to new comments.

Continue Farking




On Twitter


  1. Links are submitted by members of the Fark community.

  2. When community members submit a link, they also write a custom headline for the story.

  3. Other Farkers comment on the links. This is the number of comments. Click here to read them.

  4. Click here to submit a link.