I've mentioned this before and it bears repeating. We had a mulberry tree in our back yard. It was struck by lightening of a nasty winter storm. The end results was that it laid on the ground, cut in half and propped up by its long branches. It looked like a tree fence as it laid on our grassy yard. Spring came the next year and the tree produced leaves and huge crop of sweet mulberries that were enjoyed by all. All summer long I would cut the grass, going around the tree as it laid, still green. Fall and Winter came and the tree stayed, waiting for Spring again. Keep in mind that the trunk of the tree was split in half, exposing the inside of the tree and yet in spite of all the damage it continued to live, and produce edible fruit. The next spring, it blossomed again and produced another huge crop of mulberries, even thou the damage to the trunk worsened. It continued to produce another and another crop of mulberries and probably would have continued to produce mulberries until our neighbor received a gas chainsaw and decided to practice on our tree, thinking that he was doing us a favor. I feel the same could be said about someone being spinal cord injured and deciding on their fate of being productive, once again. Just as our mulberry tree was hanging on by a mere thread and continued to produce, so can those with major, complete injuries. Ed Roberts, Judith Hulman, and Justin Dart to name a few. Hospitals normally keep patient information private, so I'm always concern when reading stories like this as being totally factual. Best Wishes In a message dated 11/16/2013 1:00:55 P.M. Central Standard Time, jlu...@eskimo.com writes:
When I first read the story my first reaction was well at least they gave him the chance to decide for himself. After all, if he had a living will and said he did not want to be put on life support and they did then that would have been against his predetermined wishes. Didn't his sister the nurse said that he had said that to her? I guess he didn't have anything in writing. After reading the comments people posted here about being on medication and not being able to make a clear decision I had not thought of that. I thought back to when I was first in the hospital paralyzed. I was in so much pain (nerve pain) that I just wanted to die so the pain would end. The morphine and the "pain cocktail" helped. I never thought or what I would or would not be able to do not being able to move. I don't remember ever thinking of turning the ventilator off.
